Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board Looks To Appoint Committee; Honor Staff

Employees in the Nevada School District will soon have their efforts recognized.

The Nevada School Board, in its regular monthly meeting Thursday, Feb. 17, voted to present the district's employees with service pins in a show of appreciation.

Superintendent Rick McAffee will do a cost analysis on the matter and get back to the board at its March meeting. "We're looking for ways to encourage teachers, to show our appreciation for the hard work and job they do," he said.

Board member Mack Bridges suggested beginning with five-year pins and going up from there.

McAffee said the district could begin with one-year pins, then go to five and take the honor in five-year increments, or, he told the board, the employees could be recognized for their present status in years served and then go to five-year increments.

Members of the board were also asked to help find representatives to be on the school uniform committee. McAffee asked each one to find someone in their zone to help examine the issue.

Once the committee has been formed, the members will be given the data concerning school uniforms and be asked to come up with a suggestion for the district.

This is being done under state mandate. Any district not creating a school uniform panel will have the issue decided in the September school elections by a vote of the people.

McAffee said the group is likely to meet between three and five times to go over the information provided. The committee will primarily consist of parents, but will also get input from teachers and students.

Once it reaches a decision, its findings will be presented to the board.

It will then be up to the board to accept or reject the findings.

In other business, McAffee said the district suffered about $6,000 in damages from the snowstorm. The bulk of the damage was caused by a building collapsing and destroying what was inside.

However, he said, everything was covered, the insurance provider has been notified and the items destroyed are being replaced as quickly as possible.

This week is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Arkansas, he told the board, and as such, several weather-related activities have been planned.

At this time, he said, the Nevada district is the only one in the state with its own storm shelter.

Other districts practice the "duck and cover" method during their emergency drills, while Nevada students file into the school's shelter.

Such drills will be conducted during Severe Weather Week, with coloring books being passed out to the elementary students.

McAffee said a weather radio is kept on, and a weather site on the Internet provides up- to-the-minute information on any potential severe weather in the area.

Jim Cross, transportation and maintenance supervisor at Nevada, said the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, formerly the Office of Emergency Services, wants to use Nevada as an example for how shelters can be incorporated into a building's design.

The idea, he said, is to build shelters into new buildings while the building is underway.

The Nevada shelter, McAffee said, is large enough to hold all students, teachers and employees in the event severe weather hits.

Drills are held for getting students off buses and into the shelters, with these drills timed and the times sent to ADEM.

Changing gears, McAffee told the board the bulk of tax revenues are in, and a $200,000 certificate of deposit matured, but was not renewed. This, he said, was done to give interest rates time to go up so the district can earn more for its money.

The phone and intercom system recently installed was more expensive than anticipated. This, McAffee said, was because a control had to be added to the elementary side, some speakers had to be replaced and amplifiers had to be added to the cafeteria and agri building, with an extra amp added to the high school hallway.

Following a 32 minute executive session, the board gave NES Principal Natalie Sherwood and NHS Principal Blake Epperson one-year extensions on their contracts.

The board will next meet Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m.