Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Steed resigns from Nevada

Nevada is the latest school to be in search of a coach.

The Nevada School Board, in its July meeting, agreed to release Jeff Steed, boys basketball coach, from his contract with the district.

Steed has accepted a position with the Spring Hill School District as its basketball coach.

Nevada Superintendent Rick McAfee said the district will try to fill the job from within the current staff, but was given permission to advertise the position if this can't be done.

With basketball being the primary sport at Nevada, practice begins when school starts.

"This is short notice," said Board President Don Callicott, "being so close to the school year."

Callicott cast the only nay vote on the contract issue, with the other four members of the board voting for the release.

During his report, McAfee said the budget for 2002-03 was bases on zero growth, even though Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has predicted a 4.8 percent revenue growth for the state.

The budget will be reviewed by the board at its August meeting for approval. McAfee said the district ended the year with $240,000, but, should things remain as they currently are, $90,000 of this will have to be used to help get through the year.

"We'll make cuts as we go along," he said. "We've had to make cuts in salaries, and will have to make more cuts next year. I expect more staff cuts. There will be some who retire and won't be replaced."

Personnel, he said, is the district's biggest expense, as the operating expense is minimal.

However, problems have arisen because the state used to pay matching funds in some area, and no longer does this. These expenses, mostly in insurance, had to be picked up by the school districts in the state.

"This is where we got hit," McAfee said.

At this point, the budget reflects $120,000 in salary cuts, with other cuts anticipated as the year goes on.

Jim Cross, maintenance and transportation director, said the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) requires counties to test their emergency plans annually.

This year, he said, the county will put its multi-hazard plan into effect for testing. The test will be done on school levels incorporating the plan into service.

Cross said those involved will be given a table-top scenario and develop a chain of command from it. Then, the entire emergency plan will be examined.

"We have a plan," McAfee said, "and I hope we never use it."

However, he added, the law requires all districts to have emergency plans and Nevada's will be fine tuned during the exercise to see how it works.

Cross also praised his staff for the repairs and painting it did at Nevada during the summer break. Most of the work, he said, was done at little cost to the district  including redesigning the principal's office on the high school side.

McAfee told the board he had been to Little Rock to discuss voting for the school elections.

Under Arkansas law, he said, the district had to comply with voting in zoned areas numerically equitable.

His trip to Little Rock was to discuss the map to be used for Nevada, as it must be filed before Aug. 1.

However, Nevada exists under a pre-consolidation rule and doesn't have to be zoned in the same manner as other districts. The five former districts each get one representative on the board.

McAfee said when he received the map it was wrong, but changes will be made to correct the problems.

In other business, the board voted to retain the Dwight Jones Agency to provide student insurance. The policy will cost the district $5,094 for the academic year and cover all students.

Borden's was also awarded the milk contract for the year. McAfee said the prices were similar to last year, and could change depending on what dairy prices do during the year.

The milk, he added, will be delivered to the school.

Students will return for a full day of school Monday, Aug. 19, with open house scheduled for Monday, Aug. 12.