Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

NES gets grant to improve test scores, NHS doesn't

Nevada Elementary School received a grant for $100,000 to help improve the district's Benchmark test scores.

Tiffany Beasley, NES principal, said she submitted a grant for Nevada High School as well, but it didn't receive the grant.

Nevada Superintendent Rick McAfee said there was more competition for the high school grants, and the funds went where they were needed more. This was at the regular monthly meeting of the Nevada School Board, Thursday, Nov. 18.

Beasley said she is submitting a recruitment plan to try and attract minority teachers and administrators to the district. Statistics show 69 percent of the student body is white, with 39 percent being black. For the staff, 61 percent is white, with 13 percent being black. "The goal is to get the staff reflecting the student body. We will recruit from traditionally black colleges, but there aren't many (teachers) out there. We'll also develop an incentive plan for minority teachers."

The minority recruitment plan, she said, will be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education by Nov. 30.

McAfee said the district will do all it can with the resources it has to attract quality minority teachers and administrators, adding students need such role models. Part of the problem, he added, is there are few openings at Nevada at this time, though the staff is aging.

With changes expected in the next legislative session, which starts in January, he said, several teachers may look at retiring.

Beasley said, she and two students were selected to attend the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library. "It was a beautiful ceremony and we saw a lot of stars, but it was cold and wet. We saw Bill Clinton and left."

Frank Bradley, NHS principal, kept his report short, saying basketball season is underway and the Blue Jays are off to a good start.

Jim Cross, transportation and maintenance director, said everything is going well. He commended the district's drivers for stepping up and consolidating a route vacated by the retirement of a driver in October. "They took on more responsibility and have made the extra effort."

Where the physical plant is concerned, he said crews are working on the emergency lighting, which is 17 years old and need to be upgraded. Work is also being done on the restrooms.

McAfee lauded Board President Jerry Bishop, saying he will receive the Pinnacle Award at the Arkansas School Board Association (ASBA) convention in December. This award is based on the number of hours of in-service Board members receive. By law, all Board members are required to have six hours of in-service annually.

Turning to the topic of the Clinton Library opening, McAfee said it was a historic occasion with all of the living presidents in one spot at the same time. The district is starting to put information together for field trips to the Presidential Library in the future.

This library, he said, is the only one in the nation with an exact replica of the Oval Office.

On Dec. 11, McAfee said, bob Darnell, with the ASCD, will come to Nevada for an in-service session with the district's teachers. Darnell travels all over the world helping schools align their curriculum.

What he will do, McAfee said, is examine the state's standardized tests, look at the district's current curriculum and align things so the teachers will be able to teach the information students need to score proficient or better on the tests.

The Board was updated as to the audit results. McAfee said Nevada was the first district to go through this particular audit, and the auditor was on-site for six weeks.

The district was written up for segregation of duties, but this is a problem all small districts have. Primarily, the write up stated too few people were handling the district's financial aspects. However, the district's books balanced to the penny.

Nevada was also written up for having food service funds the activity budget. The state, he said, wants the food service monies on the Arkansas Public School Computer Network, (APSCN) by Dec. 1. This is being done, but, he added, it's taking a lot of work by the staff.