Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Additonal Staff Hired; Governor To Receive Letter Seeking Funds

It was hiring time for the Prescott School Board Thursday, as the district's governing body added seven more instructors to its roster.

Along with instructors, the board hired two assistant coaches to help the depleted staff. Waldron's David Maxwell will be an assistant football coach and social studies teacher as will Billy Rook, who hales from Blevins. Rook will also be the assistant basketball coach.

The board also formally accepted the resignation of Prescott High School Principal Tommy Morrison, who recently accepted a similar position at Hope High School.

Superintendent Don Johnston thanked Morrison for the three years of service he gave Prescott, saying he appreciated the job he did. "We wish him well in his new job at Hope," he said.

Others hired by the board were Dawn Higgs, who will teach English at Prescott Middle School. Tereasa Rader will be a secondary math teacher, while Freddie Burks and Donna Hendra will be teacher's aides at Prescott Elementary. Dana Fincher will head the new PES computer lab.

This concluded the business the board had to deal with, but board president Jim Franks had a few things to say concerning the fire.

When Murfreesboro's school burned recently, the district received about $30,000 in emergency money from the state. Prescott got nothing after its fire on April 1, 1996.

Franks said the governor of the state has emergency funds available to use as he sees fit, and Gov. Mike Huckabee bestowed some money on the Murfreesboro district. However, when PHS burned, Jim Guy Tucker was governor, and, as Franks said, he was having legal problems.

Franks, though, sent a letter to the governor's office asking if there was any funds available to help Prescott out of its fiscal problems because of the fire.

The letter had to be received by the end of the state's fiscal year, June 30, 1997, in order to be considered. Franks informed the panel he doesn't know if the letter will do any good or not, or if the governor will acknowledge Prescott's request.