Football to be revived at high school

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

— School officials have decided to revive Decatur High School’s varsity football team next fall, superintendent LeRoy Ortman said at Monday’s town-hall meeting.

Ortman said he has been told that 21 eligible boys have agreed to play on the team. Former head coach Bill Brockert has resigned from his coaching position, but not his teaching position, Ortman said.

The school has posted the job opening online. The advertisement states that a valid Arkansas Coaching Endorsement is required along with a current Arkansas Commercial Driver’s License. The teaching area will be determined later, it states. Several internal applications for the positions will be considered in addition to any external applications, Ortman said.

“I think that is a good thing if you can indeed have a season,” Ortman said of the decision. “I certainly hope somebody doesn’t have to pull the plug on it in the middle of September.”

Last year a team held practices throughout the summer but the season was canceled beforethe first game because of a lack of participation. There are actually more than 21 students interested in playing football, but some of them are academically ineligible, Ortman said.

In other business, Ortman reported the school’s finances have continued to do well, but expressed concerns over declining enrollment.

In March, the district had a balance of $836,981 in its unrestricted fund, compared with $456,229 in March of 2009. However, the school will lose more than $200,000 of funding next year because of declining enrollment.

During the 2008-2009 school year, the district had an average of 511 students during the first three quarters. During the same period in 2009-2010, the district had an average of 484 - a total loss of 27 students.

The state gives the school $6,023 for each student, so the loss of students alone will cost the district $162,000. Butthe state gave the school $158,000 in declining enrollment funds this year for the students it lost during the 2007-2008 school year. Those funds will shrink to $83,000 next year. The district has enough money in reserve to handle the loss of revenue next year, but if the trend continues the district could be in trouble, Ortman said.

“It’ll be tough to maintain a school district,” he said.

Even though 26 students are no longer at the school, it still costs roughly the same amount to operate the district, Ortman said. Two staff positions will be eliminated next year to adjust for the enrollment changes, he said.

Darlene Holly asked what could be done to keep students from transferring out of the district.

There is really no way to force students to stay in the district, Ortman said. The best course of action is to make the school a place the students will want to stay.

“Lets face it, we’ve got as good a school as anybody,” he said.

Small school districts offer students the opportunity to be involved in any activity they want. Ortman said he raised his children in small schools and his son would play football, then put on a band uniform and perform for half time. He also participated in track, choir and a host of other activities, Ortman said, opportunities that he would have missed at a larger school.

“You can never act like a big school and you shouldn’t even try. But you can act like a good little school,” he said.

Ortman reported that he has made a recommendation for next year’s school calendar. The calendar will shorten Thanksgiving break and spring break, but if there are no snow days, school will let out on May 13, he said.

The calendar will allow for more instructional days before state mandated standardized tests in April, he said. More instructional time before tests is in the best interest of the students as well as the school district’s future, Ortman explained.

“I applaud you sir,” community member Tasha Linam said in approval of the changes. After the calendar is presented to the Personnel Policy Committee and the Decatur Education Association, it will be sent to the Arkansas Department of Education for approval.

News, Pages 1 on 04/21/2010