Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School Board Changes Policies

Student athletes in the Prescott School District need to start buckling down on the books.

At the regular monthly meeting of the Prescott School Board, Tuesday, May 22, the panel changed the district's policy on eligibility for extracurricular activities. Under the change, the students in these activities will be required to make a 2.0 grade point average in order to participate.

However, there is a loophole. The students can go through a supplemental instructional program to raise their grades to the minimum level.

Superintendent Ron Wright said students affected by the GPA requirements must attend 100 minutes of supplemental instruction, which will be from 7:25-7:50 a.m., with coaches on hand to help.

Wright said this program has been a "farce" to date, being nothing more than a study hall for those involved. But, things will soon be changing, with the help of the coaches.

PHS Head Football Coach Kirk Armitage talked to Wright about making this program something to benefit the students, where they will actually improve their grades.

Coach Mark Keener will do a biology and computer lab with software tailored for different problems.

The program, Wright said, will be year-round, and be open to any student in academic difficulty, not just those in extracurricular activities.

Under guidelines set by the Arkansas Department of Education and Arkansas Activities Association, this program must be in addition to other class work by the students. It can also be held during the summer months.

Wright said the changes the district is making will more than meet the 100 minute requirement and provide a way for students on the edge to be eligible for fall activities.

However, for those who don't make the 2.0 GPA, it will be a case of no pass, no play, no exceptions, unless the student in question is tested for special ed and meets those requirements. Students in special education courses fall under a different set of rules.

"This raises the mark," Wright said, "and should raise the efforts by the students."

The district will submit its proposal to the ADE for approval. Once it has been approved, the board will remove the current policy and institute the new one.

"It's time to raise the bar," Wright said. "Armitage cares about more than just winning. He wants a quality program and a top-flight academic program."

The board tabled this measure until the department of education gives the district the go-ahead on it.

Another policy which will affect students in extracurricular activities was adopted by the district  random drug testing.

The board agreed to adopt a policy based on the one instituted by Cave City. It's policy was challenged in court, with the district winning the case.

Several districts in the state have adopted drug testing policies based on the Cave City example.

Under the policy, the first time a student tests positive, their parents will be notified.

The idea, Wright said, is not to throw the student into the legal system until necessary.

"We're doing what we can to help students kick this problem," he said. "This will help some with an excuse to avoid drugs."

Should a student test positive, they will be on probation for 30 days. At the end of this time, though, they must be tested again, this time at the parents' expense.

Originally, the probationary period was set for 20 days, but Dr. Alan Fox, with St. Michael Christus Health Center, said some drugs remain in the system longer than 20 days, and suggested the 30-day wait.

The clinic will do the drug screening for the district. Involved will be those who participate in any activity governed by the AAA  and this includes band and quiz bowl.

Wright pointed out if a teacher suspects a student of being on drugs, though, the student, whether involved in extracurricular activities or not, can be tested.

The district will use the same computer program it uses to randomly test its bus drivers for the students.

Another thing, any student testing positive will automatically be tested when the tests are administered.

In other business, the board reviewed two bids for building a new greenhouse for the agriculture program.One bid was from Seven Point, Texas, for $10,300. This would include putting up the building and doing the groundwork. If the district did the dirt work and set the concrete footings, the bid would be $9,000.

Steve Cox, of Emmet, who is working on the PHS new gym project, turned in a bid for $8,700. His bid included everything but the electrical and plumbing work.

The board awarded the bid to Cox, and the district will take care of the utility work.

The district ended the year on a good note where student population was concerned, as enrollment was up by three students at the end of the term, bringing the total to 1,125.

Should the 2001-2002 academic year start at this figure or more, Wright said, it will be a good trend.

At this time, the district's financial position is strong and it should be able to provide the teacher raises the legislature approved.

However, he said, if the student population drops, the district will lose money and giving the raises could make it rough.

In discussing the building program, Wright said the district has certificates of deposit at the bank for $1 million. This gives it a total of $1,723,000 to finish construction on the new gym.

The district, he said, has two other CDs which will be maturing soon. They will be combined into one and rolled over so the district can maximize the money it has.

Pearl Bailey, president of the Prescott District Education Association, will again be working with the summer school program, as she's done for the past 12-15 years.

This year's summer session will be broadened to accept students in grads 1-11, with three certified teachers working with the students.

In addition, 10-12 high school students will be working as mentors in the program, helping the other students try and improve their grades.

The session will last six weeks, with the student workers being pre-tested and paid as they must meet certain standards before they can be mentors.

As it stands, there will be about 100 students in the summer session.

The students in the session must be in academic distress, as well, though, Bailey said, several student who aren't having problems wanted to be in it also.

The criteria for Prescott Elementary students is they must be borderline or have been held back. Those at McRae Middle School and PHS must have half of their grades being F's.

Bailey said the idea this year is to do home visits with the parents as well, to see what can be done to help the students there.

The summer session will be paid for with a $25,000 grant the district received.

There was also discussion concerning block scheduling and the committee formed to examine it.

The committee had recommended holding another public meeting to let people know what has happened and what is going on.

Jeff Haynes, a member of the panel, said the idea is to let the people know the committee is still working, the issue hasn't been swept under the rug and input is still needed.

Wright suggested waiting until closer to the start of the new academic year before scheduling a public meeting, as many people will be leaving town on vacation during the summer.

Haynes expanded this idea, saying it may be better to wait until September or October to see how the existing block scheduling situation is doing.

He added it would give the committee more time to do research and gather information to present to the public.

As the meeting closed, Wright said the district will try to offer a course in African-American studies, as a lot of students have expressed an interest in it.

Eventually, he said, the district may try to offer multi-cultural studies.