Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fundraisers Planned At Emmet

Emmet's PTA is kicking off a fund raising effort to help raise money for the organization.

Karen Gutierrez, this year's PTA president, said selling Tupperware has been suggested, but students will not be asked or allowed to go door-to-door to sell the items. Door-to-door sales by students is illegal.

Students, instead, will peddle their wares to members of their families and family friends.

The sale of cookbooks is another way the PTA is working to raise money.

In addition, the group will be selling stadium seats and cushions to Eagle fans during basketball season. Most of the seats and cushions will bear the Emmet logo, while some will be left blank if visiting fans are interested in buying one.

Emmet Superintendent Dr. Gene Ross said when groups are selling items inside the gym, they need to be away from the door in the lobby.

Gutierrez said students won't actually be selling seats and cushions at the gym, but examples will be on display and be ordered for those interested.

An item the PTA is working on, but not as a fund raiser, is a calendar with class photos of all students K-12 in the district. These will be free to parents.

Emmet High School Principal Frank Henson pointed out other clubs and organizations will also be working to raise money and suggested a coordinated effort by all groups involved.

He said there could be one major fund raising effort by everyone involved and the profits be split equally among the groups, instead of having several separate fund raising events.

In other business, Frank Pollock, elementary principal, said enrollment is holding steady at 178, with the possibility of adding two more students soon.

Students, he said, were complimented on their behavior at a recent trip to the Hope Airport.

The fall festival will be held Friday, Oct. 23. This will be the elementary students' fund raising project.

When the parent-teacher conferences were held earlier this month, Pollock said, 137 parents attended overall, making it a success.

Pollock told the board Red Ribbon Week will be Oct. 26-30. During this week students will be encouraged to wear red ribbons with anti-drug messages on them and pledge to remain drug free.

A total of 54 students in kindergarten and first grade will be making the trip to the Experiment Station in Hope later this month to visit the pumpkin patch.

He presented evaluation forms to the board members, saying the teachers have all said they like it. This form has teachers evaluating themselves, and showing areas they would like to improve.

However, the form has not been presented to, nor approved by the personnel policy committee. It will be used until the committee discusses it and makes a recommendation.

In the high school report, Henson said there are 115 students at EHS and the overall behavior has been good.

A total of 48 percent of the parents showed up for parent-teacher conferences, which was good.

Adult computer classes have begun and filled up quickly. These classes can hold 13 students and 10 others had to be turned away. But, he said, the district will try and have another computer course later on.

From there conversation turned to basketball. Emmet's season begins Saturday, Oct. 17, with a trip to Ouachita for their jamboree, with the Eagles hosting a jamboree Monday, Oct. 19. The first official game will be Tuesday, Oct. 20, when Emmet hosts Kirby.

This year, the Eagles look to field a senior girls team as nine students have been working hard on the courts. According to Coach Richard Stivers, the junior girls should be a solid team, while the junior and senior boys are expected to do better than they did last year.

Henson said a new reading program has been introduced for Thursdays at the school. The program, Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) requires students to bring a library book to class and read it during prescribed times. Class will be suspended so the students can read.

From there, the board discussed ways parents can be notified if their children aren't doing well in a particular area.

Jack Faulkner brought the subject up, saying by the time reports cards come out it's too late for the child to improve.

Ross said teachers could use their discretion in contacting parents, but it would be an extra burden on them. However, he said it could be done for students who are failing or simply not working to their potential.

Henson said to make it work standards will have to be established and it be required of the teachers, not leaving it to their discretion.

Ross directed Henson to draw such a policy up for the November meeting.

Board member Jon Saladin said the district could hold teachers' feet to the fire by putting this on the evaluation form. He also suggested the progress reports be mailed directly to parents instead of being sent home with students. The rest of the board agreed.

Ross said the elections went well, but there was no candidate for zone 4.

Brenda Carraway had been appointed to fill the vacancy, but moved out of the district before her term was up.

The question of changing the district boundaries was raised, to include Carraway's home in zone 4 as she had just moved across the street from where she had lived.

Ross said zone 4 would have to be redrawn to pick up two houses so she could be reappointed, and this change would have to be approved by the Nevada County Board of Education.

He said as long as the racial makeup of the two zones involved (four and five) are not affected, the state won't have to be involved. With the two houses in question, he continued, this won't be a problem.

While the board voted to change the boundaries according to Ross's suggestion, Carraway's appointment hinges on the county board of education giving its go-ahead with the change as well.

Otherwise, someone else will have to be appointed to fill the vacancy.

Before the meeting started, though, the board was reorganized and officers for the year named. Faulkner remains as president, with Saladin vice president. Glenda Fulton is the board's secretary. They will hold these offices until Sept. 1999 when school elections are held again.