Gravette's ESL Coordinator is leaving, more staff and training are recommended

GRAVETTE -- School board president Jay Oliphant gave an update on the HOSA showcase project at last Tuesday's school board meeting. He reported that the club had raised about $500 toward the cost of the showcase. Funds have been set up at the Bank of Gravett and at Arvest Bank where anyone can make contributions for the project.

Business manager Bill Hayford gave the financial report for the month of January, including statements of assets, liabilities and fund balances. He reported cash balances were up about 20 percent from last year. Board member Dan Yates suggested a report on the student growth funds and plans for their use would be a good topic for the board's planning session, which was set for 3:30 p.m. on April 7.

The date for the March school board meeting was changed to Tuesday, March 17, to avoid conflict with the Air Force band concert March 16 at the Performing Arts Center in Gravette.

Board member John Edwards reported the Lions Golf Classic, which will raise money to give back to the schools, is scheduled for Saturday, May 9. Sponsorships are available at levels of $250, $500 and $1,000.

Superintendent Richard Page reported the personnel policy committee had met and considered sick leave policies and had recommended some changes. They are recommending changing from eight sick days to six. Teachers would then have four personal days and one free day that if not used will be lost. Unused personal days would roll over as sick days.

Page reported that flu had not affected attendance very much. Attendance has remained at 91 percent to 94 percent at all schools. Attendance grew by about 10 students in January as some students who had dropped out came back to try again in the second semester.

Food service director Sheila Roughton gave the food service report. She said it was a little better than last year with a slight increase in the closing cash balance. There was a decrease in expenditures since a large freezer and some office equipment was purchased last year. Labor amounts were down too because the staff is now paid year round in order to give them some funds during the summer. There are also more students eating regular-price meals now and fewer eating reduced-price meals. About 500 breakfasts are served each day; most are free and reduced-price meals.

Meghan Walker, coordinator of the English as a Second Language program, presented a checklist of training plans for the ESL and SIOP (sheltered instruction operational protocol) programs. She is leaving at the end of the school year and wants to make sure the program continues successfully. Most ESL students are Hispanic, she said, but there are some Hmong students and a growing number of Micronesian students.

Walker said her goal is to have 75 percent of the faculty ESL and SIOP trained after five years. She hopes to train more teachers all the time and have at least one for each grade level or content area. Approximate cost is $300 per teacher, which would come out of professional development funds. SIOP programs, which teach language and content simultaneously, are geared to ESL students but are helpful for all students. They are especially helpful for students who are born here but go back from speaking English at school to speaking Spanish or some other language at home. The teacher training would involve 11 sessions spread out over a four week period so teachers could better absorb the material.

Walker recommends hiring two additional ESL interventionists in addition to the new ESL coordinator, one for Glenn Duffy Elementary and one for Gravette Upper Elementary. Most ESL students are at Glenn Duffy Elementary. Walker recommends one teacher to 20 students and the schools are not currently in compliance with the recommended ratio. She said some bilingual interventionists are needed to translate documents and interpret at conferences.

Superintendent Page said the SIOP program provides important training and "we need to move forward on it" and high school principal Jay Chalk echoed his support, saying it is "just good teaching strategy."

Board members voted to approve the 2015-2016 school calendar, with little change from this year. It will cover 190 days with 178 instructional days, 10 teacher professional development days and two days for parent-teacher conferences.

Field trip requests were granted for 55 HOSA students to attend the state meeting in Hot Springs and for FBLA and E.A.S.T. lab students to attend state meetings.

Athletic director Norman Mitchell presented two bids for new football uniforms. Board members voted to approve his recommendation to accept the bid of $19,501.95 from Best Sports. This amount includes tax and shipping.

Richard Carver brought bids for the HVAC classroom. Board members voted to accept the bid of $19,750 from Kramer & Co. of Bella Vista. The other bid, received from Carrier, was for $25,670. The cost of occupancy sensors had to be added to the original bids.

Board members held an executive session at the end of the regular meeting. Following that session, they accepted the resignation of special education teacher Stefanie Harris, effective at the end of the current school year, and approved the transfer of Tessa Austin from Title I Aide to purchasing secretary at Glenn Duffy Elementary. They also extended the superintendent's contract for Richard Page for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years. A discussion was held on a facilities committee and who should serve on it. It was decided that the committee should include four members of the community and those chosen are being contacted. Board member Susan Santos was asked to draw up a purpose statement for the committee.

General News on 03/04/2015