Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada Board Deadlocks In Transfer Request

A request for transfer was made by a child's parents at the Nevada School Board meeting Thursday, July 17.

After much discussion, the parents and child remained in the same position they were in when the meeting began.

The parents have a daughter in the second grade at Nevada School. However, the father works at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope, while the mother works in Texarkana. They argued for a transfer to the Prescott district so their child could be picked up after school by an aunt and participate in social activities.

Davis Benton, board president, said Superintendent Rick McAffee, who was out of town Thursday, recommended denying the transfer.

According to the district's policy, transfers are denied in most instances, unless there is a serious hardship involved.

Benton pointed out Nevada will be offering after school care for those students whose parents work late, so the students wouldn't be home alone and can get homework done and have more learning experiences.

The girl's father said this program wouldn't help them as he works late several nights and at times her mother works until after 7 p.m.

He said if she was in the Prescott district her aunt could pick her up and she could be involved in social activities after school with her cousins. Because of these activities, he said, the aunt can't come to Rosston and pick the child up.

Nevada's enrollment the past few years has been declining, Benton said. Each student brings about $3,700 in revenue from the state. "I feel we've been liberal with our transfer policy," he said. "We have students going to school in outside district illegally, and I can't, in good conscience, vote to allow a transfer."

In April, the father said, the family will exercise its right to file freedom of choice for the district they want their child in. "We have to deal with considerable inconvenience in having someone pick her up," he said.

Benton told the parents if they worked past 6 p.m. their child would not be left alone at the school. The after school program runs from 3-6 p.m.

When it came time to vote, the board split in its decision with two voting against the transfer and two favoring it. This meant there was no decision and the parents are in the same position they were in to start with.

Benton told them if they can convince McAffee to approve the transfer, the board would go along with his recommendation.

In other business, several members of the Nevada staff have been working with and in area industries to get a feel for what they do and how it's done. This is being done under a Rockefeller Grant, according to Natalie Sherwood, Nevada elementary principal.

This liaison between schools and work will lead to students going to the businesses and industries to get a first-hand look at the world of work. Those sixth graders involved will work at the businesses and industries as if they were regular employees, yet be required to keep a journal of their experiences.

Talking about the after school program, Sherwood said the school has to have a daycare license and the program will have a maximum of 25 students involved. The students, she said, will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each nine weeks, these students will be taken on field trips. The grant, Sherwood said, will ensure the children in it will have snacks and drinks.

"It will be a quality program," she said. "It has a lot to offer."

There will be a licensed teacher and an aide overseeing the day-to-day operation of it.

"I hope it will solve problems like we faced tonight (the transfer situation)."

Sherwood told the board of the changes in the elementary policy handbook.

Parents are being urged not to send soft drinks and snacks to school with their children for breakfast and lunch as these aren't nutritious.

Children will not be allowed to wear coats in the classrooms. This is being done as a safety precaution in case a child is concealing some type of weapon in their coat.

Fines will be charged for text books damaged by students, a harassment section has been added, and student are not allowed to bring beepers to school.

Jim Cross, maintenance and transportation director, said the new gym floor is coming along nicely. The floor is patterned after the Boston Gardens parquet court.

He said it still needs to have the NHS logo "Bluejay" painted and then be stained and sealed.

A problem area, again this year, is in bus drivers. He said the district is short four drivers at this point, but could be hiring one soon.

The board voted to purchase a new bus from the Ward Bus Co. for $42,976. This is being done at this time because the price of school buses will jump $6,000 on Jan. 1, 1998.

The price hike is due to new federal regulations requiring all buses manufactured after Jan. 1, '98 to have anti-lock braking systems (ABS).

Cross said he prefers buses without the ABS, and wouldn't want to be one of the first districts to deal with buses having the ABS.

The final order of business was to accept the resignation of elementary teacher Cindy Berdine, and hire a new biology instructor, Tracy Light. Light was a former student at NHS.