Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Gravette board hears about LEARNS act
GRAVETTE — Gravette School Board members heard about Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ education overhaul during their Feb. 27 meeting.
Former board member Jay Oliphant spoke to the board about the LEARNS Act. He said he supported many of the legislation’s initiatives but was concerned about the process. He said he was particularly concerned about vouchers and the education freedom account, fearing it would favor wealthy families and be a detriment to Gravette students
“The legislature has put us in a ‘no win’ situation,” he said.
He thanked Superintendent Maribel Childress; state Rep. Hope Duke, R-Gravette; and Heather Finley, School Board president, for providing feedback on the legislation.
Later in the meeting Childress gave an overview of the legislation and said there are many positive aspects to it, including an emphasis on safety and mental health, early learning opportunities, increased salaries, increased accountability and increased choice.
However, she said there are many unknown factors about the bill and that how the programs will be paid for is a big concern.
Business manager Dennis Kurczek gave the January financial report. He said a little more than $1.2 million was received in property tax revenue for the month and a $173,000 safety grant was received that will be used for reimbursement of safety and security expenditures.
Kurczek said utilities were running about 60% of budget.
Installation of new turf on athletic fields has been completely paid for and there is a $1.2 million balance in the building fund, he said.
Becky Sears, assistant superintendent, gave the curriculum and instruction report. She shared the STAR winter test data and expressed her pleasure that students in several grade levels tested higher this winter than they did last spring. She said students must test out of early literacy classes before they can take the STAR test and said second-graders in early literacy are now down from 55 to eight.
Sears also shared information about how parents can help in a school emergency and said that information would be shared with every family. Suggestions were compiled from a community meeting. Board member Matt Croxdale suggested they also be posted on the school website.
Childress gave the 2022 fall semester discipline report. Board members expressed concern about the increase in the incidents of insubordination and about some indecent exposure incidents at the elementary school. Elementary principal Nikki Brecheen said the indecent exposure reports were repeat incidents by the same person. Childress noted that there was some inconsistency in discipline reports because each school tabulates incidents differently.
Daniel Rice, technology director, gave a report on the need for generators at the school. There is not a need for one at each school, he said, but added one is particularly needed at the career center, where the servers are housed, to ensure the administration building can be up and running quickly after a power outage.
Board members were asked to consider a building secretary salary increase and to consider staff requests for the 2023-2024 school year, including transitioning food service employees from a five-hour to a six-hour contract, hiring an additional bus technician, extending the contract of kindergarten aides, hiring an eighth kindergarten teacher at Glenn Duffy Elementary School and hiring an agricultural science teacher at Gravette High School.
Keli Zimmer, a seventh-grade science teacher at Gravette Middle School, gave a report on the seventh-grade science fair. She said that out of 150 students, 124 had completed a science fair project. Awards were presented to students in various categories and to overall project winners.
Fourteen projects have been entered in the regional competition, which was set for Friday at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Zimmer brought three student projects to display at the meeting.
The board recognized Carolyn Huntsman, a winner of one of the fall 2022 Superintendent’s Innovation Grant awards. Huntsman is the Title I reading teacher at Gravette Upper Elementary. Her project was to create a library for third- through fifth- grade students that is designed for their skill level, thus building interest in reading. She used grant money to purchase three sets of books with six copies of each book so they could be used in small group settings.
In other business, board members voted:
• To approve field trips for HOSA students, EAST students and FFA students to attend their respective state conventions.
• To approve the 2023 proposed budget of expenditures with tax levy for the fiscal year July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and related sample ballot as presented by Scott Beardsley, a representative of First Security Beardsley.
• To extend the fourth prekindergarten classroom for the 2023-24 school year. Pre-K enrollment is completely full.
• To approve the January 2023 policy changes and updates as recommended by the Arkansas School Board Association and three 2023-2024 school calendar options for consideration by all district faculty. The personnel policy committee has reworked all three options.
• To approve the partnership agreement with the city of Gravette for school resource officers and approved compensating the Gravette Police Department for its services. The board also approved hiring a Safety and Security Coordinator for the district to begin as soon as a qualified candidate is approved. The salary for this position would be $46,000.
• To hire Tom Hardy as a special education bus aide at a rate of $15 per hour and to hire Abigail Giffin as a kindergarten aide at Glenn Duffy Elementary School for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year at a rate of $100 per day to be paid out of general operating funds.
• To hire Katlin Hardin as a speech-language pathologist.
• To approve an additional classroom teacher for Glenn Duffy Elementary School, an assistant principal for Gravette Middle School, a critical reading teacher at Gravette High School and a full-time or part-time director for the Western Benton County Career Center for the 2023-2024 school year with compensation to be determined based on certifications and experience.
• To approve the food service department to soliciting bids for groceries, milk, bread and paper goods for the 2023-2024 school year and to the transportation department to solicit bids for two new buses for the 2024-2025 school year.
• To approve the transfer of an eleventh- grade student from Gentry to Gravette and the transfer of a sixth-grade student from Gravette to Decatur.
• To extend Childress’ contract for another year, making it a two-year contract with a 3% raise in current salary. The decision was made following an executive session.