001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Well, the agenda says we're going to go to public comment, but we're going to start with report to public and then we'll hit that section as soon as we get done with that. So, you ready, sir? >> Yes, sir. All right. My name is Phil Brick. I'm an attorney for the England School District. Um, here to give a presentation on the district's DEC obligations and the last report that was made to the court regarding those DG obligations. So, um, as many of you know, the district has been a defendant in a desegregation lawsuit all the way back to 1970. Uh, back in 1970, uh, we were ordered
002to consolidate, uh, with the Cart Trail School District um, with staff, students, and everyone would attend one school. And so that was all done back in the 1970 1971 school year. We have been doing that since that time. But throughout that time, we have still been involved in this DEG case. So in 2017, we were first advised that we may have fulfilled our requirements um for those DEG DEG obligations. And so in 2022, we attempted to obtain unitary status in the DEC case. There were objections and comments that were made to that request for unitary status. um and they were primarily related to the hiring of teachers and other certified staff at the district. And so as a result of those um as a result of those comments and objections, the DOJ proposed a consent
003order on faculty and staff. And so we discussed that with DOJ and entered into a consent order. And as part of that consent order, um, we have to do a lot of things for hiring and recruitment of teachers. And I'll go [snorts] through that, uh, in the presentation, but that order started, um, in 2024. Uh, and so it's in effect until September of this year, and it requires that we file status reports along the way. Every February 1st and September 1st, we have to file uh, a report with court. And then at the next board meeting, we have to report on that status report. So that's why I'm here today along with the first board meeting after the September after the February 1st report of this year. Um so part of the consent order requires
004that we have certain hiring procedures for administrator and certified employee positions. And so we we have filed a copy of those uh procedures for hiring of certified staff of administrators with our with our report to the court. It is essentially the requirements from the consent order along with some Arkansas law and district policies on hiring of certified staff. As part of those hiring procedures, um we have to have an open process for filling new and vacant uh positions. And so when we have a new vacant position, we have to advertise that on the district website, on the district social media account, uh on the Aea Arkansas jobs and education website, another job vacancy website, and at least two sources of local publication. And so over the last 6 months, we only had one open position,
005which was a long-term substitute position. And so we posted that on the district website. like we posted on our social media account at aea um with art jobs I think is the other online system that we used. We posted it at the library post office and the fitness center um and we mailed it to five local churches when we first started this. We were I think we tried to post them at the local churches and were told to submit those to them and not just post things at the church. And so that's why we mail theirs as opposed to posting it on their on their bulletin board or something. So we sent that to five local churches for that position. Um as [clears throat] part of our obligations under the court order, we have to
006use standardized rubrics when we interview an applicant. And so and that those rubric scores are what we use to determine who to hire. And so we have provided a copy of those grad rubrics in the um in the report to the court. Uh there's one for the elementary school and one for the high school. And those rubrics have essentially stayed the same uh since we've entered into the consent order. Um when we are interviewing for a job or when we accept applications for a job as part of our consent order, we have to track um race along every step of the process from the application to when we select an interview to uh select an applicant's interview, when we accept interviews and when we offer positions and positions are accepted uh by the applicants. and
007we have to keep documentation on how we determined which which applicants to interview, which to offer positions. We have to keep records regarding that compliance. Um, in our latest status report, we filled one position and that was for the middle school ELA, middle school English teacher. Um, I know I told you that we had we had advertised for a long-term sub position in the last six months, but we hadn't filled that position and so we haven't reported on those applicants and that hiring. Uh but we did uh hire an a middle school ELA. [clears throat] All that advertising was reported in the last status report back in September, but we just hadn't filled that application. So we filled it in uh in this situation. Um and so we have provided uh a spreadsheet along with
008our consent order that shows the applicants, shows who was interviewed, shows um who was hired um and all those good things. Um, also as part of the consent order, we have to have and maintain a district-wide recruitment and retention team. And uh, it consists of the superintendent, the principles of both schools, instructional facilitators of both schools, and at least one certified employee from both schools. And I think that the committee has grown along the way as we've realized that other people are necessary to help with advertising positions, compiling information, those types of things. And so that committee um meets it has met I think three times in the last 6 months. Um they members of that committee also attended a UAPB uh career summit on October 1st of 2025. In our report there's photos of
009the school at that career fair. Um we all the district also organized or the retention and recruitment team also organized a recruitment and retention breakfast uh for existing staff at the district and they had that on December 19th of this year of 2025. Um I believe that's the second year that they that the school has done that recruitment and retention breakfast and I think it's been pretty successful um and has been fairly well attended. Um, also members of the committee have reached out to universities and colleges about partnerships. I'm involved in conference calls and Zoom calls with those individuals. Um, and they also get involved in compiling the information that the order requires, preparing that for the report um, and all of those things. Uh, making sure those jobs are advertised and um, sent uh,
010to all the appropriate places. and we have provided documentation of of what each member of the committee has done as part of our status report. Um also as part of the consent order um we are to have a uh recruiting partnership with UAPB Philander Smith and Arkansas Baptist. um UAPB, we got a letter from them back in uh February of 2025 documenting that we were going to enter a partnership with a residency program for teachers. Um unfortunately, we got a letter from them. um I believe it was around October saying that they were unable to provide us with teachers because they had entered into a agreement with uh the Pine Bluff School District and so they didn't have any available and so they said that they would schedule a meeting with us to discuss um
011how to handle that going forward. Um and it was originally scheduled for October 30th uh but they had to postpone it. We've reached out a couple of times to try to get that rescheduled just haven't been able to get back with UAP. So, we're still trying to work with them to get teachers here, residency program, a residency program established, but as of this school year, they didn't have anyone to provide. Uh, we have anou with Arkansas Baptist College. Um, I think the last we reached out to them in October of last year and offered for them to come to the career fair here at the school district and I don't think they took us up on that opportunity. Um, but we'll continue to reach out to them and see what we can do. Um, we
012had a Zoom call with Blander Smith back in October um, and discussed our desire to enter into a partnership with them and to get an MOU on that partnership. And I think after that call, we were provided with anou for concurrent credit instead of a partnership for recruitment and retention. And I think there were some discussions with Philander Smith acknowledging that we were really there to try to get this partnership established um and that they would visit within the within Philander Smith and get back with us and we still haven't heard anything back about that for partnership. Um the only we've been provided today has been for a concurrent credit which would allow students to get credit through philander Smith which is kind of outside of what um the consent orders for. So, um, we've
013also had some discussions with Shorter College. Those have been somewhat limited because Shorter College doesn't have a bachelor's degree in education. So, [clears throat] when their graduates leave, they're not able to come work at the school district as a certified position. So, we had some students that went over there to Shorter College though and and um visited the college. Um, but our our relationship with them is somewhat limited just because they don't have um teachers that they put out. Um, and this is the racial demographics for certified staff at the school as of our status report. Um, you know, we have five black certified employees, um, two Hispanic certified employees. Um, and, um, when we started this process, we had five black employees. And so we we've it's been a very small increase. But during
014that same period of time, our total number of certified staff has dropped 17%. So, we started with 65 total certified employees. We're now down to 54, but we've still maintained and increased, albeit slightly, the number of black uh certified employees. And um we now have two Hispanic employees. We started with one. And so, um, again, these aren't big gains, but considering that the certified employee staff is shrinking, it's good that we've been able to increase that number slightly. So, um, and that's it as far as the report on what we reported to the court for the consent order. At this point in time, we'll accept any comments or questions from anyone about that status report or Dave obligations. I only have comments, but I can ask a couple of questions on behalf of the Dart
015Trail Alumni Association. The student population, the black student population in this district, it's about what, 40%. That's a question. >> Uh, I can I saw you add it up, but I didn't I have the total number. I don't know if I have a percentage from the report, but I can tell you the number from the superintendent know off hand, Dr. Hob, but you know off hand. >> Uh, that's about correct. >> 40%. >> That that's ballpark. >> So you're 40%. Your black faculty is 10%. more or less. And you've not dropped your number of certified employees or not certified. I guess all those 65 certified people you were talking about, >> that's what we started with. We're down to 54 certified employees. >> 54. So you've gone from 60 60 plus to 54. So you're
016still at 10%. Started a little bit around 10%. So no growth in two years. It started at 7.7%. It's now at 11.8%. >> Because your numbers are shrinking, but you hadn't hired any. The black employee number would be the same. Two years ago, five and now you got five. >> Now we have six. It's increased. >> Six. One. >> Yeah. >> You had one Marie Carney quit. So now you still have five. >> No, that's I believe that's reflected in our numbers. >> Is it? >> I can't a Yes. That's my understanding. >> These are numbers effective January 20th. >> Okay. All right. So the other question would be your partnerships. You haveous shorter Arkansas Baptist but you have zero partnership agreements after two years >> with I'm sorry with who? >> Partnership agreements. You
017have four schools. Philander, UAPB, Baptist, and Shorter College. Correct. >> Well, Shorter is not part of the consent order. We've just kind of >> I think Mr. Morgan kind of did that, I guess, on his own. I don't know. >> I think it was a committee [cough] decision to recruit, >> but Mr. Morgan was the person I think I looked in your records who signed off on that agreement. Mr. mortgage loss. So you have theseUS but you have zero partnership agreements after two years. Is that correct? >> I'm sorry. What's >> you have these but you have no partnership agreements, no official partnership agreements with any of these schools after two years. >> I would disagree with that. We have anou with Arkansas Baptist which is a partnershipou and we have documentation with UAPB about
018a partnership and so I believe that we have documented partnerships with UAPB and Arkansas Baptist. >> Okay. Well well based upon what you have you had a partnership with UAPB for a specific program and I addressed that in a letter that I wrote to Judge Miller back in October. It's your pride partnership. It was I think it was the pride partnership. Is that is that correct? Is that what you >> It's a pride residency program. I think it was tailored to bring students from UAPB to the school district to >> How are they defining partnership though? How what >> they don't they don't define the partnership. >> They kind of leave that open. The court that's kind of a gray area for the court. >> Yes. But if you pull up your court order specifically
019and it talks about that I don't know do you have one that you can put up on the screen? I don't. The district will develop a recruiting partnership with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Philander Smith College and Arkansas Baptist College. The district may also develop a recruiting a recruiting partnership with other colleges or universities in Arkansas that offer teacher education. A recruiting partnership. And so I'll disagree with your assertion that that's an actual partnership because all of your partnership activities should be focused on recruiting employees, not concurring credit, which is something that you've established with I think Arkansas Baptist and perhaps was that was that what you're working on with Philander Smith? what's what we well I think the unfortunate thing that we didn't realize we would have a problem with is that
020partnerships are a two-way street >> so we can go to one of these schools and request a partnership but that doesn't mean they have to partnership with us >> that that is correct >> and so I think that's been our issue >> and the other issue that you've had is that you haven't really interacted on a regular consistent basis and that goes back to your meetings too you met uh with these universities and again I I hate to toss Mr. Morgan's name around because he's not here to answer any questions, but he appears to have been the lead man on most of these missions to these colleges and universities. And of course, he's not here to defend himself. And I did see on a couple of these, I guess, memos to uh UAPB that your
021high school principal, Miss Ro, is it Miss Robinson? Is that correct? She sent quite a few emails back and forth with the people at UAPB, but sending emails and showing up and scheduling appointments to work on partnerships are two different items. So, we have some some concern with that part of it. Okay. Now, um, if you'll also look on your consent order at number five, we talked about covered positions in the consent order. And Mr. Breck or Dr. Hubble, either one. Would you agree that the covered positions cover all certified positions? >> All open certified positions. Okay. including administrators and certified teachers. >> Yes. >> Okay. That's what you signed up for. And then you talked about you developed this rubric that all of you agreed with, including the Justice Department and the district with
022some very specifics. When hiring for a covered position, the district will track the race of all applicants. If the applications or if the applicants selected for an interview, the applicants who accepted an offer to interview and all applicants offered the position and the applicant ultimately hired that you track that and that's the process that you use and that would be for every position that is certified. Is that correct? >> I didn't know if I followed you all there, but yes, we track information we hire for an open. >> You you have yours? Yeah, it's right here. >> Okay. >> If we track information, we track information. >> They need a copy. >> I I don't know if your board needed a copy. >> I don't see it. >> I'm I'm okay. I don't know if
023they want a copy. I'm happy to get them one at some point. I think they've seen it before, but >> Okay. And then finally at the end it says that the district will document in writing how it determines which applicants to interview and which applicants to offer the position. Okay, that's what your covered that's what it says for these open these open position. We contend that the district has not done that. And specifically in the last case where a basketball coach, a head basketball coach position was open. That would be considered one of the positions under the covered position, wouldn't it? >> I think there's an issue there because that vacancy occurred in an emergency situation. I think that the current basketball coach was arrested on the day of a basketball game and so there
024had to be some emergency steps taken to put someone in that position on an interim basis. >> Did he have an assistant? >> Did who have an assistant? >> The coach, the basketball coach who was arrested, did >> Yes, he did. >> He did. Okay. So, did that assistant serve? >> I have, >> which most assistants would do, I'm assuming. My understanding is that the assistant did not fill that position because he did not have all the qualifications needed for that position, which was a CDL, someone to drive these students to the game. >> I understand that you have in this district you have how many people with CDLs? >> I I know you have that information. I'll I'll take your word on it. And then you you have 13 13 drivers in CDLs, which
025means that any of those people could have driven a bus to the game if they did not have an assigned route already. So So >> but they would have to be paid extra. >> Correct. Correct. Just like you're paying >> lawyers. So >> you want to hire two two people to fill one position. >> No, I don't. I'm just saying to you, he said they would have to be paid extra. What do you do when you have legal people come in? You pay them extra. Would you like to know how much you paid them this this year? >> Oh, but we got an idea how much is wasted through all this. >> You You tell me how much you spent. >> You tell me. >> No, you said we've got an idea. You're on the
026board of directors. You sign checks. I don't >> I don't sign the check. >> Okay. Well, whoever signed the check on the board says you opened this Pandora's box. >> It it it's not a Pandora's box, but someone extra would have had to been hired to drive the students. That would cost extra. That's what you're talking about right now. That's what I'm talking about. >> Okay. What you're what you're talking about is this one game. >> No, what you're what you're talk what you're talking about is this one game. You made a decision for this one game. And then were you aware that the person the assistant was working on his CDL? >> That didn't make any difference at the time. >> It it it didn't because >> he just got his CDL just in
027recently. >> Okay. So, we would have been talking about 6 to 8 weeks. >> No. No, you wouldn't. You would have been talking about the time it would have taken him to complete his CDL. >> When did he complete it? >> That's not mine. That's yours. >> Last week. >> That's yours. >> No. No. But we're if if we're talking about this, last week was when he got his CDL. So, we would have been paying someone extra that whole time. >> How much? >> Uh what's the seat time? Seat seat time. >> How much is our sleep time? >> It's Is it 12? >> And then driving >> 15. >> Driving's 15. >> Well, let's just call it six. Let's call it six hours for every trip. Six hours. That's a lot, but let's call
028it six hours. 15 bucks an hour. That's 90 $90 a trip. And however many games you've had between now and then, let's say it's 12. So you spent 90 time 12, which is a little over $1,000. $1,080. That's what it would have cost this district. Mr. You spent $22,000 in legal fees this year. This year you spent 54,000 last year. So you compare that 1,080 to that 75,000. How about that? >> How about we were under fiscal distress and we were trying to get out of it. >> You can't. >> Sorry. Hey, just just you're entitled to give comments. You can ask questions. We're not going to get in an argument though. So question. We're glad to do that. >> He brought it up. So I want to share with him this number 75 compared
029to 1,000. Now Mr. break for your board. Is there an emergency hire clause in this consent order? >> There's not. There's not. So, whatever process you use to select a person who didn't even apply for the job. He didn't even express the letter of interest. Whatever you used, it violated this court order. >> I would disagree with that. But I understand >> you you can and that will be a question for the judge to decide. >> Okay. >> But that's that's one of our contentions. Okay. So we we've got that out of the way because my questions are not directed specifically about all employees. You mentioned that you only had basically one opening for the entire semester. I'm assuming from July to now, Dr. Hubble, >> that's from September 1st. >> September the 1st to
030now. >> Okay. So, just one person, but the position under under covered positions would have included a process that the district should have followed with the basketball coach position. Perry, and you can disagree and I respect that, Mr. And Dr. Hubble, I respect your disagreement with that for your interpretation, but we believe that it violated that specific policy. Okay. Now, the other part is the notification to the church is [clears throat] I don't live in England anymore. I own some property here in town, but I don't live here. But you send these notices to these churches with no name on them, you know, no attention to nobody. Basically, you sign a you put a Odora Baptist Church on a letter on an envelope and you stick it in the mail. Who's the pastor there? Who's
031the pastor at First Baptist, Second Baptist? Who who who's the pastor at Main Street? I mean, tell me how that works. When you send this letter, you don't make a phone call and say, "Hey, I'm sending you a letter. You know, we want you to be engaged and involved with us." But don't you answer that because those are things you should have answered and those are things that you should have dealt with prior to sending out a letter. I I don't know, you know, what the rationale was. I'm just telling you the interpretation about the engagement with the community at large. Then there are just these general issues that are easy to resolve. First Baptist Church is Leon Hawkins. First Baptist Church, for all of you who are not from England, First Baptist Church used
032to be the black school. That's where they held school for black kids before they had an organized guard trail system. [cough] >> [clears throat] >> I mean, how [snorts] much would that benefit you to know that Second Baptist Church, that's Daryl Montgomery? Daryl Montgomery used to be on the school board in North Little Rock. The president of the school board in North Little Rock. You think he could be an asset for the school district here with the people in town? Absolutely. You know, those are things only you should know as a school district and as an entity. Dr. steps is the pastor of Main Street North. It's not Bishop's Chapel anymore. Big sign hanging on the deal on the side that went on the side of the building. It's like, you know, I didn't bother
033even to go over and look at it. I just looked at the side and went on. She just looked a little bit more. You would have seen that she taught in the school system. should be an asset to the school district to help move this this body out of this court case. And that's where I think you're missing the point. You know, you're not utilizing your local resources. Some of you are paying full attention. The others not so much. We've had this issue and I've I've shared this with you before. It's not my job to make you absorb this information and I've requested information from Dr. Hubble. I've gotten some of it, not all of it, Mr. Brick and FLAS and using the information from that 96 page filing you had and then you had
034175 pages the previous filing. I reviewed every last page of those that information. And I want to be clear with the board. You have to comply. This is not an option. And if this board continues to do the things that Judge Miller may or may not interpret as being non-compliant, the Gartil Alumni Association is going to ask him to get a special master to work with you. And if you don't know what that means, then you can ask your lawyer [cough and clears throat] and he can tell you what a special master does in a court disegregation case. I am not here to argue with you. I'm not here to talk to you because I have nothing better to do. I want this community to be successful, but you have to be compliant and you
035have to play by the rules, especially if you're in federal court. It's not our obligation to drag it out of you. It just doesn't work like that. And I think it was a terrible scenario with the basketball coach. You had an opportunity there to step into the front to reassure the community, the black community. You have an assistant coach. I mean, and and and we sit here and have this crazy discussion over dollars. $1,080. when you spend $77,000 on legal fees, when it's a referral to help a lawyer to have a lawyer help you write a letter about CDL licenses that you pay, you pay an hour, 250 bucks an hour for a person to write a letter to tell me that you got 13 bus drivers when there's no way you can't look at
036a sheet of paper in this office and say, "I've got 13 bus drivers. That is insanity. We don't want to keep coming back and doing this, but you have to have some general oversight of yourselves. I mean, this this needs to end, people. What' you say? 50 197. This is 56 years. But if you don't want to play by the rules, we'll make sure that we are representing the people who live in this community because this is home to us. home to us. Okay, Mr. Spring, thank you. Board, thank you for your time. [clears throat] >> I don't uh Dr. Hubble, I I know we're required to to publicize job positions in the community. I think we do five churches. I don't think we're required to do that many, but I'm not aware of any
037of those ever being returned because they weren't there's no name on there or anything like that. They all as far as we know, they all made it. as far as I know. >> I just want to double check that. >> Yeah, of course. >> Does anybody else have any comments or questions? >> Question. You said that you were required to give it to all the churches, only five or small percentage of the churches cuz we have at least 14 in the city. So was there a reason for just send it to five because that's how the announcements are pretty much spread out through the community through church announcements? >> Well, under the order, we're required to use appropriate local sources of publicity. >> You think the five churches is appropriate? >> That coupled with the
038fitness center, the post office, and the library. I we do believe that that is appropriate. >> Is that all the order says, Mr. Brick? I mean in addition to the website, employment sites and social media. That is correct. Including churches and businesses. >> Did you mention where any of those returned? >> That's what you mentioned earlier. You asked Dr. Hubble. Were any of those returned? >> Not to my knowledge. >> Do you know if any of them were delivered? [laughter] >> Is that a fair question? >> I mean, we went to the churches, we tried to post it, they asked us not to do that, so we put them in the mail. So, I mean, that's kind of like >> we're trying to do what they want us to do, but at the same time,
039it seems like that's not sufficient, but we're trying to get those to them, and I think that we've done that. >> Yeah. Yeah. You said it. >> We'll send them certified. >> Well, well, better yet, why don't you just make a call to the pastor? >> Yeah. >> I mean, I told you who they were. Just make a call to the come over here, sit down with the superintendent, have a conversation with, >> make it easy on all of us. >> Thank you. Nobody's there. Nobody's there to sign for the certified letter. >> Huh. >> Nobody's there during the day to sign for >> Yeah. Some of the churches, nobody not. They don't have full time staff. >> They don't they can't afford. >> I I'll be more than happy to provide you numbers to
040>> Oh, some of these churches don't have fulltime. They don't have staff. >> I understand. I understand. >> They don't have income. Some of them do. Some of them. >> Some of them do. Some of them don't. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions or comments? If they'll leave a note that the church is somewhere where you can go back to the post office and pick it up, right? >> Yeah, I know. Certified. >> Yeah, certified there. >> If you're not there, they'll leave you a thing. Come back. >> Do that. Return. >> Y'all going to get us a list of the 14 churches we need to send them to. >> Uh, you said five. I bet. >> No, no. I I just said y'all said 14 churches. I said, >> Dr.
041Dr. said you have about that many. >> Can you get us a list, ma'am? >> I can. >> Okay. Do I'm sorry. Do you have you have any questions for I'm just know our attorney's on the clock. You're still talking. >> I am. You've been passed 30 minutes ago. >> Does anybody else have >> Before I close out, does anybody else have any questions? >> Does anyone else want to miss you? >> Miss Beard, Miss Johnson, Miss Allen, and Miss Beard to speak. Is this on DC or this on something else? >> We No, >> you're not speaking. >> What's your name? >> Sabrina Allan. >> Okay. What about Miss? >> Yeah. >> What about Miss Johnson? >> No. >> Okay. Y don't y' don't want to speak. >> Okay. That's his [clears throat] option
042if you want. >> All right. All right. Thank you for your time. for the board. >> No, we're good. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Is this on public speaking part? >> Yeah. Well, I didn't know if I should put her on that or not, but uh Danielle Williams wants to address the board on uh an increase in tuition for free. >> Okay. Um hi everyone. I'm Danielle. I'm the preschool director. It's my first year doing it. Um so I'm trying to get everything in line. Um, so we're um our preschool program is not taking money from us and we're starting to earn money. So um at the top is this sheet that says three-year-old at the top that I gave everyone. Um I got the weekly prices of the schools around us.
043So England, um Little Rock, Stuckgart, Sherwood, Carl, Cabbat, and I put the prices of what they charge per week currently. Um, so our top our our lease amount is here in England at $118 for New Generations and the highest is $230 per week. So currently I have a small little chart there. Um, our prices are $100 for full, 75 for faculty and 50 for reduced. And I was wondering if we could just raise that for um full-time would be 150 faculty be would be would be 125 and reduce would be 100. Um and so right now currently um we are not getting the full amount because we don't have um all positions filled. We've had kids leave and come in. Um but the money we are getting is just barely covering our pair professional their
044pay and their um medical fees. And so with this raise, we would be able to like buy new curriculum, buy new items for the students, cover the pair professional fees and everything. Um, I do have a full sheet of all of the prices of what it would look like for if we have five reduced or five faculty or three reduced three faculty. So, if anyone wants those, I have those as well. But it's a lot. So, I just give them a side. >> If you will get me a copy of that, I'm going to put this on the agenda [snorts] for them to vote on in March. >> That works. >> So, uh, just give it to me. >> Yeah. So, that's that's all. Just planting a seed in the brain. >> Well, you know,
045everything's going up and >> and we got I got So, I do have some questions with Daniel. So uh as far as reduced how many reduced do we currently have? >> So for currently we have two reduced. We have two faculty and three full >> and three full >> but we try to do the 555. So five full five reduced slash faculty and then five free. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Okay. Well, unfortunately, everything's going up skyh high and well, but I'll put this on the March agenda since you've heard her presentation and you've seen the numbers and I'll give you, you know, you can think about it till next month. >> And with these prices, we would still be like right in the middle like where Sherwood is. So, we're not going too
046low or not going too high from everyone else around. >> Okay. Thank you, Danielle. >> Is that like for the kids to come to what they have to pay weekly? >> Just prek. Just >> Yes. Okay. I was just asking cuz of I got a baby over next year. Yes. But you do but you know the head start over there. I know a lot of kids that was supposed to come over here. I do know >> the head start over there is basically free. So they y'all lose those kids and they going over there to free. So that's just going to make us lose more if we go up in price. >> Yeah. And I understand that. But like with so the thing is is like I tried to get the vouchers with the state
047and they told me basically they have no vouchers left to give unless you already have them. I've talked to like 10 different people about getting vouchers. So like we could get like pay it for them but they said the state has no money and if you don't already have the vouchers you're not getting them for next year. >> So but if you hear of anything please let me know because I am searching for. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jim, >> can we put the vouchers next year? I mean, >> um, yes. I I um asked them about it and they said if any comes up, they're going to email me and I'm going to get right on it. >> Okay. >> So, is this a requirement that a parent has to fill out these vouchers or
048is it the school filling out the vouchers? >> Um, so sometimes the school fills it out. Um, the schools fill it out for the parents, but typically the parents are supposed to fill it out >> and that's been hard. They're not giving them to the parents either. >> Yes. No one can get >> even when you got like for my baby coming from a development and they still don't get Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you, Danielle. >> Thank you. >> I'll give y'all, you know, the month to think about that and I'll put it on the March agenda. What's the balance there? >> We're um right at 2 million, a little over 2 million. So make a motion for approve consent agenda second by Mr. All in favor say I. >> Oppos.
049Uh, which principal wants to go first? >> Um, I have one part of my report that's in your packet and the other part I just placed to the side when I got here. Current enrollment in elementary is at 3:23. The second uh 23 to 212 we saw balls. The sixth was our fifth and sixth grade dance that was scheduled to be earlier and we had to put it off because of the weather. The kids had a great time and I included a couple pictures of them dancing um on the second page for you guys. The 10th through the 13th we had our book fair. The 11th we had fourth grade breakfast. The 12th through the 13th, 3rd through sixth grade were scheduled to take the math and science atlas interim. We put that off and
050they took that today and they'll take the second part tomorrow. The 19th will be our fifth grade breakfast. The 23rd will be our first makeup day. We will have an early dismissal at 1 that day and then parent teacher conferences that night from 2 to 6. And then on the 26th, we'll have our sixth grade breakfast. We took our um second and third grade breakfast and we moved those to the end of the breakfast because of the weather. So, those will be coming up. Also, the second um page that I had with for y'all was just a little bit of data and it's like a chart. It looks kind of like this and I just add it to the side so it's not in your actual packet. But our third grade students have participated in
051two English language arts interim assessments this school year. And from November 5th to February 13th, they've shown strong growth in a short amount of time. From fall to winter, the average score increased from 148 to 156. And the percentage of students at or above mastery rose from 30% to 51%. And this progress just um reflects how hard our students and our teachers are working. So on the chart you'll see the bottom chart that was 115 and the one on top was 213. The yellow if you look at the bottom in November um the level one is our limited proficient students. So, our lower scoring students and that was 38% of our third grade population. And this recent test, it has um decreased to 18%. So, that's good. We've gone from 38% limited [cough] to 18%
052limited. And then you'll see on the flip side of that, the blue are level four advanced students. In November, we had only 6% scoring advance and this recent test, we had 12%. So that one doubled. So our students scoring the lowest um we were able to cut in half and then our students that increased we were able to double. So I'm really proud of our third grade students for that. >> What lessons learned? What did y'all learn that made helped y'all do that? >> Um really writing has been something that's really important and key to us. I think our overall struggle at the elementary and our third through sixth grade is writing. And I don't know if you've ever had a child try to write, not handwriting, but getting thoughts to paper. They struggle with
053that. It's really hard. We don't have a set writing curriculum. It's in with our reading curriculum. So, we've really had to work um to just take our knowledge of what writing is and what they've told us they want for Atlas and kind of build our own curriculum. at the [clears throat] elementary school, our teachers have really been working hard with that writing. >> And so I think that's the >> that's the key that we've been missing on. And so our grade levels are all working hard on writing. >> Keep going. >> Good job. >> Any questions for the elementary? >> The total number of students at the high school hasn't changed. Uh there's been a couple of grade levels that have fluctuated, but we're still at 264 students. Uh we were closed January 27th through
05430th and returned on Tuesday, February 3rd. And I attached Dr. Hubble's little picture she posted on Facebook for y'all because I thought it was fun. Um >> I haven't had a Coke in eight days. [laughter] Eight days. Coke's over. >> Representatives from the Army spoke with students in grades 10 through 12 on Friday, February 6th. Um yesterday and today e uh two e students went to uh the 4 center in litter rock. Uh one is a conference team confident conference ambassador team member and a document documentation team member. They're going to answer questions and do the videoing at the east conference in March. Um so we travel there for the uh leadership team conference. And then the last page of your report has all of the competitions that East entered uh this year for conference.
055So there's a pretty long list there. Uh due to the winter weather and school being closed, the blood drive that we had for January 30th was moved to February 26th from 9 to 1 and the AR trip to main event was rescheduled for February 6th. On February 12th, um, a couple of the eents had the opportunity to speak with Noah Delashaw from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism about making the making of the Kio Park and the importance of social media and how it's changed our East program. One of our senior volleyball players was selected to represent the 2526 East all-star volleyball team with the Arkansas Activity Association. So, there's a East and a West and they will play at some point. and she made the east team. Junior high basketball seasons ended.
056The lady lines won their first round but came up short in the district against Hazen. The junior lines earned district the district championship and the conference championship. And then senior high basketball district tournament starts this week at Desark. Both teams will play on Thursday. The Lions play at 4:30, Lady Lions at 7. Um, in senior high conference, Lady Lions earned the conference runner up and Lions tied with Barton for conference uh co- championship. For Atlas, we were we gave the math and science assessments on the 10th and 11th and the data show that we are still below average for the with the state, but there are students performing at levels three and four in nearly every tested area. And so we know that proficiency and advanced is attainable. We have the Baylor group coming on
057the 26th to discuss this with us and our teachers and try to come up with a plan to move forward before um the summit of assessment in March. And then there's a list of upcoming events. We have athletic physicals, parent teacher conferences, baseball and softball pictures. Juniors will all take the ACT, uh the blood drive, the Bailey group, and then regional tournament, state tournament, and baseball softball begins as well. >> All right. Thank you, Britney. >> Work on Friday. >> We do. Yeah. >> Yeah. I want to recognize some very special people this evening. They probably saved this school district tens of thousands of dollars during their ice apocalypse. Uh Mr. Wood, Mr. Turner, uh, Jake, uh, >> Miss Sherry, and there was one other Brian. Yeah, let me tell you what Brian did. We
058started out watching the weather and we knew this was going to hit and he got that ice melt stuff and he put it out before any of the precipitation started so it'd be easier to get up. Uh, and I communicated with him every day during the ice to see how the roads were. Before we said, "Okay, we're coming back to school." Brian came up here without me asking him to. Drove a school bus down every inch of our routes to see if the school bus could get down it. Okay. Now, that's going above and beyond. And Brian, I appreciate that. Mr. Woods, Brian, everybody worked to keep these pipes from freezing during that cold. And uh we have some goodies for y'all. Angie, come help me. Mr. Woods, little something for your office and a
059little something sweet here for you. >> Angie has been baking and I tell you, I did get one of those cinnamon rolls this morning. We wish we could have done more for you, but we have been trying to get out of fiscal distress and we have been being stingy and so >> you're very welcome. >> My co- parade marshall here. >> Here's you something. It's a very excellent either appreciate it. Ed and Jake who comes over and cleans my office for me. Jake, thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Turn. [laughter] There you go. [laughter] Oh, thank you. >> And Brian, Brian, I do appreciate everything you did through that. He got somebody up here to scrape the ice so we could come back and not have falling hazards,
060somebody falling and hitting their head. Uh, but I appreciate all of you very much. You are truly the heartbeat of this school. We work really, really hard. [applause] We worked really hard to keep this place cleaner this year and I think it looks good all the time. >> Appreciate y >> and I'll give y'all another little treat here. You don't have to stay for rest. >> Thank you. Thank you. Oh yeah, we got to get your picture. [laughter] >> Mr. Woods and I had a great time being the parade marshals for the homecoming parade. We rode in his golf cart. Had a big time you make sure y'all get all [laughter] >> I appreciate Angie for making all that stuff. She made all that. >> I got put bricks on it now. There, you don't
061look any older. Happy birthday. >> Well, thank you. Thank you. I feel it though. >> Thank God for another one here. >> Thank you. Good night, everybody. >> Good night. Good night. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> But it was amazing that we didn't have not one first pipe. >> Yeah. Last time it was we had a whole gym was flooded and the wall had to be knocked out. The maxim 4,000 suck the water. Yeah. Well, they really did a great job for us and I wish we could have given them more than just some baked goods, but we have gotten out of physical distress. Um, I told you last month that we had been told orally that we would get out of early intervention and they sent the letter to us that's made
062it official. So, uh, Angie and I were so pleased with that. Uh, >> great job y'all getting working on that stuff. Well, and we've done it by being miserly, even if everybody doesn't agree that that's the way to do it. We have we debated on getting these guys a gift card and we thought, well, you know, we better not do that. And Angie volunteered to bake and she's a great baker. So, I thought, golly, I'd like to have that. So, but I just wanted to recognize them because I think it's important to recognize your good employees. >> It was cold out here scratching, right? Oh yeah. >> And under C under the superintendent updates, I was on a Zoom the other day with some of the other uh schools in our area. They're wanting to
063go up on admission to athletic games to $7 because the cost of officiating has gone up so high. Which one of you is telling me that we paid $100 to one official? Was that you, Angie? >> 200. Okay. Everybody else is going up and I think we're going to have to go up too. And I'll let you think about that and I'll put it on next month's agenda. But uh I know that $7 is going to create a problem of making change. >> But I don't know. I don't >> know. Bunch of schools now you have to do it online. They don't even take cash at the to see how they get around that. But >> yeah. Well, we're going more and more to a virtual currency. I mean, [clears throat] it's it's happening. But
064anyway, that I wanted to let y'all know that I've been on that Zoom. Uh Micah, I'd like for you to tell us about this fresh fruits and vegetables grant. So, the fresh fruits and vegetable grant, you know, we've got $20,000 to use at the elementary school. We're doing it every other week um in the library. Miss Quendy has been a asset and a big help for this. The kids are actually really enjoying it. They've asked for some of these fruits to be in the cafeteria now as well. This week we're doing papaya and they're called cucumber coins. It's already pre-cut cucumbers where they can dip them in ranch. The kids have loved I know the kids have loved the dragon fruit. >> That's the one. >> Yeah, I know. I know. >> Dragon fruit. Um
065pink pineapple. Um we've done grapefruit. We've done bell peppers. We've done a variety. Now tell us how much this grant is for moneywise. >> We got $20,000. >> Okay. >> Well, a little over 20,000. Good. >> Um supposed to spend around $2,000 a month on just the fruit and vegetables just for elementary school. >> Well, I think that the nutrition for our kids is very very important because that fuels them to be better learners when they have proper nutrition. So, >> and this has nothing to do with lunch or snack. This is something totally different. They get another >> piece of food. Oh, and I wanted to tell y'all at our uh DEG lunchon that we had, we ran short on lettuce and Micah went out to the greenhouse and picked lettuce and we had
066our salads made from our school grown lettuce that was really good. It was crispy, fresh. >> Um, now another thing we're going to vote on in March is the facilities use policy. We need to stop loaning out the gym for anything because if you loan it out for funeral, women are going to have high heels on and you're going to mess up that floor and it's going to be very expensive to fix it. And we need to limit the renting of the cafeteria. We thought maybe to nonprofits only uh because everybody wants to move those tables and you know that when you move furniture you tear it up and when you move it all the time you really tear it up. But in your packet here is what we're proposing and I'm going to let
067you take that home and study it and then we'll vote on it next month. And we are still working on a passenger van. I have found out that Do they let the community center do they rent that out? >> Yes, >> they do. They rent it. They rent it and not give it out for free. >> Well, community center, if that's an option, then why do they need to rent this? >> We We can cut it out entirely. That's fine with me. >> You cost 30 $20,000. That's community school. Well, it's just causing us more problems than really we need to have to deal with. >> Well, I I think you're right. I kind of think that's why it's in the community. But anyway, I wanted to, you know, give you the time to study
068over that. Okay. The passenger van. We are going to have to relook at this. I have learned that you can only have nine passengers. That's including the driver. And then you have to remove those extra seats. So Angie got the state contract list out. And there's actually some vendors that have eight passenger vans for sale. And it's about 20,000 less. So we're going to have Brian to kind of contact them and talk to them. We want to get the most for our money and we want to get something that's reliable. I agree with Jim that we probably do need to buy a new one cuz sometimes when you get a used one you buy somebody else's problems. Uh but that's where we are on that. We're still looking and trying to find the best. >>
069Only thing different about the 15 and the eight is if you get I know it may be a little cheaper but I mean a little more expensive but if you take those seats out you actually gives you storage space if you're carrying equipment or gear or whatever else. >> Well that is true. >> What are we car What are we using? be cheerleaders carrying cheer stuff or >> it probably volleyball >> kids. Yeah, volleyball equipment. Kids going to East conferences, they could carry all their East equipment or >> tennis. We have tennis, I believe. And uh >> gives you room to store all their equipment. >> Yeah. Instead of sticking around their feet. >> Yeah, it's And you don't have to have a CDL to drive one of those. And I'm sorry, but a CDL
070is a big problem in this district. You can't force people who have a CDL to drive if they don't want to. If they have a route that they're getting out on at 5:00 in the morning, you know, I can't force them to go drive a school bus. But anyway, that neither here nor there. But, uh, on our new business, we have an invoice from Wilbur Mills Co-op that I recommend that we pay for $5,800. It's for PD that they give the district. Motion by Mr. Anthony. Second by Mr. Jones. All in favor say I. Oppose. 7 to go in personnel. No. >> Uh we have two resignations. I recommend that we accept the resignation of Nicole Duck as a parapro high school. >> Unless y'all want to go to executive. She's written another. >> Well,
071I want to go into executive at the end here if y'all want to discuss this. >> Yeah, let's just do that now. >> Personnel, right? >> Yeah, that's right. You got to ding us back in a second. I have to find my letters there. >> Okay. I We have two resignations. I recommend that we accept the resignation of Nicole Duck as a parapro with the high school. >> Motion. >> Make a motion. >> Mr. Jones, a second. >> Bye. >> Second, Mr. Taker. All those. >> I recommend that we accept the resignation of Lana Harris, registered nurse at the elementary school. >> Motion. Motion by Mr. Am second. Second. >> I didn't say that. Yeah, that's a motion to adjourn. >> I make that motion motion by Mr. Second by Scott. All in favor say
072I. B.