Gravette board hears discipline, grading reports
GRAVETTE — January is School Board Recognition Month and school board members were honored at their regular meeting Monday, Jan. 18. Members were given thank you cards, snacks and a cake. Jodi Moore and Jay Oliphant were recognized for earning Master Board Member status, but superintendent Maribel Childress said their certificates had not arrived and they would be presented later. Glenn Duffy Elementary teacher Vicki Holloway was also honored as the recipient of the spring 2021 Superintendent’s Innovation Grant Award. The $650 award will be used to set up a greenhouse at Glenn Duffy.
Business manager Dennis Kurczek gave the December financial report. He reported the district has $4.2 million in the bank.
Board members voted to accept the retirement of Gravette Upper Elementary teacher Jean Dover. She had not yet signed a request for retirement but board members stipulated that, if a signature is not received, her contract would simply be terminated. She submitted a signed copy of her retirement letter the following day.
Scott Beardsley, senior vice president for First Security Beardsley, gave a bond update. He reported two bond issues are outstanding and presented possible options. He said the Jan. 1, 2013 (B) issue can be restructured if desired at a savings of $175,646. Board members voted unanimously to submit an “Application for a Permit to Issue Bonds,” with related documents, for $1,530,000 in refunding bonds to the State Department of Education and to employ First Security Beardsley as fiscal agent, and to authorize the superintendent of schools to accept or reject the best bid submitted in connection with the public sale of the proposed bonds in consultation with the fiscal agent.
Superintendent Childress reported all school board members have met their required number of training hours and most have already accumulated enough hours for next year.
Childress reported the annual school board election will be held in May. Board members Heather Finley and Hope Duke will be up for reelection. A vote to approve the annual millage will also be on the election ballot.
Principals of all four schools reported on the 2020-2021 district goals, restating their intention to enforce all district policies and school rules 100% of the time during the year. They reported there were few responses to a recent teacher survey, but the responses received were helpful. Principals reported on responses to inappropriate behavior and the type of student who has frequent discipline infractions. Principals reported that discipline problems are way down from last year. Upper elementary principal Mandy Barrett reported this is probably because the students are with the same teacher all day long, there is not so much shifting of classrooms and they are aware of the teacher’s expectations. Middle school principal Kelly Hankins reported there has been an increase in electives and students are more engaged when they can choose their courses. High school principal Shannon Mitchell reported that having more lunch serving times has decreased the number of students in the cafeteria at one time and there have been no fights.
Brecheen reported most infractions in her building were by kindergarten students and incidents should lessen as students mature. She had high praise for the ALE classroom teacher and noted teachers have the flexibility to remove students from the classroom when they are too disruptive. Teachers are doing all they can to help students with frequent discipline problems, including referrals for family counseling where needed.
Board member Hope Duke expressed a concern that there has been an unfortunate shift away from disciplining students with infractions and there are few consequences for misbehavior. She encouraged teachers to report to the Department of Human Services incidents where students are in the home with known abusers and contact their legislators when they feel DHS is not following up as needed. She also recommended more training from individuals associated with foster parenting might be useful since that training is specific to working with students who have experienced trauma.
Withholding recess was discussed as a punishment, but Gravette Upper Elementary principal Mandy Barrett said recess was not denied because students need the activity and state law requires that 40 minutes of recess be made available. Superintendent Childress said poor attendance is also a problem with some students. State law requires a certain number of days in attendance but there is no help in enforcement. She said another discipline report will be given in June or July as all teachers are concerned because they want their students to be good citizens.
Elementary and upper elementary principals Mandy Barrett and Nikki Brecheen gave a report on standards-based grading and presented some comparisons between it and traditional grading. They spent some time explaining the grading system and the code that tells what must be mastered to get a certain grade. Brecheen reported that teachers are doing a good job of communicating with parents. She said teachers are sold on standards-based grading and want to keep it. Barrett reported that Benchmark achievement scores are going up due to standards-based grading and teachers are training each other. She said 300 students have qualified for the superintendent’s reading award where they had to show a year’s improvement or more in the first semester.
Richard Carver, maintenance and custodial department supervisor, and Norman Mitchell, athletic director, gave a report on the new basketball arena. Finance director Kurczek presented a short financial report comparing anticipated costs and actual costs.
Superintendent Childress presented an update on the covid emergency leave policy. Federal and state monies were received during the fall semester but that program closed on Dec. 31. The district now controls the disbursement of money and she requested that the number of days be reset. Board members voted unanimously to approve the changes in the licensed personnel covid emergency leave and classified personnel covid emergency leave policies for up to 10 days and reset the number of days for the spring semester adding additional days, on a caseby-case basis.
Board members briefly discussed options for the 2021-2022 school calendar. They suggested finding better ways to structure the teachers’ four free days. Superintendent Childress recommended making the fall semester snow days alternate method of instruction (AMI) days and using them for virtual instruction or distributing packets of instructional material on inclement weather days so they can be counted as school days. Childress said the personnel policy committee is developing a proposed calendar and will bring recommendations at the February meeting.
Board members accepted Kelly Hankins’ recommendation and voted unanimously to hire Bethany Sparks as an in-school suspension aide in the middle school for one semester only. Her salary will be paid from district operating funds. They also voted to approve the transfer of an eighthgrade student from Gentry to Gravette. The student had attended school at Gravette in the past and wanted to return.
The board adjourned the regular session at 10:10 p.m. and went into executive session for a superintendent evaluation. No action was taken following the executive session.