GRAVETTE -- Members of the Gravette High School wrestling team were present at the April 18 meeting of the Gravette school board and led the pledge of allegiance to open the meeting.
Superintendent Maribel Childress welcomed wrestling coaches and students who were present, and each student introduced himself and talked about his interest and accomplishments in the program. The students each expressed thanks to the board for approving this new sport which they are enjoying so much.
Also honored was Dorothy Hadley, recipient of a Superintendent's Grant Award, who told the board about her fifth-grade science students' project to analyze owl pellets in order to determine what they have eaten. This activity was part of their study of food chains and ecosystems.
Jason Maxwell, who does not have children in the Gravette school district, addressed the board expressing his concern about books in the school library that he feels have questionable content. He said parental rights and transparency are important.
Business manager Dennis Kurczek gave the March financial report. He pointed out, that with the increase in gas prices, the district has already spent 108% of its utility budget. He said there were no real changes in the ESSER funds. He also gave a pre-K cost analysis report requested by the board, outlining the cost structure of the current three classes with 60 students.
Assistant superintendent Becky Sears gave the curriculum and instruction report, including information about the 2020-2021 district report card and a comparison with past years. She said many areas were down because of covid but she was particularly proud of three scores which increased. Sears also presented highlights of the CTE annual performance report.
Vickie Johnston, special education director, presented the 2020-2021 special education annual performance report. She reported graduation rates had increased and met the target rate. The dropout rate also improved, even though there were several covid-related issues, and ACT scores were up. Per pupil expenditures were up but were still below the state average.
Becky Sears gave a report on the results of the standards-based grading and middle school transition survey.
Board members reviewed the draft proposal for the strength and conditioning program. Athletic director Norman Mitchell said he had discussed the model with all head coaches. Strength and conditioning is a part of all sports, he said, but there will also be an additional elective course that students can take which will be tailored to the needs of each sport. Athletes enrolled in the strength and conditioning program will not have such sessions in their sports practices since there is no need to repeat them, he said.
Board members reviewed the district crisis response plan and the policy on weapons and dangerous instruments. Board members agreed that if an incident should occur where a student is at risk or there has been the possibility of risk, all persons in that building should be informed of the incident, then a statement should be issued to the public notifying it of the incident and the fact that it has been addressed.
Superintendent Childress reported that John Paul Holloway has been baling hay on the Stagecoach Road property recently purchased by the district. An agreement has been reached that he will continue doing so at the same rate.
Childress gave the March attendance report and a March 15 enrollment comparison report. The report showed that, over the last three years, enrollment has generally remained about the same but the high school is growing. She said high school size would definitely increase next year since there are about 50 more students coming up from middle school next year than there are seniors graduating.
Since the school has had no positive covid cases in the last two months board members voted unanimously to discontinue providing covid leave to employees at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
In action items, board members voted to approve the third reading of the winter 2022 Arkansas School Board Association policies. Hope Duke and Jay Oliphant were opposed, saying there were several policies they did not agree with. Members also voted, this time unanimously, to approve the first reading of the personnel policy committee's updates.
Board members voted to approve proposed changes to the 2022-2023 school calendar with six professional development days, Monday, Aug. 8, through Monday, Aug. 15; the first day of school Wednesday, Aug. 17; Christmas break Monday, Dec. 19, through Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, and May 25 as the last day of school.
In other action, board members voted to endorse the definition of traditional discipline as presented in the board packets and voted to accept the bid from Arvest Bank for the financing of the athletic turf project in the amount of 1.4 million dollars. Business manager Kurczek said bids were sought from five banks, including the three local banks.
Board members voted to give approval for nine students to attend the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association convention in Jonesboro and for 15 students to attend the Arkansas State FFA convention in Hot Springs.
The board also gave approval for opening an additional pre-K classroom for tuition pre-K students with funding to come from the operating budget. The classroom will accommodate 20 students; and Nikki Brecheen, Glenn Duffy Elementary principal, said there are already 10 tuition students on a waiting list.
Approval was also given to opening a first-grade/second-grade split classroom to accommodate the overage in student enrollment at Glenn Duffy Elementary next year. There are now two students over the legal limit in first grade and one student over in second grade and an additional classroom is needed to stay in compliance.
In the final action items, board members voted to change the contract of the 6 1/2-hour food service position to a 7-hour food service position. Approval was also given to hiring a one-year-only critical reading teacher for Gravette High School, a one-year reading interventionist for Gravette Middle School, a one-year reading interventionist for Gravette Upper Elementary and a one-year reading interventionist for Glenn Duffy Elementary School, with all four to be paid from ESSER funds.
Board members went into executive session at 8:54 p.m. to discuss employment matters and returned to open session at 10:43 p.m. When the open session resumed, members voted to increase high school assistant principal Jared Schoonover's salary to $76,500 and special education director Vickie Johnston's salary to $80,000 for the 2022-2023 school year. They also voted to give a 2.69% raise to administrators Rebecca Sears, Shannon Mitchell, Taos Jones, Mandy Barrett, Nikki Brecheen and Kelly Hankins and a 3% raise to Superintendent Childress.
Board members voted to approve the transfers of Tina Wellesley from first grade to second grade, Amber Sisemore from second grade to first grade, Marianna Blessing to 6-12 ESL/migrant director and Spanish 3 teacher at Gravette Middle School/High School and Shannon Moots to the GHS computer science position.
Approval was given to hiring Amy Scarpa as a speech-language pathologist, Tonie Yanez as a first-grade teacher and Chris Weller as a sixth-grade PE teacher and assistant track, cross country and wrestling coach. Board members also voted to approve paying an assistant athletic director stipend of $2,175 to Jared Schoonover out of the operating budget and to renew the contracts of all classified staff for the 2022-2023 school year.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND
Coaches and members of the Gravette High School wrestling team pose after giving a presentation at the April 18 meeting of the Gravette school board. Each student told something about his interest and achievements in the program and both coaches and students thanked board members for approving this new sport. Pictured are coach A.J. Herrlein, freshmen wrestlers Eli Keith, Logan Miller and Kelton McDougal, sophomore Clayton Nall, coach Chris Weller and volunteer coach Greg Miller.