Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada School Board Examines State Report Card, Enrollment

Business as usual was the order of the day at Thursday night's meeting of the Nevada School Board.

Rick McAffee, Nevada superintendent, said the student population is down from last year even though nine students enrolled recently and three more are expected to enroll next semester.

He said the student population currently stands at 677.

According to the district's report card, as made by the Arkansas Department of Education, there are some problems in Nevada.

McAffee said the education level of parents in the district based on the 1990 census has 4 percent with upper level education, ranking the district 280th in the state.

This, he said, means students don't necessarily get the help they need at home. However, the district is working to overcome this situation with tutoring programs.

Additionally, because of the economic level, the district has a 53 percent free lunch rating.

Nevada is one of the largest districts in the state with 306 square miles to be covered by its buses daily. According to the rankings, it's 29th in area covered. But, McAffee said, the patrons in the district support the school with millages at 34.8, the 59th highest in Arkansas.

There are some areas of concern, McAffee said, but he added these are being worked on.

A full briefing of the district's report card will be given at the January meeting, after the board has had time to examine it more closely.

Transportation, though, will remain a problem with the district. McAffee said it lost $91,000 under the new funding formula on transportation, and there are no signs Gov. Mike Huckabee will be doing much about it.

The latest word from Little Rock, he told the board, is transportation won't be placed back in the budget, but will be addressed in July, as the beginning of the fiscal year.

However, he said, incoming legislators may have something different to say about the situation.

By and large, though, McAffee said the district is staying close to its budget. He said when the budget was prepared, it was done with the worst case scenario in mind, and this is exactly what's happened.

On the positive side, McAffee said the district will be receiving a model 36 IBM mainframe computer. This computer is being donated and will be set up soon.

McAffee said the district will be working over the Christmas holidays to put a six station computer web lab in the library.

The board approved three requests for out-of-state travel. Hardy Harrington and Chris Tippett will be attending a High Schools That Work seminar in Savannah, Ga. Jan. 31 through Feb. 2. This will be funded from a grant through the Dawson Educational Cooperative.

Two to four elementary instructors will be making the trip to New Orleans at the end of February for a school-to-work transition group meeting. Firestone has contributed $500 for this meeting, with the district looking at other funds as well. The funds raised will determine how many attend.

McAffee will be venturing to Phoenix, Ariz., in March for a conference on at-risk students. This trip will be fully funded by the Dawson Co-op.