Decatur Schools reports to public

DECATUR -- The Decatur School District released its 2014 Report to the Public during the monthly school board meeting Sept. 15. This is the first report card for the district compiled by new superintendent Jeff Gravette.

Each school board, prior to Nov. 15 of each year, is required to hold a public meeting at a time and place convenient for a majority of the school patrons and employees to review and discuss its annual report detailing progress toward accomplishing the district's program objectives, accreditation standards and proposals to correct deficiencies.

Gravette reported that the current student population, as of Sept. 12 in the Decatur School District, stands at 550.

The 2013-2014 Annual Accreditation Report indicates Northside Elementary School was fully accredited by the Arkansas Department of Education with citations for two teachers on an alternative licensing plan. Both are now fully licensed

Decatur High School was fully accredited with five citations. The citations were due to the teachers being assigned some classes outside of their licensed teaching areas. Four have since completed an alternative licensing plan and are fully licensed in the subjects they teach. One teacher needing to complete the alternative licensing plan has transferred to Northside Elementary.

School summary reports are given in terms of the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced for the combined population. The data for this report was gathered in the spring of 2014. Students are labeled in one of four categories: advanced, proficient, basic, below basic.

All schools are identified as Achieving or Needs Improvement based on meeting predetermined targets in performance or growth and graduation rates for high schools. The schools are required to test 95 percent of their students for two student groups: all students and a targeted achievement gap group (TAGG) which includes limited English proficient, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged.

Gravette's report included graphs that compared Decatur to state averages in several categories. The important changes and comparisons were:

Decatur Northside Literacy 3-Year Average -- 61 percent Proficient and Advanced

Decatur Northside Math 3-Year Average -- 60 percent Proficient and Advanced

Decatur High School Literacy 3-Year Average -- 63 percent Proficient and Advanced

Decatur High School Math 3-Year Average -- 60 percent Proficient and Advanced

Decatur Northside Attendance Rate -- 97.9 percent

Decatur High School Attendance Rate -- 96.8 percent

"We appreciate the hard work of our students, parents and staff to help our students improve academically," Gravette said. "We have a long way to go, but we are making progress in the right direction."

A 5,200-square-foot safe room/physical activity building is being built at the Northside Elementary campus. The building will be large enough to accommodate a regulation volleyball court.

Cost is approximately $1 million, with 75 percent being paid with Federal Emergency Management Agency money and the remainder to be paid with Arkansas State Facilities Partnership Project money. The Partnership Project funding was released in the spring of 2014. Construction is planned for this school year.

Both of these funding sources are reimbursement programs. Therefore, district money from the building fund will be used to pay construction costs until reimbursements can be made.

Several additions and upgrades have been made to the school district's network, including the installation of a new server system (Microsoft) which is more compatible with new technology devices and applications, and a new cloud-based email system used district-wide. The total bandwidth was also increased from less than 36/37 Mbps to 100 Mbps at the High School and Elementary. New network switches installed improved the speed by increasing access to the server by 10 times.

In 2014, 200 computers or laptops and 60 iPads were available for students to use at the high school with an additional 190 computers or laptops and 80 iPads available at the elementary school.

In other board business, the board approved:

• A 2014-15 budget;

• Annual special education assurances and agreements;

• A measure that would allow the high school to take bids on a new sound system for Bulldog Stadium, including the possibility of tying the system in to the Lloyd Peterson Gymnasium.

The board is still taking applications for the open board position vacated by Darleen Holly. Interested parties can apply for this position at the administration office on Roller Ave. Since Holly resigned after the filing deadline, the appointment would continue until the position can be filled by ballot at the next school election.

The next school board meeting has been changed to 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 in the meeting room between the middle and high schools. To view the full report to the public document or for other information, go to decatursd.com.

General News on 09/24/2014