Prairie Grove Assistant Superintendent Resigns

PRAIRIE GROVE — Vol Woods, assistant superintendent for Prairie Grove School District for the past six years, has submitted his letter of resignation to become superintendent of Keys School District in Park Hill, Okla. His resignation is effective June 30.

“This is a wonderful commun i ty and I’ve enjoyed my time here,” Woods said, addressing Prairie Grove School Board at its May 18 meeting. “I’ve really enjoyed working with you guys.”

His letter of resignation states, “You have a wonderful phenomenon going here, keep up the good work.”

As Keys’ superintendent, Woods will be closer to his home. His wife also is a teacher in the district.

Allen Williams, superintendent of schools, said Woods will make a good superintendent for Keys School District.

“We’ll miss Vol. He’s done a good job and his shoes will be big shoes to fill,” Williams said.

Prairie Grove has posted the vacancy with the Arkansas Department of Education and had already received eight applications last

week. Williams said he can be flexible in recommending a candidate but is looking for someone preferably with district- level experience and possibly a background in managing support services, such as food, transportation and facilities.

“We’re going to look for the best fit for us,” Williams said. “We can shuffle (responsibilities) if we need to.”

In other action May 18, the School Board approved a 4.07 percent salary increase for certified and classified employees. The pay increase will add an additional $ 360,000 per year to the salary schedule, including matching benefits, according to Williams.

The superintendent’s contract is not part of the salary schedule and board members, in a separate motion, voted to also approve a 4.07 percent pay increase for Williams.

Board members also approved a proposal from Aramark to manage the district’s food service program. This proposal will have to be approved by the state Education Department before a contract can be signed with the company. Prairie Grove received proposals from three companies to manage its food service program and Aramark scored the highest, based on about eight categories.

Looking at current salaries, food costs and management expenses, Aramark guaranteed it could return $43,000 back to the district at the end of the year, Williams said. If the proposal advances, Aramark would take over the food service program with the 2015-16 school year.

Williams said the contract with Aramark would guarantee that current school nutrition employees would have a job with Aramark. Any employees who are close to retirement would remain as school employees so they would not lose those benefits, Williams said.

The School Boa rd approved a related recommendation that any school nutrition employees transferring to Aramark would receive payment for accumulated sick leave. This benefit will only apply for the 201516 school year.

Williams said the advantages of using a third party to manage the food service program are more choices for students and the ability to make the food more appealing to students. Other benefits, he said, include saving money on food costs and the company’s experience in managing a program and preparing food.

“They bring a lot of expertise,” Williams said.

In other business, the School Board approved a recommendation to raise lunch prices from $2.35 to $ 2.40 for the elementary school and from $2.60 to $2.65 for middle school and high school. This is a federally mandated increase.

Woods