Poyen School District
Every school year, the Poyen School District has a vision to teach, reach, and inspire all students to believe in their potential to excel. The district’s mission every year is to provide all students a supportive environment, to excel in academics and prepare to be productive and compassionate members of society.
The 2020-2021 school year has been no different even with the Poyen School District having to deal with the effects of COVID-19. Virtual learning has been one of the biggest issues the district has had to address since the start of the pandemic. “We’ve had swings back and forth,” Poyen Superintendent Ronnie Kissire said about students using virtual learning. “Especially before Christmas. People didn’t want to catch COVID over Christmas Break so they went virtual then came back.”
Kissire added that Poyen has seen some students who have been on campus the entire school year and some students who have virtual the entire school year. He said the district is trying to give students flexibility to do what is best for them and their families.
Kissire expects that virtual learning will be integrated into Poyen’s learning system even after the end of the pandemic. “Now that the virtual can has been opened, we expect that we will continue that in the future, for students who excel at that,” he said. “I expect a hybrid from here on out. What the district is looking at now, as they move forward, is whether virtual is a good accommodation for the student. He said that Poyen is going to have to have some kind of standard in order for students to stay virtual. He added that for grades kindergarten through fourth grade it’s really important to have them on campus. “Once they get a little bit older, than it makes it a little bit easier,” he said.
Virtual learning is not the only issue type of thing and social distance as much as we can; just trying to keep everybody as safe as possible.”
Kissire also mentioned that Poyen faculty and staff had started to receive the COVID-19 vaccination January 21. He said the district has been working with Baptist Health-Hot Spring County as well as a pharmacy in Grant County. He added that overall the staff at Poyen has done whatever they could to make sure kids are learning. “That’s the big thing for us to keep offering education to students.”
Other than dealing with COVID-19, the Poyen School District has been making improvements to the school. Last year, at the high school, half of the tile floor was taken out. Kissire said that they’re planning to do the other half this summer. “So we’ll just have the sanded concrete floors in there and it’ll be easier to clean and maintain,” he said.
The district is also in the beginning stages of building a new cafeteria/career tech building. Kissire said that plans have been sent to the state for approval and they’re in the process of bidding out for the construction of the building. “It’ll be a cafeteria then have classrooms attached to it for business,” he said. “Those are the big things we’ve been focused on. Otherwise it’s just general maintenance.”
Kissire said that the district hired about six new faculty members over the past year. The biggest change came at the high school with the hiring of Bryce Harrison as the principal. “We’re pleased to have him here,” Kissire said. Another big addition was Jansen Hardage as the head boys basketball coach. Poyen also added a new school counselor, a special education teacher, and a new music teacher. “We’ve been real fortunate to hire some good people,” Kissire said.
Elementary Book Vending Machine
This school year Poyen Elementary added a book vending machine for its students. Elementary Principal, Jamie Webb, and Assistant Principal, Amy Thompson found out about book vending machines through social media and a professional development workshop. They then researched how other schools in the US had been using them and were able to bring one to Poyen.
Thompson explained that teachers and principals can give students a gold coin and the student then uses the coin just like they would use a snack vending machine. She added that on the last day of school before Christmas Break each student was given a coin and was able to pick out a book. “This is a positive way to encourage reading and good behavior,” Thompson said.
Kissire said that what makes Poyen School District stand out from other schools is the people. “Our
Over the past year, the Glen Rose School District has renovated and updated buildings, received grants, and continues to make strides in providing the best education to its students. The district plans on continuing this progress through 2021.
The Glen Rose School District has provided Virtual Learning Opportunities, Person to Person learning Opportunities, and Blended Learning Opportunities for the students that need remote learning periodically. The school district follows guidelines set forth by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Arkansas Department of Health. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students in high school and middle school were assigned Chromebooks individually to take home every afternoon. These allow each student to only handle one Chromebook.
In the summer of 2020, the district made updates to the Elementary School. Updates include upgrading the electrical system, replacing heating and air conditioning units with more efficient units, and other suggested improvements. The updates are being funded through an improvement grant from the facilities division of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The grant is a matching funds grant, which means the school district will have to match any funds received. Plans are to continue further updates this summer to other buildings.
The Glen Rose School District has also received a Blue & You Grant from the Blue and You Foundation which allowed a complete playground renovation for the elementary school.
This grant allowed old playground equipment t o be replaced with new equipment and safety features.. An asphalt walking track was added around the elementary school and will be open to the community. The playground and track has been available from the first of the school year.
The elementary school offers Gifted and Talented Programming and also archery. In middle school, students can participate in GT (Gifted and Talented), Chess Club, Robotics, Quiz Bowl, Science Club, Book Club, FBLA, Agri/FFA, band choir, archery, trap shooting, wrestling, football, and basketball. The middle school also offers tutoring five days a week, has the Read 180 and Accelerated Reader programs, and offers community and school base counseling. The high school offers many of the same programs and more. Students in high school can be a part of Beta
Club, National Honor Society, CHAMPS, Art Club, Spanish Club, FFA, FBLA and FCCLA. The high school also offers tutoring. Students in the high school can receive college credit concurrently through SAU and ASU Three Rivers. Student Council is offered for students in both high school and middle school. These programs have been modified this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions and regulations with many of the options for participating becoming virtual.
There were many changes this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions. However, as always, Glen Rose places the top priority on their students and their needs. To learn more about the Glen Rose School District visit www.grbeavers.org.