Gentry School Board opens meeting with performance
GENTRY — Gentry’s school board, at its March 28 meeting, opened with a brief performance from “Something’s Rotten,” a musical put on last month by Gentry High School’s theater and choir students.
Also recognized in the opening minutes of the March 28 meeting were the varsity girls’ basketball team and coaches Toby Tevebough and Courtney Place. The young team, made up of one junior and a roster full of sophomores, was recognized for its outstanding season and for competing in district, regional and state tournaments.
After hearing of school successes, Gentry’s school board, at its March 28 meeting, approved rehiring principals and building administrators and voted to contract janitorial services for the middle school campus for the 2022-2023 school year.
The board unanimously approved offering new contracts for the 2022-2023 school year to school principals Victoria Groomer (primary school), Keeta Neal (intermediate school), Kristen Smartt (primary/intermediate school), Danielle Freeman (middle school) and Brae Harper (high school). A new LEA supervisor (over the school district’s special education teachers and programs) will need to be hired for the new school year, according to Terrie Metz, superintendent of Gentry Public Schools.
Also approved by the board under personnel matters were the following resignations:
Scott Heaton as a custodian (this year); Angie Dennis as LEA supervisor (next school year); Kendra Crouse as a high school science teacher (next year); JT Barlow as a middle school PE teacher and football coach (this year); Summer Bostic as a primary school music teacher (next year); and Jacob Lee as middle school science teacher (next year).
Retirements were approved for Wayne Pipkin, high school math teacher; Kathy Pipkin, high school counselor; Trella Yates, intermediate school music teacher; and Myra Welch, middle school secretary.
New hires approved included Deitric Massey as a custodian; Tyler Clark as middle school PE and football coach; and Jamie Bell, fourth-grade teacher (next year).
Transfers for next year include Jade Riley and Becky Baxter to Opportunity Culture reach associates; Anthony Herbaugh to high school computer science; Krista Carr to ALE English; Courtney Barnett as primary school receptionist (this year); and John Madding to ALE math teacher (next year).
A list of athletic assignments was also approved, with the notation that Erica Jones had resigned from her current volleyball coaching duties and that Tim Fulks was not included as a golf coach with a shortage of golfers in the golf program in the current school year.
The board approved extending the ALE (alternative learning experience) program to include the middle school. It currently is being used to help high school students make up credits and complete needed coursework to graduate. It is being expanded to help middle school students who are at risk of failing or falling behind in the standard classroom setting.
With four openings on the janitorial staff and few applicants, the school board approved contracting custodial services for the middle school next school year with SG360, a commercial janitorial service specializing in cleaning schools. According to Jason Barrett, transportation and maintenance director for the district, when including the cost of cleaning supplies, contracting the service may cost slightly less than hiring custodians and purchasing the cleaning supplies.
By contracting for just one school campus, the school district will not be terminating other district custodians but trying out the service and filling the gap in the need for school cleaning services.
Barrett said the contract for custodians to clean the middle school would be $7,413.48 per month or $97,413 per year. He said the school district is currently spending $99,000 on cleaning in the middle school with its own custodians.
Barrett told board members that the HVAC project at the high school was to come out of engineering Friday, moving the district closer to having a biddable project.
The board also approved on a first reading a calendar submitted by the district’s personnel policy committee. The calendar will be reviewed and brought back for consideration on its second reading later this month.
Brent Hester, the athletic director for the district, provided information to the board on the school district’s 4A classification and where the district ranked in size compared to other schools in the classification. Other school districts in the 4A-1 Football Conference for next year include Berryville, Elkins, Gravette, Green Forest, Huntsville, Lincoln and Ozark. In basketball and other sports, Gentry shares the conference with Berryville, Farmington, Gravette, Huntsville, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and Shiloh Christian. Gentry ranks 45th out of 47 schools in size with 325 students for basketball and other sports. It ranks 27th out of 48 in football.