DECATUR -- With school beginning last Monday, the Decatur School District held its annual faculty and staff breakfast Aug. 11 in the cafeteria of Decatur Northside Elementary. This was the first time that the returning faculty members had the opportunity to meet their new colleagues.
Jeff Gravette, Decatur School superintendent, welcomed the teachers and staff to the first in-house meeting of the 2015-16 school year.
"We made a lot of changes this school year," said Gravette. " We have added more classrooms at the middle school and added two additional classes to the elementary."
Decatur Northside Elementary added a third pre-K and third-grade classes this school year. Since the relocation of the sixth grade classes to Decatur Middle School last year, the school had two open classrooms available if needed. These rooms will be occupied by the additional classes, filling Northside Elementary to near capacity. If the population of Decatur continues to grow, the school district will have to look at shifting grades to Decatur Middle School in the future. Steps have already been completed to open the remaining parts of the middle school building.
The Decatur School's maintenance department worked most of the summer to renovate three additional classrooms, a media center and two large general purpose rooms at Decatur Middle School. Doug Holly's team cleaned and repainted the north wing of the school, adding new ceiling tiles, flooring and cabinets to the facility. Now two-thirds complete, Decatur Middle School is ready for the coming school year. It has gone from a cramped three-classroom and office facility to a spacious 12-room complex complete with its own computer lab.
The safe room project at Decatur Northside Elementary is finally completed and ready for service. However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has yet to sign off on the building so the district can open it to the public.
The Decatur School District decided in its July meeting to fund an exterior beautification project, to be completed sometime in early September. The plans call for the addition of concrete walkways and a stone garden complete with large planters and six new picnic tables. This project is part of an ongoing effort to beautify all three Decatur campuses.
At the conclusion of the morning session, Gravette announced a change of location for the 2015 Decatur Bulldog homecoming parade. It will move to Main St. in downtown Decatur on Sept. 18 when the Bulldogs play Mountainburg for the first home game of the season. Both Gravette and Decatur Mayor Bob Tharp planned the move in an effort to improve the relationship between the city of Decatur and the Decatur School District.
Tharp, speaking at the breakfast, reflected on the need for cooperation between, not only the city and school system, but also the chamber, local businesses and civic leaders, in an effort to ensure a positive future for Decatur's youth. With parents, teachers and the community involvement, the students of Decatur can improve their test scores on state exams, have higher ACT scores and a higher graduation rate than in previous years.
"With the continued growth of Decatur, it is important to get the entire community involved with the youth in our area," Tharp said.
The program concluded with Gravette acknowledging several individuals and groups for their ongoing support of the Decatur School District during the 2014-15 school year.
General News on 08/19/2015