Three teachers honored by Gravette School Board
GRAVETTE — Three teachers from Glenn Duffy Elementary School who recently received recognition as National Board Certified teachers were introduced and honored at the March 16 meeting of the Gravette School Board. The teachers, Jennifer Davis, Faith Hendricks and Kristy Sanders, along with GDE principal Zane Vanderpool, led the pledge of allegiance to open the meeting.
National Board Certification was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and is a very respected professional certification in K-12 education. Principal Vanderpool expressed his pride in the trio’s recognition and thanked them for the hard work they put in to achieve it. Each of the teachers spoke briefly and all acknowledged the Board Certification program was by far the best, most meaningful professional development in which they had ever participated. They explained the certification requirements, saying there were four components involved, and it also required letters of recommendation from their principals and student parents.
New officers were elected at the beginning of the meeting. Officers include Heather Finley, board president; Jay Oliphant, vice-president; Robyn Lovell, secretary; Tim Craig, primary disbursing officer; and Jodi Moore, secondary disbursing officer. All officers were elected unanimously.
Dennis Kurczek, business manager, gave the February financial report and said finances were “looking pretty good.” A little over $817,000 in revenue was received in February and all expenses were under budget. Expenses from the building fund were pretty high because of ongoing construction on the new gymnasium.
Richard Page, superintendent of schools, gave the attendance report and said Feb. 5 was the worst day, with 106 students out with the flu. There were a couple of spikes in absences during the month, he said, but no consistent pattern. Page also reviewed highlights of the board policies and said administrators at each of the schools are OK with the changes.
Board members voted to accept the resignations of paraprofessionals Ashley Baker at the middle school and Kim Knight at Glenn Duffy Elementary, and middle school social studies teacher Robin Morris.
Superintendent Page reported on policies put in place to serve students during the closure of school due to the coronavirus. Foodservice staff are continuing to prepare and provide meals and bus drivers are delivering them to various locations. Times and places for pickup of meals are being announced on the district website. Buses are also providing internet service to students who may not have internet at home. No parent/teacher conferences will be held during this period, but parents will be contacted by phone.
Page reminded the board members about the board planning session scheduled Thursday, April 9. Staffing and salaries will be discussed at that meeting.
Zane Vanderpool presented the pre-school funding report. Administrators propose to continue funding the program through tuition again next year. The report was approved as presented.
A conference call was held with Scott Beardsley, senior vice president of First Security in Little Rock, to discuss refinancing of bonds. The district has four bonds that may be refinanced and Beardsley presented various options for refinancing with the board members. Board members voted to have Beardsley draw up an additional option to pursue possible savings and to move forward with needed paperwork for refinancing with no commitment to any action at this time.
Robert Adams, of Crossland Construction, and Clay McGill, principal architect with BiLD Architects, presented the facilities report. They reported brickwork on the new gymnasium is coming along and will be finished soon. Acoustic panels have been installed inside, the floor has been polished and electrical workers have started pulling wire. They reported work is progressing so that they expect to finish by the proposed completion date of June 16-17 or possibly even ahead of schedule. Board members asked the architects to look at other options for the folding handrails proposed for the building.
Board members voted to accept the bids for rock excavation and HVAC at the gymnasium as presented. Also approved were the bid of $60,371.39 from Moser for arena furnishings, the bid of $26,640.31 from Henry Schein for training equipment and a motion to change the name on the building plaque from Gravette Arena to Lion’s Den.
Approval was also given to the expulsion of three high school students, all for a period of 365 days. All three will be allowed to re-enroll after March 16, 2021.
Board members moved into an executive session at 8:40 p.m. to consider employee resignations and contracts. After returning to regular session at 11:30 p.m. they voted to transfer Matthew Piazza from Upper Elementary to the Behavior Classroom at Glenn Duffy Elementary. Also approved were motions to rehire certified staff at each of the schools as recommended by the building principals. Members voted to hire Jennifer Moorman as the registrar at Gravette Middle School for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year and to hire Vickie Johnston as special education director for the 2020-2021 school year. Moorman’s contract is subject to approval by the commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education.