Prairie Grove Schools Give Annual Report

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove schools hosted the November meeting for Prairie Grove School District, and school Superintendent Reba Holmes took advantage of the meeting to give the district’s Annual Report to the Public, as required by the Arkansas Department of Education.

School board members, school administrators and chamber members attended the Nov. 17 meeting held in the high school media center.

Holmes spoke specifically about three areas in the district, early release Wednesdays, the school facilities plan and the district’s federal covid-relief funds.

Flexible Schedule

Prairie Grove schools started a flexible schedule on Wednesdays this year so that teachers would be able to meet in collaborative teams once a week. School dismisses at 1:30 p.m. Parents can pick up their children early or allow them to stay on campus the rest of the day. School buses are running their regular schedules on Wednesdays.

Holmes said districts were challenged to give their teachers 90 minutes each week to meet in professional learning communities.

“This is truly for collaboration,” Holmes told those at the chamber meeting. “I believe in it. We have to work together.”

Early Wednesdays allow teachers to discuss student needs and make choices on how to meet the needs of struggling students, Holmes said.

Teachers are able to have time to plan for better methods to teach and engage their students, prioritize standards, come up with common assessments and work together to solve problems, she added.

Teachers are meeting each Wednesday from 1: 40- 3: 10 p. m. They start out in a large group setting with a goal to gradually release to small groups.

The focus is student and educator performance, Holmes said.

Teachers are there to answer

these questions:

• What is it we want students to learn?

• How will we know if students are learning?

• How will we respond when students don’t learn?

• How will we extend learning for students who are highly proficient?

Holmes said teachers will “plan, do, check, act.”

She said the district is discussing early release Wednesdays for the future. Questions include whether the district should continue it and, if so, if the early release should apply for all students.

Holmes said she is hesitant to have early release for everyone because it could affect parents and their schedules.

School Facilities Plan

Planning facilities to meet future growth is probably the biggest job the district has going on right now, Holmes said.

“We have to be prepared instructionally before non- instructually,” she added.

Prairie Grove’s enrollment, which can change daily with students coming in and going out of the district, was 2,129 students, i ncluding the pre- K program, on Nov. 19.

Phases 1 and 2 for facilities are underway with the new school being built at the intersection of Bush Street and Viney Grove Road. When the new school is finished next summer, fourth grade will move out of the elementary building and become part of middle school in the new building.

For 2022-23, the elementary school will be kindergarten- third grade; the middle school will be fourth- sixth grade; junior high will be seventh-eighth grade; and the high school will be ninth-12th grade.

Phase 3 is to demolish the old eighth grade building and start a new ninth grade wing, pending money from the state to help with costs.

Phase 4 is the completion of the new wing at the junior high, along with a plan to tear down the junior high cafeteria and build a larger commons area. When this is finished, ninth grade will move to the junior high building and the high school will be 10th-12th grades.

The projected enrollment for 2026-27, Holmes said, is 2,347 students, including 80 prekindergarten children.

Holmes gave the results of a parent survey on facility recommendations, and this shows that 34% want a football field/sports complex and 20% want better dropoff and pick-up lanes and parking areas. Another 18% said they wanted the district to update or build a middle school or junior high. Other recommendations included a performing arts center (9%), a second elementary school (8%), a career and technical center (4%) and other (7%).

For the future, Holmes said, classrooms must come first before facilities that are not used for instruction. Non- instruction facilities are not eligible for state funding and therefore, must be paid for out of the district’s budget.

The last extracurricular facility built by the district was Tiger Arena, Holmes said. Registered voters approved a millage increase from 36.9 to 42.9 mills to pay for the basketball arena in 2013.

Federal CovidRelief Funds

Prairie Grove, like all schools in the state, has received three rounds of covid- relief funds, called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER).

For ESSER I, Prairie Grove received $180,000, and this was used for technology and to purchase personal protection equipment and supplies.

For ESSER II, the district received $1.2 million. Of this, $1 million is being used for the fourth-grade wing at the new middle school, $150,000 for curriculum, $50,000 for technology.

For ESSER III, the district is receiving $1,650,000. Of this, $650,000 is being used for loss of learning, $500,000 for the new school, $250,000 for technology, $60,000 for personal protection supplies, $50,000 for virtual instruction, $ 140,000 for other budget shortfalls.

For ESSER money, the district uses it on the front end and then is reimbursed by the state. The district has three years to use the money.