Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Extends Superintendent Contract, Approves Raise
FARMINGTON — Farmington School Board voted Jan. 24 to extend Superintendent Jon Laffoon’s three-year contract another year through 202425 and give him a 5% raise.
The board met in executive session that night for Laffoon’s evaluation before returning to public session to vote. Laffoon’s salary will increase from $139,000 to $145,950, effective July 1 for the 2022-23 school year.
Laffoon is in his third year as Farmington’s superintendent, starting with the district on July 1, 2020.
Board President Travis Warren said the board used a rubric to evaluate Laffoon in many areas by rating him 1-5, with a 5 rating being the best.
“On 98% of those, it was five stars,” Warren said last week. “Every board member feels like he’s doing an outstanding job.”
Personally, Warren said he’s been impressed with Laffoon’s compassion and willingness to do whatever it takes to help students get an education.
Warren said he recommended a 5% raise to keep Laffoon on an average par with other superintendents in similar size districts.
“Our desire is to keep him,” Warren said. “He does a really good job of leading the district.”
The board meeting, which was held at Williams Elementary School, opened with a proclamation from Farmington Mayor Ernie Penn in recognition of board members for Arkansas School Board Appreciation Month in January.
The proclamation was followed by a video produced by the high school’s broadcast class in recognition of the school board. In the video, teachers, coaches, administrators and students thanked the board for their support.
In action items, the board approved a resolution to allow Stephens Inc. investment firm to file an application with the Arkansas Department of Education to issue refunding bonds for a December 2016 bond issue with a balance of $2.8 million.
Kevin Faught with Stephens said the resolution gives the firm the authority to start the process to refund the bonds and save the district money with a lower interest rate. Faught said the potential is there to reduce the interest rate from 2.9% to 1.7%, with a net cash savings of $178,000, $142,000 of that occurring the first year.
The resolution does not obligate the school board to move forward with refunding the bonds if the savings potential is not there, Faught said.
The schedule shows the bonds would be offered for sale Feb. 17, with a closing date of March 10. If
the bond sale is acceptable, Faught said he would come back at the Feb. 28 meeting to seek approval of the sale.
In other business, the board approved purchasing 700 Chromebooks from the company Shi, using a $187,000 grant from the Emergency Connectivity Fund to pay for the computers.
It also approved the consent agenda, which this month included minutes of previous meetings, district transfers, overnight trips, monthly financial statements and school board training hours.
Joe McClung, assistant superintendent, reported the school has received a $10,000 Project Lead the Way grant that will be used to expand computer science courses at the high school. In all, the district has received about $30,000 from Project Lead the Way grants this year.
The district also has received a $ 20,000 grant from NWA Food Bank to help with the district’s food pantry, according to Stephanie Pinkerton, assistant superintendent.
Pinkerton gave out the latest covid-19 case numbers and told board members the administration and nurses track those numbers throughout the day to help in case a “quick decision” needs to be made to close schools and move to virtual classes.
The district is considering a proposal to lease two more buses, one a 48-passenger bus with a lift and the other a 77-passenger bus. Pinkerton said the cost would be $2,700 annually per bus.
For personnel, the board accepted the resignation of high school counselor Jody Whitehead and voted to hire Donna Norsworthy to replace Whitehead.
Prior to the meeting, the board held a closed student disciplinary hearing. In public session the board voted to allow the student to participate in the Second Chance program.