Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

NHS FBLA Keeps On Winning

Nevada High School's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Club is looking to extend its winning streak.

The NHS students in the organization were dominant in regional competition recently as they brought home eight first place positions, had six finish in second place in different divisions and six or eight more were in third.

Rick McAffee, Nevada superintendent, gave the Nevada School Board this information at its regular monthly meeting Thursday, March 18.

He said the NHS program has been competitive in state contests for several years now, and this year is no different.

Students in the FBLA were given their state tests recently as the state conference is coming up. Their tests have been submitted with the scores to be released later on.

The district's FBLA program is so successful, he continued, area businesses call the school asking if any of the students in the club are looking for summer jobs. "This says a lot for the program," McAffee told the board.

In other business, the board approved a resolution allowing district employees to participate in tax annuity shelters with Farm Bureau Insurance.

It is similar to a cafeteria plan, McAffee said, with the district only being responsible for holding the money out of the participating employees pay. He pointed out the district has similar agreements with other companies.

McAffee informed the panel the elementary population for 1999-2000 is expected to be 227, with the district working to have class sizes of 13 students per teacher.

The third grade, he said, will be the largest group with 56 students. A total of 28 are expected to be in the first grade, with 34 in the second, 39 in the fourth, 38 in the fifth and the sixth to have 37.

Elementary Principal Natalie Sherwood said the conference on student performance in New Orleans went well. While there she learned the steps taken at Nevada have been in the right direction with curriculum and programming.

The conference focused primarily on math, writing and reading skills.

According to Sherwood, some of the components being used in the junior high are among the best in the nation.

Similar programs will be introduced into other grade levels in the future, she added.

"It's good to see we're headed in the right direction," Sherwood said.

Jim Cross, maintenance and transportation director, said the district is currently two driver's short. One driver left because of health reasons, with the other getting a different job.

The problem could worsen, he said, with the annual spring trips coming up. These include baseball and softball games along with club and organizational outings.

Work has been done on the cafetorium's walk-in coolers to keep them operable, he said. Age is showing on the equipment, as much of it has been in place since the district was formed 10 years ago.

The board approved out-of-state travel for up to 10 teachers for July 6-10 to Atlanta, Ga. McAffee said the district got this opportunity through a grant from the Dawson Educational Cooperative for the High Schools that Work program.

The Co-op, he said, has gotten a good price on air fair to the conference and the grant will pay for travel, lodging and meals.

He said the Legislature is examining the amount of money the state will be paying per student next year. It could be as much as $116 each and would be an immense help for education budgets.