Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Two Seats Opening On Gurdon School Board

Two Gurdon School board seats are opening up for election in September.

Charles Hatley and Jesse Runyan, are finishing their four years of service. Hatley was elected from Zone 9. Runyan, who is president of the board, was elected from Zone 14.

Elections for school board will be held on September 14.

Two teachers, Catherine Square and Beth Miller, were hired for Gurdon Primary School. Neither has been assigned to a specific grade.

After working out many of the details of the distance learning classes, the Gurdon School District will offer Spanish in this manner for the next school year. There will be four sections of Spanish I to accommodate 31 students with three classes of eight students each and one class of seven students. One section of Spanish II will contain 14 students in the class.

Gurdon is currently on the non-funded list, but the Arkansas School of Math and Science, operating these services, has agreed to these classes with the possibility of adding a calculus class at a later date, provided funds become available.

Cost include equipment, faculty and phone charges at this time, but the numbers provided from Leonard Gills, Gurdon High School principal, are estimates.

The district will now be using a grant from three years ago of $3,000 for the distance learning classes. There is no need for the school to purchase new books for the new Spanish classes.

The board decided, in executive session, to advertise for a teacher's aide to work with the distance learning program. The aide will assist in monitoring the students.

More work was completed on the drug policy to begin with the next school semester. The board decided to have a maximum of 50 students tested with no less than half of the 50 coming randomly from lists of students involved with extracurricular activities. Students refusing to be tested will not be allowed to participate in any after school activities. Parents will be asked to sign a form in or attached to the handbooks that will allow the district to test.

"Testing should include any ages where we have extra circular activities," board member Stan Escalante said. Testing will cover grades 7-12.

"Parents have the right to say, 'I don't want my child in the sample,'" Bobby Smithson, superintendent of the district, said.

Discussion continued on the district's crisis plan at the meeting last week. Subjects covered designated press area, phone numbers of extra counselors, Sheriff Troy Tucker's comments and informing Jim Burns from the Office of Emergency Services.

Board member Jim Otwell suggested to wait on making any decisions until the sheriff had a chance to go over the plans. The discussion was put off pending further information.

"It's going to take several steps," Smithson said.

The board was impressed with the work of Melissa Franklin, counselor for the primary and middle schools. Franklin had prepared for the board an example of an emergency 'to do' list that could be posted in every room.

Changes in the handbooks were presented to the school board by all three principals. Rita Roe, Gurdon Primary School principal, had no changes.

Jeff Alexander, Cabe Middle School principal, had many changes and a request. He suggested rewording the part of the handbook covering threatening, morning time for detention hall, morning traffic controls and required reading classes for some eighth grade students were suggested.

Eighth grade students scoring below the 25th percentile on the Stanford 9 tests will be required to take a reading class. Students scoring below the 50-26th percentile will have the option to participate in the reading class with parents approval. Thirty-five students would require the reading class, Alexander said.

Title I teacher Bonnie Ross said, "Looking at the budget I know there's going to be a problem...The district will have to cover some of the cost."

Alexander estimated the district has $8,200 for the program. Ross said that part time Title 1 teacher Jean Smithee could be used at Cabe Middle School in the afternoons, providing principal Roe could afford Smithee's absence. Roe agreed as long as it was after 1:00 p.m. The motion passed to implement Alexander's request for two reading classes. "Anything we can do... if they can't read they can't perform," board member Billy Tarpley said.

Gills recommended changes in the handbook be made to allow students who score above 50th percentile on their Stanford 9 test be allowed a free day with the permission of parents and teachers. "If they lose their certificate, they lose their free day," he said.

Gills asked for other changes with a more serious tone. "Students who are expelled or in trouble with the law can no longer participate in extracurricular activities," Gills recommended. Tarpley helped with the wording saying, "Students who have pending court cases or committed sever offenses against school staff or faculty..." was added.

Also changed was the school policy on field trips. "Students with discipline problems or low or failing grades are no longer allowed on field trips," Gills suggested. Gills reported there had been talk about certain students who carried low grades, yet still participated in the Close Up program. Also, students participating in the Close Up program can have no suspensions in the previous semester.

Now each day of suspension from school will carry a day of in-school suspension as requested by Gills.

Other changes include no sleeveless shirts with low or large opening under the arms, all pants must be worn at waste level, no sagging or baggy pants and caps must be kept out of sight.

There was slight discussion of exemptions, but the consensus was stated by board member Charles Hatley, "If there's not a problem, don't fix it."

Smithson began on his five recommendations to increase test scores:

School visitations. Require each teacher to visit a successful program to copy and implement ideas.

Study hall changes. Each study hall monitor will teach basic skills

Dawson Educational Cooperative. Take full advantage of the resources the co-op offers.

Free time. Offer time off to students who show serious improvement, certificates for free items from local businesses and/or field trips to younger students.

Merit pay. Rewarding teachers for 50% or better improvement on their tested student scores with $500 per year.

"I don't know yet how to pay for the merit awards," Smithson said.

Each principal give details on their plans to improve test scores.

Gills suggested a computerized reading lab, impressing upon freshmen during orientation the importance of test taking and informing parents the best ways to prepare their children to take the tests.

Alexander requested permission for a tutoring program for at r