GRAVETTE — Gravette School Board members, at their Feb. 25 meeting, received a report and document from district safety committee members Angie Scott and Jaron Porter explaining the actions of the committee since the recent school shooting in Connecticut.

The committee sought information and ideas from the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, the Gravette Police Department and the Benton County Emergency Management Office and reported it held a mock exercise which provided ideas and information, Scott and Porter told the board.

The school and the city of Gravette, through a cooperative arrangement, provide two resource officers for the district, one at the high school, the other at the downtown campus.

One idea being studied is the feasibility of employing additional officers for the elementary, upper elementary and middle school buildings at the downtown campus.

Porter and Scott emphasized the committee’s work will continue. “It (the document) is a work in progress,” Scott said during discussion with board members.

Superintendent Richard Page complimented the group for its efforts and suggestions in the document.

“We will look at how we can implement those that need to be done,” he said. “The committee has done a great job. They have been very proactive,” he added.

“We need to make improvements, but I’m very pleased with improvements made over the years,” board member Jack Skillett said.

2013-2014 Calendar

In other action, the board approved a calendar for the 2013-2014 school year. The faculty/staff committee suggested three possible calendars, one of which the superintendent recommended to the board. It received unanimous approval.

August 19 is listed as the first day of school, with the last day set for June 5. However, there are five snow days built in and, if they are not all needed, the last day could be as early as May 23.

Senior graduation will be held May 17. Other dates of interest include the Christmas holiday, Dec. 23 to Jan. 6, and spring break, which is not guaranteed, March 24-28. All together, there are 178 instructional days, a professional development day, two flex PD days and two parent/teacher conference days, for a total of 190.

The board approved over-night trips for four student organizations at state activities: DECA trip to Little Rock, HOSA trip to Hot Springs, FCCLA trip to Conway and EAST trip to Hot Springs.

The board heard a report from construction manager Jarod Brown, who said the ball fields and middle school projects are in the final completion stages. David Swearingen presented information for plaques for both sites.

News, Pages 8 on 03/06/2013