Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District To Look Into Complaints, Petition

Parents of children who ride home in cars from the Nevada School want to leave earlier than buses.

In fact, Rick McAfee, superintendent of Nevada Schools, said a petition has been circulated and signed by 15 people.

He told the Nevada School Board, during its regular monthly meeting Thursday, April 18, it seems unfair to hole up 600 students for 30 or 40 car riders.

However, in the interest of fair play, McAfee suggested forming a committee to look at this situation. The committee would be made up of parents, principals and staff. It will report its findings to the board during the May meeting.

A second petition was circulated, but this one was of a more pleasant nature. Chris Tippitt, a math teacher, said students want to form a club for the environment.

This club, the board was told, would adopt a mile of highway and work on environmental issues. Some 29 students have expressed an interest in the organization.

The board agreed this is a worthwhile endeavor and approved of the club's formation.

McAfee told the panel the district did well on its report card from the state. While there are some problem areas, he said overall the report card is excellent for a district of this size.

Part of the problem is 56 percent of the students are on the free and reduced lunch program and a scant 4 percent of parents have four-year degrees.

In addition, the district has 306 square miles to cover with its aging bus fleet.

On the other hand, the dropout rate is a minute 0.6 percent, and the district has a 95 percent attendance rate.

He said students are slightly below average on their Stanford 8 tests, but since the school's formation, has gone from 11 percent to 24 percent of students scoring 75 percent on these test batteries.

Hardy Herrington, NHS principal, said more than 70 percent of graduating seniors go on to further their education.

McAfee said the district doesn't just stress four-year colleges, but informs students of vocational areas, as well as military options.

He said 45 students will be traveling to Little Rock for the annual Future Business Leaders of America Club competition, and the question is not if any will go to the national event, but how many and which students.

In fact, students in the business courses at NHS can gain college hours at Red River Technical College in computer science. This, McAfee said, is because NHS's Word Perfect 6.1 program follows the RRTC guidelines.

Nevada High, he said, offers a 50-station computer lab featuring machines with Pentium processors and the latest programs. "We get calls weekly," he said. "from businesses in Hope, Prescott and Camden, asking if we have any students wanting summer jobs. These students have the skills to go to work."

Additionally, students at NHS are assisted by the counseling staff as they decide which direction to take in life. The counselors help them prepare their college applications, which, in turn, helps them be able to fill out job applications as well.

Herrington said there are five classes at NHS students can get college credit for at RRTC. One is an English class, there are two agricultural classes and two business education classes.

Herrington is working with Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia to get NHS classes transferrable to SAU for credit.

The NHS principal said some of the FBLA students always qualify for the national contest, and this year, it's simply a question of how many.

Baseball season is officially over at NHS for the 1996 season. This is because the district tournament was moved to April 20, the same time as the NHS prom.

McAfee said players took a vote and decided to forfeit the tournament. The prom had been scheduled for months in advance, whereas the district tourney was recently moved.

Transportation director Jim Cross brought the bad news in saying his department is a man short and the fleet is aging. He said a 1988 model turned over 110,000 miles and is still scheduled to be operational through 1998.

He said the consolidation has led to longer bus routes.

McAfee updated the board on what's going on with the elementary school. Principal Natalie Sherwood missed the meeting due to illness.

He said they are in the process of spring field trips and other activities. The elementary teachers are looking at summer school for K-5 at a ratio 12 students per teacher.

Summer school, he said, helps those with problems by continuing their educational process and allows them to stay with their class and not fall back.

And there was some really great news. McAfee said NES had been approved for full accreditation by the North Central Association (NCA) for the coming year. This is the fourth straight year this has occurred.

In addition, he said, the elementary teachers are preparing for their Outcomes Accreditation probation. This is a more rigorous level of accreditation than the normal NCA procedures, and will see the school on a five-year probation.

Should NES be successful, it will be only one of five schools in the state with OA accreditation.

The 1996-97 academic calendar was also approved by the board Thursday night. Spring break will be held in conjunction with other area high schools.

Also, there will be one three-day weekend built in per month, as was in this year's calendar.

These long weekends, McAfee said, are beneficial to students and teachers alike, as it gives everyone a much- needed break.

The 196-97 school year at Nevada will begin on the earliest date legally allowed -- August 19.

McAfee said this will allow almost the same number of days in both semesters, and students will be able to take their semester tests before the Christmas holiday.

Contracts were extended for James Young and Robert Hall, while the board accepted the resignations of Linda Stockton, a second grade teacher who is retiring, and Bessie Hampton, the high school art teacher.