Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ball Field, Agri Class Discussed At Meeting

Plans for a new concession stand for the Rosston Baseball Association are closer to being realized.

At the July meeting of the Nevada School Board, held Thursday, July 11, Suzanne Cross, with the RBA, brought more information to the panel about the plan.

Discussions between the RBA and Jim Cross, maintenance and transportation director for the Nevada School District, had been going on as to what would be required for the facility.

She said he drew up plans for a 12-foot by 18-foot building and will order the metal for it soon. A licenced plumber will be hired by the RBA to make sure the water lines are properly installed.

In addition, she said several fathers with children in the baseball league will help with the construction.

The children, the board was told, want to do their part and have fund raisers to help pay for the concession stand, which will also be used to house equipment in the off season. The fund raiser Ms. Cross talked about was a yard sale, which is slated for Saturday, Aug. 1. A savings account has been established for this project.

International Paper and Entergy have been contacted about the utility poles for lighting the field. She said the RBA may be able to get these poles relatively cheaply and possibly free as they will be used.

The association was given permission to do some work on the field to help with drainage.

Rick McAffee, Nevada superintendent, pointed out there are state laws regulating fund raisers children can be involved with. He said the children cannot go door-to-door without being accompanied by an adult. The yard sale, though, would be no problem.

Following talk about the concession stand, a parent questioned the board as to agriculture classed being counted as science credits.

McAffee said the Arkansas School Board Association has currently tabled this issue, but has discussed it.

The parent wants the aquiculture course taught in the agri class to be counted as a science credit as students involved, once the class is up and running, will be raising catfish.

The parent also complained about the school's driver's education class, saying he had two children go through the course, but no classroom instruction was given for the written portion of the test. Students in the class, he said, aren't ready to take the written driver's exam because there are no books available for them.

McAffee said this was the first he's heard of this problem, but will look into it to make sure those in the program are ready to take both the written and driving parts of the test.

Returning to the topic of the aquiculture class, the parent voiced concern about his children going to college without it being counted as a science credit. He told the board there are scholarships available for agri sciences they may have a chance at. He asked if more funding could be directed for this program.

Funding for the coming year, McAffee said, will be coming down soon. But, he added, the reduced student population means less money for the district. Budget cuts have been made in all areas accordingly.

In addition, when the state money is allotted to the district, instructors can make requests for funds for different programs, with the board deciding how the money is to be spent.

Nevada, McAffee pointed out, is a rural school, and the vocational/agriculture programs need to be stressed and supported. These areas require different emphasis than other courses and the state mandates are strenuous, he said.

Discipline concerns were also addressed, with the parent asking why, when two student are involved one may be punished more severely than the other.

McAffee said discipline is a cumulative program, and will depend on the circumstances and student(s) involved. Sometimes, he said, it appears as though different punishments are being meted out, but this isn't the case.

The parent's final question was about sports and why students playing basketball are also required to run track. He informed the panel his children won't go out for basketball because they don't want to run track.

Students aren't required to actually participate in track meets, McAffee said, but must also be in the track program because the two classes are held at the same class period.

Track, he said, is used as off season training for the basketball program, but the students don't have to go to meets unless they want to. Additionally, the district doesn't have the staff for two different sports, nor the funds to hire the extra personnel.

The board discussed personnel matters in an executive session, taking no action other than accepting two resignations.

Hardy Herrington, who had been the NHS principal for the past five years, has accepted a position as assistant principal at Pine Bluff High School.

James Young, the chemistry teacher, will be leaving to become headmaster at a private Texarkana school.

The district will advertise these two positions, a half-time principal and full time science teacher.

The final order of business addressed by the board was to accept bids for milk and bread for the 1998-99 school year.

Borden had the low bid for milk products, while Interstate Bread was the only bidder for bread items.

The Nevada School Board will next meet on August 20.