Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada contracts approved

Contracts for both the elementary and high school principals were reviewed by the Nevada School Board, which also approved the school calendar for the coming year.

Elementary Principal Natalie Sherwood and high school Principal Blake Epperson have both been employed by the district since consolidation 14 years ago.

The actions came as a part of the school board meeting held, Thursday, Feb. 21. Contracts for certified teachers and staff will be considered during the March meeting. The date of that meeting has been changed because of a conflict with the school's parent teacher conferences.

Nevada Superintendent Rick McAfee said the meeting will include an executive session to consider the teachers' contracts and recommended that the board change the date of the meeting to March 19, and move the time to 6 p.m.

The school's calendar has already been voted on by the teachers and McAfee said 46 of the district's 48 teachers selected the same calendar. According to the calendar, the 2002-2003 school year will begin on August 12 with three teacher inservice days and an open house before students begin classes on August 19. Graduation will be held May 15.

The recent visit by Governor Mike Huckabee was also discussed during the board meeting.

Both the elementary and high school principals said students were on their best behavior during the visit. Huckabee toured the facility, visited with teachers and students and presented the governor's Medal of Excellence in Music award to a high school student during the visit.

On the subject of sports, Epperson congratulated the junior girls' team for their win at the 7AA Central District Tournament. The team ended the season with a 16-1 record, Epperson said.

The senior boys also won the 7AA Central District Tournament.

Sherwood said the All-Star Pee Wee basketball season is about to kick off. The team, fourth through sixth grade boys and girls, will travel to several games around the area.

Several grants were discussed during the meeting. Sherwood said she and a fourth grade teacher have been invited to participate in a workshop to be held in Memphis next month.

The trip is paid for with a grant and the event is sponsored by Southern Arkansas University. Dr. Marlene Reed is overseeing the trip.

Sherwood said the program focuses on writing enhancement designed to help students with the Benchmark exams  standardized tests measuring students' ability in specific areas. The Memphis workshop will include a character education program called Voices of Love and Freedom that integrates with the writing program already in place in the Nevada schools.

Five Nevada teachers have already attended a similar workshop. Sherwood said this will give her a chance to personally see how the program is initiated.

McAfee said the school is a finalist in a reading excellence grant. If approved, the school would receive $345,000 that could be used to fund some specific staff positions.

Epperson said the school has also been awarded a $500 grant from Exxon that will likely be used for incentives for students who excel at the Benchmark exams.

And finally, McAfee said the school has been awarded a grant for $8,600 that will be used to purchase computers, a laptop and a projector to be used to display computer images onto a screen. Several pieces of the equipment can be used if the district moves to distance learning.

McAfee said students are currently offered French as a foreign language. He said the possibility of offering Spanish as a distance learning course in cooperation with the Hot Springs School for Math and Science is being considered, mostly because of the high demand for people who can speak Spanish.

In other business, the board denied a request to release two students from the district to attend the Hope School. McAfee said the district's policy is to not release students unless there are extenuating circumstances.

He said his information about the students in question was limited. The board agreed to reconsider the request if additional information were presented that the situation is causing a hardship on the parent.

McAfee told the board the state has reviewed the district's annual audit and there were no areas of major concern noted on the report.

Parent teacher conferences will be held on March 21 from 4-7 p.m.