GRAVETTE -- Gravette High School principal Jay Chalk and five teachers from the high school displayed a plaque preceding the October 19 school board meeting honoring Gravette as a silver medal school by the U.S. News and World Report magazine. Gravette High was rated 22nd in the state and was one of 102 Arkansas schools ranked in the 2015 Best High Schools list. One state school earned a gold medal, 23 were silver medal schools and 78 were bronze medal schools.
U.S. News is a recognized leader in education rankings. Students rated in their rankings are assessed by mathematics and literacy proficiency tests. Gravette was rated above the state average in college readiness (19.6), mathematics (87 percent) and literacy (82 percent). Students have the opportunity to take advanced placement course work and exams and the AP participation rate at Gravette is 40 percent. The school has a 6.5 percent minority enrollment.
The Gravette Middle School XC team led the pledge of allegiance to begin the meeting. The first order of business was election of officers for the board. New officers elected were Jim Singleton, board president; Susan Santos, vice-president; Jay Oliphant, secretary; Bryan Johnson, primary disbursing officer; and Tracy Moorman, secondary disbursing officer. All officers were unanimously approved. New president Singleton thanked Jay Oliphant, outgoing president, for his service in the past year, calling him a "tireless worker."
Business manager Bill Hayford presented the financial report for September, noting that the balance is up about $84,000 over the same time last year. He said there should be a bigger tax revenue coming in October and reported that the county does a reappraisal every five years and another is due in 2016. Two auditors are working at Gravette schools now, he said, and "everything seems to be in order."
Richard Page, superintendent of schools, presented several upcoming dates to the board, including a board planning session at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the administration office. A board workshop will be held Monday, Dec. 7, at the Coop in Farmington, followed by the state ASBA conference Dec. 9-11 in Little Rock.
Items on the agenda for this week's board planning session include board goals, a home school report, revised school choice figures, a building fund trend report, staff compensation comparison with other districts, student growth fund balances and career-vocational education developments.
Page also presented a district enrollment report, with enrollment data from the 2005-2006 school year up through 2015-2016. In the school choice report he reported 22 school choice students had applied for a transfer. Nineteen were approved and three were denied. Of those 19, 12 of the students are now enrolled.
Jay Chalk gave the vocational report. He told the board that no federal grant funds were available for conversion charter schools. Because of the lack of funds, he recommended withdrawing the school's application for a charter school and reapplying again next year. Board members approved his recommendation and voted unanimously to withdraw Gravette's application for this year.
Curriculum director Stephanie Summerford gave the annual report to the public, outlining what was spent through the state and federal fund program and giving an overview of the Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (ACSIP).
Summerford also presented the minority recruitment plan report. She said Gravette schools were committed to the plan to increase the minority student population.
A request for one student to transfer from Gentry to Gravette schools was unanimously approved.
When board members reconvened after a brief executive session, they voted unanimously to approve the resignations of bus drivers Nova Sudduth and Gregory Barber and to hire Marcus Arnett as a bus driver.
General News on 10/28/2015