Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District Pondering Master Plan

Developing a master plan for future construction is being considered by the Prescott School Board.

At its regular meeting, Tuesday, April 20, the board heard from David French and Rico Harris, from the French Architect Firm of Hot Springs.

French presented a slide show of work the firm has done in the past, primarily work with educational facilities across the nation.

He said a master plan is important so all construction will work in sync, saying his firm tries to look at the overall picture when working on designs.

He showed where the district could build a new gymnasium and have it constructed so it would work with the other structures already in place.

French's firm works with the environment, trying to design buildings which enhance the landscape there, instead of bulling through and forcing nature to conform with the buildings.

Harris told the board each project is different and the firm has no particular style it uses, as some firms do. "We try to take the money available and spend it wisely," he said.

Money is well spent developing a master plan, French said, as it would help the district stay consistent in its building program.

The plan, he said, can be as simple or complex as the district desires.

The firm, French continued, will develop ideas and bring them back to the board for further discussion.

James Cannon, agriculture instructor at Prescott High School, gave the board an update on the trees cut from the program's lot.

He said marked poles had been cut and sold, with forestry classes going to the property recently and looking around.

Other trees, Cannon said, need to be cut, while some weren't and should have been when the cutting was done.

People in the community involved with the timber industry, he said, have been working with the Future Farmer's of America (FFA) forestry team as competition time draws near.

Cannon plans to add a forestry class to the agri program next year, and have the students spend more time in the woods studying trees.

Clearcutting on the school-owned land is not an option in Cannon's opinion. He told the board it would be better if the timber were selectively cut instead, with those trees cut having others replanted in their place.

Ron Wright, district superintendent, said the board needs to decide what it plans on asking the public to do about the millage at the annual September School Election.

The district, he said, can ask for more millage for renovations and see if the public is interested to help build a new gym.

A date, Tuesday, May 11, has been set for a public meeting to get comments on a possible millage hike.

"We'd like to get the pulse of the public before a decision is made," he said.

The public meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the PHS auditorium. The board will have a list of priorities to present to those residents who attend.

In other business, the board approved a resolution to seek reimbursement for the new covered walkway at Prescott Middle School.

Wright brought four legislative items to the board's attention. The first being the increase of revenue from students. He said the increase will be from $125 to $150 per student.

For district's with declining enrollment over a three-year period, he said, the general assembly has funds available to help offset the loss. Prescott is one such district.

On the down side, HB 2076 presents a new salary schedule districts in Arkansas must meet.

Those instructors with bachelor's degrees will start at $21,860 beginning with the school year 2000-2001. The step increases will be $444 per year.

Teachers with master's degrees will move up to $32,000 with 15-year step increases.

Board member Jim Franks said he lobbied for the bill, but asked the legislators not to pass it if it was going to be another unfunded mandate.

As it is, the new salary schedule will cost the district an additional $181,000 per year, with no way to phase it in, he said.

Even with the increase in state aid and money from the loss of students, he said, the new salary schedule will mean the district gets no new money.

The new salary's amount to about a 9 percent increase, Wright said. "This can be difficult for smaller districts to meet the requirements. We'll have to live leaner."

NCA/COE teams visiting the district gave pleasing reports as they departed. They complimented the work done on the district's five-year plan and praised the students for how well they were behaved going from class to class.

Two students were transferred into the Prescott district from Blevins.

In one case the parents built a new home just across the Prescott-Blevins boundary and have worked to get their child back into the Prescott district.

The other instance had the student moving into the Prescott district and the family already obtained permission from the Blevins School Board.

Non-certified personnel were given 3 percent pay raises, with the starting salary for secretaries bumped up to $13,000 per year.

Those on the secretarial staff were also given two personal days a year to conduct business they otherwise could not do.

Substitute bus driver pay was dropped from $28 per day to $26 daily so there would be a gap in the pay between regular drivers and substitutes.

Trip pay for bus drivers was increased to $6 per hour as well.

The board modified graduation requirements for the future. Students in the district will be taking keyboarding classes in middle school, while the high school students will see this time freed for more computer classes.

The keyboard classes will first begin in the eighth grade, with the requirement dropping down to the sixth grade in the future.