Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon School Board Wants To Give Property To Church

Gurdon's School Board passed a motion to donate land to the Crossroads Baptist Church of Gurdon at the June 20 meeting.

Gurdon School Board members voted unanimously to sell off approximately $2,000-$2,500 worth of timber from an acre of land on Kansas Road and donate said land to the church.

Superintendent, Bobby Smithson said, during the meeting, "I suggest selling the timber and then donate the land. The alternative is taking bids . . . a Methodist could end up with a Baptist parking lot."

School board president, Jesse Runyan volunteered to contact International Paper concerning the purchase of the timber and to mark the trees to be saved.

The land in question was absorbed into the Gurdon School District in 1946 from the former Crossroads School District. The Crossroads Baptist Church has been using the corner area across from Stroud Road for a parking lot for some time.

Christy Gould, a lawyer for the Arkansas School Board Association commented on the donation explaining, "I don't have a problem with the church' part, I do however, have a problem with the donate' part."

Gould said, "Donating the land could be a violation of the Arkansas Constitution . . . nothing requires the school to take bids to sell property though, either personal or real."

On Gurdon's account though Gould observed, "I don't believe the school board intended any harm, . . . school law is complicated and often contradictory to intuition."

Rita Sklar, director of the Arkansas chapter, American Civil Liberties Union, said, "It's sounds troublesome that a school district showed favoritism over another entity when a profit, however small, could benefit local school children."

Local appraiser, Brown Hardman, of Hardman and Associates said, "Comparable land has sold ranging from $1,000 to $2,500." Others agreed with this hypothesized range in pricing for the acre.

The church was expecting to cover the transaction cost.

With continuing construction, the district finds itself in a cash crunch. "We do need to borrow $300,000 and will pay it back in November after we receive most of our local revenue. This will permit us to pay for our new track and meet our other financial demands during the summer months," Smithson said.

Kellar Noggle, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, addressed a letter to all superintendents of schools in Arkansas. In this letter, Noggle explained the details of a lawsuit based another lawsuit.

In 1992, Lake View et al V. Huckabee et al began, and the suit forced a change in the school funding formula. The lawyers who worked on the suit are demanding an exorbitant amount for payment, 19 million. These millions would come from all the school districts involved in the suit. All the school districts in the state.

Gurdon can pay $995 and become part of the second lawsuit to reduce the payment to the first set of lawyers.

This is the action the board took. The motion was made and passed to pay the $995 and join the lawsuit.

"We'll have to raise the price of meals," explained Smithson, "not a major increase."

He attributed the deficit to the hiring of extra help. "Food service needs to be self-supportive." Of course, the deficit reported at the June 20, meeting did not reflect the federal reimbursement which was received on June 19.

Still, there was a projected shortage of $16,460.

"Our proceeds from the school auction were in the amount of $14,597,19," Smithson said. Commenting to the board, he admitted not reading the contract with auctioneer Bobby Goodman closely enough. Goodman walked away with 20 percent of the proceeds.

Smithson said, "I should have questioned him on the buyers fee."

M&M Fence Company of Arkadelphia, has proposed its estimated cost for the two fences Smithson would like to see built. The bus garage fencing is proposed to cost $8,069.82. The football stadium fencing is proposed to cost $5,485.85. Smithson said, "We could take bids, but most of the time they're the lowest."Commendations went to the Horace Cabe Foundation and Wilma Davis, Gurdon Primary School cafeteria manager. After funds ran out before the cafeteria could be renovated along with the rest of GPS, Davis showed initiative by drafting a grant proposal. The Horace Cabe Foundation has presented GPS and Davis a grant in the amount of $60,000 for the renovation of the GPS cafeteria.

Construction has begun, as reported to the board by Smithson. He requested permission to accept a bid which had not been received in time for the meeting. "We'd like to have your permission to okay Supreme's bid when it comes in to avoid calling a special meeting." Preapproval was granted.

With the renovation, the staff will now have a 8-foot x 10-foot office space. The work is expected to be done before school starts.

Spring sports are causing, and expected to cause, more stress for the board members. Smithson explained, "Their eating us alive. We've got to find revenue for the spring sports by charging for admission and from the concessions. This is not going to be popular with the band parents."

Other financial matters were dealt with.

Mike McKenzie, of M&M Enterprises, agreed to accept the price of $1,500 from the ASBA Insurance for the windows in the old high school.

The pavilion Smithson has proposed with the other construction projects will need to be put off. The cost for the project has been lowered by $2,500 to $3,000. Still, the district will have to wait until $16,000 can be found.

The construction of the basketball courts will proceed with an increase in estimated cost. Smithson anticipated a cheaper price from Statewide Construction, the company working on the latex for the track. Smithson decided, and the board followed, the courts will now be constructed in concrete for $3,700.

The ASBA insurance has agreed to pay the district $30,000 for the old economic building which burned.

Three retiring teachers, three transferring teachers, and three competing teachers took up time in executive session.

Most interesting is the boards decision to advertise for the high school dean of students position. Libby White, Charles Fallia, and Freddie Horne, are vying for the same position.

One new addition to the faculty of GHS will be Robert Hulan as assistant football coach.

Several other positions will be advertised also.