Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New Gym Considered For PHS

A different look could be in the future for the Prescott High School gymnasium.

Prescott's School Board, in its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, March 16, discussed plans for the gym.

One idea is to remodel the interior to expand the seating capacity to about 1,100 seats, while the other is to build a new gym altogether. The reason for expansion is to be able to host a regional basketball tournament.

Superintendent Ron Wright informed the panel the Abernathy Firm drew up preliminary plans for remodeling the existing structure.

The renovation would see seating added to the east end of the building behind the goals, while seating on the home side of the gym would be expanded as well.

Cost to renovate the gym would run $880,250, while building a new facility from the ground up would cost $1.5 million.

The board also saw the district's new web page. The page was designed by students Kendra Haynie, Crystal Moss, Scott Hobbs and Evan Webb.

The students gave the board members a tour of the site, reminding them it is still under construction. When completed, though, it will have information about all schools in the district.

They told how they made the design, the program used and future plans for the site. The web address, for those interested, is wolfden.swsc.k12.ar.us.

Board member Jim Franks told the panel the district collected more in delinquent property taxes than had been anticipated. "It shows people are paying their taxes," he said.

He also encouraged the board to keep track of laws regarding property taxes being considered by the General Assembly. Under one proposal property would be reappraised every three years.

This, he said, would mean the assessor's office would have to hire two more people to do the work and this would result in less money for the district in the long run.

For the district's five year plan, Wright said, he would like to retain an architectural firm to give the board ideas for future planning.

In the meantime, though, a group doing aerial photography for the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope will be taking photos of the Prescott campuses as well.

Wright said the district can plan for the future in a haphazard manner or in an orderly fashion.

The retained architectural firm, he added, would not automatically get the district's business for new construction. It would have to bid on projects and submit plans as would any other firm.

The idea of having a firm on retainer, he said, it to gather information.

Steel is up along the sidewalks at Prescott Middle School. Once the walkway project is complete, the seventh and eighth grade buildings will be connected to the science building.

If the weather holds and remains dry, the project will be finished soon. At this point the only thing lacking is getting the roofing on as the extension painting has been done.

The board approved a reimbursement resolution with the Friday Firm to try and recuperate some of the money from the walkway project.

However, no action will be taken at this time on the matter, as the district has 60 days after the check has been cut do move on the issue.

Principals in the district have been working on updating the student handbooks. Part of the problem, Wright said, is redundancies in the current editions.

These are being eliminated, with the handbook to be made more user friendly and smaller.

The district, he said, will be examining several areas and policies to make the handbooks easier to understand, as well as being updated with current legislation concerning schools.

The district's underground fuel tank will have to be modified to meet regulations of the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology (PC&E).

The district's diesel tank has a reservoir large enough to hold the tank's entire supply should it leak out. But this isn't the case for the gasoline tank.

Because of this, the district will have to have a reservoir built for it. The cost of the holding facility will be about $8,000.

The district received a check for $7,690.15 from the sale of timber on school property.

Board President Rick McGough, said the district received $65 per ton for the timber, which is a good price as timber prices are falling.

However, all of the 141 trees to be cut weren't removed from the property, he said, adding there are about 21 trees left.

The agriculture class will verify the trees removed and left.

What to do with the money was tabled until the board can find out what agreement had been made with the agri class concerning the timber a couple of years ago.

There will be more money in the pay envelopes for many of the district's personnel as the board approved a 3 percent increase for those in the Chapter I program, VI-B and non-certified personnel.

Franks said the Legislature has put school districts in an unpleasant position concerning the displaying of the 10 Commandments in public schools.

The Legislature approves of doing this, while the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has promised to sue if it is done.

All the district can do at this time is wait and see what happens.

And, the United States Supreme Court (USSC) didn't do school districts any favors with a recent ruling.

The ruling came from an Indiana case where a handicapped student requiring special medical attention at school would have the tab paid by the district the child resided in.

Current legislation states schools provide all medical attention not requiring a doctor, Franks said. "I hope there will be a move afoot to respond to national legislators. This is just a loophole the Supreme Court felt needed to be done."

Wright said it has inched out where districts are paying for therapy for handicapped children.

However, he said, this has nothing to do with the district's educational components as far as providing students with a good education.

But, he added, it could get to the position where districts can't afford to pay for them.

The board, as the meeting wound down, approved a resolution praising the Wolverettes on their reaching the state finals in basketball and for being good role models for students in the district, while maintaining high academic standards.

Following a brief executive session, the board accepted the resignation of Joyce Gibson, who is retiring at the end of the year. All other contracts were extended for a year.