Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

No new superintendent for district yet

No decision has been made concerning who the next superintendent of the Prescott School District will be.

In its regular monthly meeting, the Prescott School Board discussed the matter, but came up with no answers at this time.

However, according to Rick McGough, board president, the panel will select a superintendent first, then work on finding a new principal for Prescott High School along with a new head football coach and athletic director.

Brandi Karlovec, president of the PTP program, told the board what the Parents and Teachers as Partners group has been doing the past two years.

She said the PTP holds fund raisers to help the schools, and is now working to raise about $12,000 to purchase three items for the Prescott Elementary School playground.

To make these purchases, the PTP will set up a separate bank account where people can make donations toward the playground equipment.

The first piece of equipment to be bought, she said, will be a swing for handicapped students.

Next on the list will be a new slide, followed by a "buck-a-bout".

Karlovec said PES Principal Howard Austin is checking on the safety zones for the equipment.

Ruby Hart filled in for Pearl Bailey to give the Prescott District Education Association (PDEA) report.

She said delegates went to the Arkansas Education Association (AEA) assembly in Little Rock April 5-6, where the Prescott group won an award for increasing its membership.

National Teacher's Day will be May 7, she said, and will be observed locally.

Hart added Prescott will be hosting the District III Council meeting later this summer.

School improvement plans were given for all three campuses, with all three plans being similar in nature.

The district will be focusing on improving math and literacy throughout the schools.

PES will be working to simplify things and reduce paperwork, while working to improve students's literacy and math scores.

Plans are to target the weakest areas, get input from the staff on its needs and evaluate programs currently in place to see if they're working.

McRae Middle School is in the fifth year of its Comprehensive Outcome Education (COE) plan, according to Principal Jim Gober.

Under the old COE plan MMS focused on four areas: discipline, reading, language arts and math.

Time factors, Gober said, forced MMS to abandon some of its plans.

He said the middle school will be doing basically the same thing as PES, working on literacy and math. MMS will use the Arkansas Consolidated School Improvement Plan (ACSIP) to work on improving grades in these areas.

To help on the literacy end, he said, MMS has added a "Step Up to Writing" program for the students.

Hyacinth Deon presented the plans for PHS, saying the goals are similar to MMS and PES, and PHS will be using the ACSIP plan as well.

PHS will also be focusing on improving test scores in math and literacy.

Ron Wright, superintendent, said schools all over Arkansas are returning to emphasizing the basics, primarily math and literacy.

Hart returned to the forefront to discuss an idea the Personnel Policy Committee (PPC) had concerning retirement.

She said the current policy is 20 years old and stipulated retiring teachers get paid $25 for each year of service.

Members of the PPC developed a formula, taking the annual salary dividing it by 185 (the number of days in a school year) and getting a daily salary. This figure was multiplied by 35 percent, she said.

It is this figure, which differs from person to person, the PPC would like to use for retirement figures and have the board change the district's policy.

Wright said this is a win-win situation for the district, as it concerns sick days accrued by teachers.

The less a teacher misses, he said, means it's better for the district and students. The teachers aren't taking sick days, the district isn't paying substitute teachers and the students have continuity in the classroom.

The PPC will continue working on this issue and bring it back to the board at its May meeting.

Deon also had two rounds before the board, the second being news of programs to be implemented at MMS through grants received.

She said one program will help the students understand more about the world of work, as the district's vocational business department received a grant for $36,000 to start a similar program at MMS.

This means, she said, students in the seventh and eighth grades will be able to take classes in keyboarding and computer technology. Then, when they get to PHS, they'll be ready to tackle the more advanced courses.

Additionally, Deon said, this will open more opportunities for electives at PHS.

The second grant is for food production through the Family and Consumer Science program. The district received two grants for this, one for $11,128.40, and the other for $4,692.40. The grant monies are to be used to purchase equipment and other supplies needed.

Students taking these courses can earn a certification in food services and be ready to go into management trainee programs right out of high school.

Students in the EAST Lab course presented a program on their trip to Little Rock and the National EAST conference. In its first year, instructor Jason Himes said, the district earned an excellent rating.

The highest rating is superior.