Quincy School Board honors Nichols, swears in election winners

QUINCY — The Quincy School Board spent most of Wednesday evening’s meeting recognizing Carol Nichols for her 16 years of service.

Nichols, who did not seek re-election, was first elected in 2001 and won re-election in 2005 but lost a re-election bid in 2009. She then ran again in 2015 and 2019, winning seats in both elections.

Superintendent Todd Pettit called Nichols “…an advocate for our children in this community, not just QPS, and an advocate for our community in general.”

Pettit presented Nichols with the Blue Devil Spirit Award, Board President Shelley Arns gave her a plaque from the board and FFA members gave her a medal and an honorary blue corduroy jacked. Nichols, in turn, gave board members and administrators hand-stitched plaques with individual quotes.

Board member Sayeed Ali thanked Nichols for her service and praised her intelligence, kindness and respect for all people.

In regular action, The School Board:

• Accepted a bid of $164,011 from Fischer Builders for restroom renovations at Quincy High School as well as constructing an areas for special education students who were formerly at Transitions.

• Formally established Tuesday, May 30 as the last day of classes for students and Wednesday, May 31 as the last day for teachers. No snow/emergency days were used during the school year.

• Added two new courses to the curriculum for the 2023-24 year with the addition AP pre-calculus at Quincy High School and a life skills course 6th graders at Quincy Junior High School.

Following the regular meeting, the School Board held its organizational meeting, which included the swearing in of those members elected earlier this month.

Arns, Latonya Brock, Jim Whitfield and Curtis Sethaler were sworn in with Sethaler being the lone newcomer to the Board. Arns and Rachael Petty were re-elected as president and vice president, respectively.