Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Budget all right; lockers purchsed for new gymnasium

According to the budget, it looks as though the Prescott School District has $300,000 less this year than last.

However, Ron Wright, Prescott superintendent, told the Prescott School Board at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, Oct. 30, appearances in this case are deceiving.

The problem was the state ran into a shortfall because the economy didn't match the predictions made, therefore the state was slow in getting funds to school districts. Wright said the money did come in, but too late to get the information on the financial report for October.

Meanwhile, he said, the district will keep reinvesting as much money as it can from the building fund and use the interest for other projects.

On the topic of building, Wright gave an update on the new gym construction. He said the floor is down, but the scoreboard isn't in place.

The scoreboard, though, should have been installed first, he said, but the contractor delayed doing this until the floor was down. The flooring contractor won't allow the scoreboard crew to put their machine on the new floor because its weight would damage the floor.

Now, Wright said, the scoreboard crew will have to install it by putting scaffolds together. It will take 12 sections of scaffolding to reach the point needed for installation.

Before the scaffolding is put on the new floor, precautions will be taken to insure the flooring won't be damaged.

Pearl Bailey, representing the Prescott District Education Association (PDEA), said there were two meetings teachers were going to have.

One was an advisory program involving students in character education. This program, she said, allows the students to talk about anything they want.

The district will also host a Chamber coffee Monday, Nov. 12, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. in recognition of National Education Week.

The coffee will be held in the home economics building on the campus of Prescott High School.

James Cannon updated the board on the FFA National Convention, held this year in Louisville, Ky.

He said there were 46,223 attending the conference, with Prescott taking six students and two advisors, one being Wright.

"There were blue and gold jackets everywhere," he said

The exhibition hall held between 700 and 800 different exhibits, with a plethora of meetings the students could attend as well.

One of the featured speakers at the convention, Cannon said, was Dick Vitale, noted ESPN sports commentator. Bob Love, a former member of the Chicago Bulls basketball team.

The students also went to a concert, he said, with Jessica Andrews and Montgomery-Gentry performing.

"It was a real eye-opener," Cannon said. "It showed our students we're doing some of the same things they're doing on a national level. We're very competitive on the state level, and could compete nationally."

There was also an band and chorus made up strictly of FFA members from around the nation, including members from Arkansas chapters.

Cannon added there were Arkansas FFA students who won national awards at the convention.

The district entered into a tuition agreement with Mill Creek School, near Fordyce.

A student being counted in the Prescott district has been attending this school and will eventually become a resident of the area, Wright said.

The tuition agreement allows the Prescott district to continue receiving state funds for the student, while the district pays Mill Creek a stipend.

Bids were approved on lockers for the new gym and field house. The low bidder was All Storage Products of Little Rock at $25,409.

There were four bids in all, ranging from All Storage's low to a high of $39,994 from SOPA of Little Rock.

It was agreed members of the board would attend the Arkansas School Board Association (ASBA) meeting in Little Rock Dec. 5-7, and will stay at the Capital Hotel.

Students with the East Lab Program made a presentation for the board. They presented the patriotic program to the panel they had already shown to the student body and faculty.

According to East Lab instructor Jason Himes, there are three or four groups in each block, with each group working on its own project. Some of the projects include designing the pocket parks for Ok Mike and Curley Wolf parks, a logo for the new gym floor and a fountain for the front of the new gym.

Officers for the board were elected in accordance to state law. The law requires school board officers to be elected in the regular October meeting following the September school election.

The board decided to leave things as they were with the officers. This means Rick McGough is president, George Odom remains vice president and Kay Hendrix is secretary.

The board agreed to move the November meeting up a week, making it the second Tuesday in the month because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

It was also decided to change the meeting time from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.