GRAVETTE — Ty Russell, Gravette chiropractor, has been chosen to fill the vacancy on the Gravette school board. He will serve until the next school board election in September, 2017. The action was taken at the December meeting of the board following an executive session in which four applicants for the position were considered. Russell, Jim Singleton, Desiree Whitten and Dan Yates attended the meeting, expressed their interest in being considered for the position and gave a brief review of their background and qualifications. Arletta Wallace was present but withdrew her name from consideration. The vacant position results from board member Bryan Johnson's move to Bentonville.
Just after the opening of the meeting, Richard Page, superintendent of schools, recognized students who had designed the winning Christmas cards for the 2016-2017 school year. One winner was chosen from each school and the winning designs were printed on cards used by the district as Christmas greetings. Students displayed their winning artwork and were given a packet of cards for their personal use.
Page also recognized Gravette Middle School principal, Duane Thomas, and Middle School math teachers Randall Reynolds and Taylor Lewis, who displayed award plaques from the Office of Educational Policy. An award was received for "High Achieving" in math and another for "Beating the Odds," given to high-achieving schools where at least 66 percent of students are enrolled in the free or reduced-price lunch program. The awards were based on results from the 2014-2015 PARCC test.
Josh Greer, representing the peewee football program, spoke to the board about improvements needed at McAbee Field, where peewee games are played. Gravette is hosting the peewee super bowl in 2017 and Greer would like to install a sign with the McAbee Field name, install new lighting and upgrade the scoreboard. Greer said there were 106 youngsters in the peewee football program last year, and he would like to encourage the young players by improving their playing field. Peewee program officers have purchased 100 new helmets for the teams, fixed a water leak at the field and done needed painting. Jay Oliphant, school board president, asked Greer to bring a list of needed improvements and repairs with cost estimates to the board for its consideration and possible help with funds.
Bill Hayford, business manager, gave an abbreviated financial report. He said revenues were up $215,000 from the same time last year. October and November are usually the peak months for school income, he explained. He presented board members with a sheet of projected revenues and expenses. Board member Hope Duke requested that monies belonging to the 2015 graduating class that had been transferred out be returned to the general fund account and officers from that class be contacted to learn their wishes about how the money should be spent. She asked Jay Chalk, high school principal, to contact officers from that class and other past classes who had balances remaining and learn their wishes. She suggested that arrangements be made for future graduating classes to spend their money or leave directions about how to spend their money before graduation.
Richard Page gave his superintendent's report and recognized administrators who attended the Arkansas State School Board Association conference in Little Rock. Mandy Barrett, Upper Elementary principal, Sharla Heltzel, curriculum director; and Jana Sharp, GHS librarian and mentor representative, gave a presentation at the conference about TEAM (Teachers Engaged in Active Mentoring), Gravette schools' mentorship program for new teachers.
Theresa Morley gave a report on the special education program. Elain Hodges gave a report on the dyslexia program. Students with dyslexia must now be identified and the schools are seeing an increase in the numbers. If growth continues at the current rate, the schools will soon be out of compliance and additional teachers will be needed. A recommendation was made that Glenn Duffy Elementary have one certified interventionist, Gravette Upper Elementary have one and Gravette Middle School and High School share one.
Jim Singleton gave an update on the facilities committee meetings. Michael Spaeth, architect with BiLD, reported on construction progress on the maintenance building, and representatives from Nabholz Construction reported on renovations at Upper Elementary and gave cost estimates for options 1 and 2 of the library remodel there. Board members voted to not do a remodel of the Upper Elementary library but to build a new library addition to the building. Jay Oliphant asked Barrett to report to the board what the current library space would be used for after the new library addition is completed.
Jay Chalk, Gravette High School principal, gave a report on vocational programs in the district. Board members voted unanimously to contact state legislators and indicate their support for legislation to provide funding for school vocational and technical programs.
Board members voted unanimously to approve the early site package for the Upper Elementary construction and authorized Richard Page, maintenance supervisor Richard Carver and Jim Singleton to approve the package after bids were reviewed. No action was taken on the facilities master plan. It will be approved at the January meeting of the board.
Board members also voted to accept a bid in the amount of $90,000 from Summit Truck Group for purchase of a Type C 72-passenger school bus. Addition of this bus to the school fleet will reduce ride times, Carver said.
Student transfer requests were approved for two students from Decatur and four from Bentonville who want to transfer into the district. One transfer request from Decatur was denied because the special education department is already at capacity. Transfers out were approved for one student transferring to Bentonville and two transferring to Siloam Springs.
Board members moved into executive session at 10:15 p.m. and returned to open session about an hour later. After returning to open session, they voted to approve the appointment of Ty Russell to the open school board position and to accept the resignations of Salvator Devoti as custodian, Amanda Gruver as special education teacher and Bryan Johnson as board member.
Employment contracts were approved for Stacy Bingham as a self-contained teacher at Glenn Duffy Elementary School, Pamela Verble as a half-time kindergarten aide and Chad Whitehead as bus technician.
General News on 12/28/2016