Prairie Grove Board Sets Calendar

Prairie Grove School Board made the following decisions during its March 14 meeting, according to preliminary minutes of the meeting.

The board approved the school calendar for the 2016-17 year. The first day of school for students will be Aug. 15, with two days off during the Labor Day weekend. Students will have a week off at Thanksgiving. Christmas break will begin Dec. 16.

Spring break will be held March 20-24 and the last day of school, barring any snow days, will be May 24. The board approved a bid from Gerken Environmental Services of Springfield, Mo., for $54,020 to remove asbestos from the older part of the primary building. Asbestos has been found in the glue used to hold down the tile floors, said Allen Williams, superintendent of schools.

Board members also approved the application process, up to a maximum of $113,000, to investigate the process to purchase wireless access points for the school district.

The board purchased a new school bus from the State Bid for $ 110,213, approved a request to explore adding a tuitionbased pre- kindergarten program and granted an easement for sidewalks to the city of Prairie Grove.

Board members accepted the resignations of Alison Parker as elementary speech teacher and Ulysses Ruley as head girls track coach. Dana Froud was hired as head girls track coach.

In other action, the Board voted to expel a middle school student for the remainder of the semester due to a second offense violating the district’s drug policy.

Student recognitions at the meeting include those who made All-State Choir, the high school girls’ basketball team and those students who participated in activities and academic competitions sponsored by the Gifted and Talented Program.