001school district board meeting to order. >> [clears throat] >> It's the vision of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District to be the model district where every learner is valued and empowered to become successful contributing members of society. It's our mission to foster a culture of ownership and accountability through partnerships that create multiple pathways for success. Mr. Moore, would you please call the roll? Okay, Carol Smith? Not here. Daniel Wright? Here. Ava Coleman? Here. Jim Moore? Present. Ron McDaniel? >> Present. Gina Tony? Here. Lauren Martin? Here. Laura Walker? Here. Y'all would join me as we stand for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one
002nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. The first item we've got, I believe, is special presentations for the Apptegy Rooms. Yes, sir. That's correct. So, for the video, I'll introduce myself. I'm Chelsie Williams, the director of communications and marketing for the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District. I am joined tonight by Alex Blake. She works for Apptegy. So, she and I want to talk to you tonight about how we can streamline communication in our district, but first I wanted to give you some backstory. So, our district Our district website, it's powered by Apptegy, which is a Little Rock-based company. The district currently spends $19,700 a year for our district website, the app that goes with it, and Thrillshare. So, that's a mass communication system. That's how we're able to send phone
003calls, emails, and texts to every parent in the district. So, that $19,700 comes out of our capital outlay technology funds. Well, a few years ago, Apptegy introduced a new feature called Rooms. It's about 2 or 3 years old. Yes, but it's picking up steam. So, and that's what we want to talk to you tonight about is Rooms and and how we can streamline communication. So, right now, our teachers, they use several different methods to communicate with parents. Elementary teachers have ClassDojo. Pre-K has used Remind. Some of our secondary teachers have used Google Classroom, regular email, and then we also have athletic apps and band apps. And so, Rooms would actually remove all of those apps and replace it with one one app so that we can better communicate with our families. So, there are some
004benefits to using Rooms. The obvious I just mentioned, parents only need one app to stay connected with the school district. Also, it protects teacher privacy, which is pretty pretty big. And it keeps a record of all of the communication. So, anytime a teacher emails a parent or vice versa, the parent emails the teacher, there's a record of that conversation. So, that if we need to pull it up in the future, we have it. Also, it has built-in translation, which that's the same as Thrillshare. Whenever we send out communication through Thrillshare, it automatically translates. And then lastly, administrators can see communication activity and ensure that interactions remain professional and appropriate. Well, I got ahead of myself. So, the only challenge that I foresee with Rooms is just getting everybody on board. We have so many teachers
005that are used to using ClassDojo, and so we really need a buy-in from everyone, not only licensed staff, but classified as well. And so, that's the only challenge I foresee, but we will if approved tonight, we will offer several training sessions. This is how we're going to address the challenges. At the end of this month, our Apptegy representatives, we're going to pick out lead teachers from each of our eight schools. We're going to teach them how to use the system, and then they're going to train help train others and give us feedback. In May, we'll do a soft launch with athletic department, and then in August is when we can really train our licensed and classified staff. And Alex is going to talk a little bit more about the training. So, greetings to everybody. I'm
006I'm Alex. I'm with Apptegy. So, a little bit about that training is that you guys will get unlimited training and support, and it won't be like we don't like trainees being trainers. We like to hold your hand the entire implementation and the entire way. And once of course we have everybody that's starting with you guys in the fall, if you guys have new teachers, new subs, whoever it may be, we're not going to make you go in and train them by yourselves. We'll do that training for you. So, it's truly unlimited. Okay, the price. So, it costs $3.77 per scholar, and currently we have roughly about 4,200 scholars. There's a one-time setup fee of $6,000 because we'll have to integrate eSchool and eFinance. So, if this deal is signed in the month of April, our
007first year cost is $21,898.09. The annual cost after year one, once that setup fee is dropped, it's $15,898.09, and we plan to pay for that using Title I parent engagement funds. And that is the end of our presentation. Do you have any questions? Questions. What are those Title I funds being used for now? What are those Title I funds being used for currently? Those exact funds The Title I budget is around $2 billion. So, if if a host of money is spent for parent engagement. Some of that money is spent by um The literacy mathematics intervention On and on and on and on and on. Yeah. So, training You said the current cost was $19,000. Did I hear you say that? Yes. So, for our district website, the app and Thrillshare, we're paying them $19,700
008a year, but that's paid out of capital outlay and technology funds. So, this the 15 Well, this amount, if we get Rooms, will come out of Title I. And if that's that's separate, it'll be in addition to the >> In addition to the 19/7. So, so in you know, next year we'll pay 19/7 for the district website, and then the 21 for this Rooms feature. Are we are we paying anything for Dojo and all those other Are the teachers handling that themselves or The teachers will So, the teachers generally will handle it themselves. We do have ClassDojo, and it's it's free from what There's a paid version, but we most teachers just use the free version for ClassDojo. But yeah, so we're just trying And that's again, we're trying to simplify the process, but we
009just really feel like if we want consistent communication, then we really need to get this app and everyone, you know, join in and and and use it. And the Rooms feature has features just like ClassDojo because that's one of the things that we asked about. You know, if our elementary teachers were accustomed as well as our parents are accustomed to use the ClassDojo, how much of an adjustment would this be? And so, they would see that it was actually pretty much like ClassDojo to be used by ClassDojo. The issue with ClassDojo is if that teacher leaves or transfers, we lose all access to that communication, and we actually as a district cannot see that communication. We would have We would be able to see all this communication. Our coaches would be able to and our
010sponsors would use this for their athletic or their groups, clubs, and we would be able to monitor those conversations as well. Right. It's archived. Um So, that that's great. We can always pull a conversation between anyone, between staff member from staff member to staff member, or from teacher to parent. So, And everything is going to be moderated through AI. So, if someone is going to send something inappropriate, I'll be able to snap chat, anything like that, it's going to send that into like a report function where you guys get to go in, have all of those archived, see if it's actually something that needs to be taken to the next step, and so your teachers can remain teachers [snorts] there. You said this was relatively new, the app. Is there any other school districts that
011are utilizing the app along with the website? So, we have about 5,300 clients in Arkansas. We have about 215 districts here. And then for Rooms, probably about 2,400 school districts. Okay. Any other questions? And I do want to mention, sorry, I didn't really want to make this a mandate. I just want to strongly encourage all of our employees to use it. And I didn't want to do a mandate because if one day a teacher needs to communicate with a parent and they don't know how to use Rooms because they missed the training, it's more important that they communicate in the way that they feel comfortable with, which if that's ClassDojo, then, you know, so be it. And just for clarification, it's going to be one app that's going to be integrated into the app that
012they already use for the school district. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anything else? Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Got a motion and a second to move forward with the Rooms app and Apptegy. Any other questions or discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. Okay. Next item I've got is a special presentation from athletics. Good evening. Good evening. I just wanted to share with you some numbers. The number that stands out to me when I first [clears throat] time first day I walked in here, our participation numbers was something that Dr. Owen and I had spoken about trying to get more kids involved in activities in our school. And hopefully try to get them >> [clears throat] >> focused
013on sport of some sort along with academics. And we've grown that number tremendously. I'm excited about the way that number has grown. And when we first started, we were 29% and the other day I ran the numbers and we are at 45% of our school population is involved in our sporting program. The uh The only one that I didn't get a number on was e-sports. And so we do we do have about 12 12 students. And I went and watched them participate this year in e-sports. It's a different It's a different environment for me. I'm not used to it. Kids playing on a PlayStation and competing with other schools, but they're pretty The kids we got that are involved are pretty good at it and they uh We had one group that qualified one more
014round and they'd been able to go to Hot Springs and participate in the championship round. So >> [clears throat] >> one of our coaches, Coach Webb, has taken that on and he's done an outstanding job. But uh Just wanted to share a few numbers with you as well besides participation numbers. Our football program has has jumped up to over 80 athletes uh participating in football from 60. And then a few people that I really want to celebrate here, I I kind of highlight our basketball program because we just completed that and we had an all-state basketball player that was a sophomore, which I thought was pretty exciting news. I wanted to share that with you. His name is Elijah Spann. And he was the only sophomore in our conference that qualified for state. I want
015to kind of highlight our wrestling program this year. I've got two student athletes that I'm going to introduce to you. And uh I'm going to let Coach Healey introduce them to you as well, but they're in this picture here. And then also we've added a few signs at our football stadium if you're not if you haven't noticed. Uh we're going to try to celebrate our 1976 state championship team this year at one of our football games. And uh when we get our pavilion completed, post that out and call it the night of champions and uh celebrate those folks. It's long overdue. And uh we also put the sign up for Dan Anthony playing the dog. But I'm going to turn it over to Coach Healey and uh you know, this is a program we voted
016on 3 years ago that uh we had zero participation in. Coach Healey being a former wrestling person in college, uh has really done a great job of in that program getting kids involved. And uh I want to have him share and speak for himself on the advancement of our program and what all he's done. Coach Healey. Hey, good evening, y'all. Um so first off, I just want to say thank y'all for supporting the program, for uh clearing it. Thank you to Mr. Higginbotham for all the support he's done. Uh really, wrestling is a you know, it's a really accessible sport. Uh it doesn't cost the kids a lot of money. The biggest deal is the mats, right? So uh with y'all's support and his support, we were able to get those 3 years ago and
017start the program. Again, very accessible and it really uh it's a really good sport for kids who maybe don't have other places to fit in. Uh but it definitely teaches the discipline. It teaches um some unique things that maybe some other sports can't teach or it's a good supplement to other sports. Um and so I'm just really thankful that we're able to do that. But we had a great season this year uh and it's only a 3-year-old program. So we had several make it to state, uh four boys and one girl. And I'll go ahead and introduce two of those five that made it to state. So one is Layla Adomako. She placed second, which is our highest ever placer, uh our our first placer technically uh in school history. So state runner-up um and
018she's been to state every single year. She's She's a junior this year, so this is her third year. And then Peyton Jones, uh you'll meet him after uh Layla goes and he placed fourth this year. Again, one of the one of the first two boys state placers in the school district. So a history-making year, but I'll let Layla and uh Peyton speak a little bit about their experience this year. Um I'm Layla um and I've been wrestling for 3 years. Um the first 2 years I didn't make it to state. I mean, I did make it to state, I didn't place. Um my third year I did. I look kind of dumb in the picture cuz I wanted to participate physically. Next year, next Um and yeah, I really like wrestling. Um I guess Coach
019Healey's okay. Um and that it's really fun and thanks for supporting me. >> [applause] >> Uh my name is Peyton Jones. Um I was a South Regional runner-up and fourth at state. And nothing has taught me more persistence and dedication than this sport and I'm very grateful for it. Thank you for supporting the program. >> [applause] >> All right. I have one one more picture. There's Elijah Spann in the middle. He's our sophomore that made all-state. Two of our football guys that made all-state and we're hoping as you're aware, our football program had some success last year, so we're hoping for bigger things this year in football as well. But we appreciate from the athletic standpoint all you do for us, support the creativity in this that we try to create within our program. And
020so I just want to say thank you again. >> [applause] >> All right, board members, we have a special treat that's not on the agenda. I'm going to ask our Jacksonville High School drama team to come forward. Good evening, everyone. My name is Hello. Hi, my name is Kylie Jones. I am the theater director at Jacksonville High School. Thank you for having us here today. I am here this evening to present two very special individuals from our production of Disney's The Little Mermaid. May I present to you Ariel and Sebastian. >> [applause] >> What can I say that you missed aren't as bad as I once thought. But I still think life under the sea is better than anything you got up there. But like the lady said, we have performances at the end of
021April and we hope that all of you can can attend. We have great music numbers thanks to yours truly. I mean, come on. And great technical elements like the costumes you see right here. I'll be seeing you right there, too. >> [applause] >> We have so much fun at rehearsals and we like to bring the fun to you through our performances. Ariel, take it away. Hello, everyone. We are so excited to put on a magical story for our community. Our show features a cast and crew of over 70 talented scholars and eight tiny titans from our elementary school. We hope you become part of our world and come see the production of The Little Mermaid. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you all so much for what you do to support our young theater artists.
022We hope that you come see our show. Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, I have a special presentation. I believe Principal Miller. We have a special presentation tonight from our HOSA group. And so, I'm going to turn it to them because all these acronyms, I'm going to let them explain what it is. And um Ms. Mitchell took the lead on this, and so I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Jones. Good evening, school board. It's nice to be here tonight. Um I'm Ms. Mitchell, Jennifer Mitchell. I'm one of the medical teachers in the Medical Academy at the high school. Uh this is Ms. Jones. She is also my co-teacher and co-sponsor for HOSA. So, what is HOSA? Um in comparison, when you were in high school, we had like FBLA
023for the business department, we had FFA for agra, FHA for um home ec, which is now FACS. Um but we have our own medical organization, and that is called HOSA, and it stands for Health Occupations Students of America. And so, we we brought it to the high school this year for the first time. Um out of all of our students, I think we had around >> [clears throat] >> 50 to 60 um that enrolled in HOSA. Um the cool thing about HOSA is that in the springtime, everything that the students have learned throughout the school year, they get to go compete on a state level to other with area kids across the state that also participate in HOSA. So, this year I had 17 very brave souls decide that they would tread waters unknown to
024Jacksonville High School, and they participated at the state competition in Hot Springs uh this past February. Um we had six seven eight seven seven of those um 17 that actually made it to the second round of events, which is huge. Uh they were able to take a test, they made the top half, and then they got to go on to the second event, which was to demonstrate hands-on skills that they have actually learned in the Medical Academy this past year. And so, out of those seven, we had one student that actually placed at state competition, and that was Riley Livingston. >> [applause] >> So, she placed second at Patient Care Tech, which is a big program that our seniors go through here that teaches them a little bit of nursing and a little bit of
025phlebotomy. Um great entry-level job to go have. Um Riley was because she placed second, um All About Health is sponsoring her to take her PCT test to get certified in May. Hey. 1st May. So, >> [applause] >> and um and and hopefully she'll pass and get that on. Um so, I appreciate your um support in our HOSA program for um I guess giving us the faith to start it this year, and I hope to have more members join next year, and then hopefully more winners to present to you next year at at the school board meeting. Riley, would you like to say something? Hello, you all. I'm very grateful for this opportunity. Ms. Jones and Ms. Mitchell have like they're like sparring trainers, so I obviously had to do my best, and I'm just really
026grateful that I was able to win something. I get to go to Indianapolis, and it's just like an amazing opportunity. So, thank you all for supporting them, and thank you for supporting me. >> [applause] >> All right. As Riley was saying, she now has the opportunity because she placed um in the top three for Patient Care Tech. She gets to go to Indianapolis this summer. Uh I think it's the third week in June to participate at internationals. So, she will be competing with people from all over the world that are also in high school that participate in HOSA, too. So, uh we would greatly appreciate your support on that trip, and um any questions, just reach out to either me or Ms. Jones, and we'd be glad to answer any questions that you have. Thank
027you. >> [applause] >> Ms. Mitchell, before y'all walk out, um as working in UAMS uh healthcare field, y'all are doing a tremendous job. I have to go to HOSA every year as a judge and for other things in my professional life, and congratulations. Like most of the people who come through my medical program, um they have been a part of HOSA or some type of medical pathway. So, as a leader who's been in this field for over 12 years, to see that the knowing that my students have just as good opportunity as all these other students, I'm happy. Thank you for all that you do. This is my 18th year being a HOSA sponsor, and I love HOSA because it it develops leadership skills in the students. It kind of um makes them gives them
028a little extra backing to believe in themselves that they can actually accomplish anything they set their mind out to. So, it's a wonderful program. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. This uh concludes our special presentation. All right, next item I've got on our agenda is our public comment, and I will say um we're going to open the floor for public comments. This is a designated time for community members to share their thoughts on matters before the board. We welcome and appreciate your input, and ask that you speak respectfully and professionally. Please refrain from making statements about individual students or district staff members, as the board only considers such matters upon recommendation from the superintendent. Your comments will be recorded in the official minutes. Uh we value your perspectives. Please note that the opinions
029shared during public comment do not necessarily reflect the views of board, and your time limit will be 3 minutes. And first up, I've got Ms. Christian Saint Claire. And the microphone is on. Uh good evening. I won't take much of your time. I just have a single question, and I will email this question to each of you individually after the board meeting, um so you have just time to sit on it. Um my only question is, what is the clearly defined operational system that this board believes produces student success, and where is that system documented so parents can understand it? Okay. Thank you very much. Next I've got Ms. Camille Bomart. Right. Hello. Thank you for letting me speak today. Um I just wanted to come up and say that um I am just really
030happy to be a part of the progress that has been taking place in the district. Um I feel like there have a lot of good things that have happened um this year. We've had some bad things, but I feel like the bad things have led to many good things and good changes that have been made, and I just want to thank the public and the community for accepting the coalition and working with us in um you know, kind of having a little say in some changes and some upgrades. Um I would also like to call out to the community to continue to reach out to us um about any issues that you might have or um anything that you think that can be improved within our coalition and how we operate. Ma'am, you need to
031address the board. Oh. You're here to talk to us. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you. That's all I have to say. Thank you, ma'am. Next I've got Adrian Wynn. Thank Sorry if I mispronounced your name. Thank you for pronouncing it correctly. Hello. Hello. I'm Adrian Wynn. My son went there briefly to Jacksonville High School. Um he is a troubled kid, and I would say the experience he had was not good. He did some things he shouldn't have done. I'm not going to say that, you know, he was perfect, but the way that the situations were handled, they weren't handled right. Like um he's currently failed. His name is Jeremiah Brown, and the principal the people who were supposed to make sure that he had like all of his assignments online, it's not. Matter of fact, his
032system has been completely disabled as of today. So, he doesn't none of his teachers only two of his assignment um class work are interested to do this. Thank you. Two of his courses are on there. He has like seven. So, he's not able to complete his class work. He's not able to do anything. It's like they just kind of gave up. So, it's like, you know, it is what it is. He was being bad or, you know, not acting presentably, so like I feel like they don't care. And I just want it to be addressed. Like I think it should be ways that to help rather than just Yes, ma'am. You have your con- you have your contact information? I have all the con- I have emails. I can give it to you all, but
033I printed out that I sent to everyone, and nothing's happened. Well, we'll we'll have someone reach out and check on the the status of those assignments, make sure you're all plugged in right there, but we'll we'll have somebody contact you. Even he can't as of right now, he's kicked out. We lost Chromebook, too. Like, he can't do anything. We'll We'll have somebody reach out to you. They'll be in contact. Okay. Talk to you about getting it set up Make sure it's set up correctly. All right. Thank you. Okay. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. That's all I have signed up for public comment. Next, we have a legal update. I see Mr. Richardson is here with us. Good evening, sir. Good evening, everyone. I know it's a little bit hidden around the corner. Uh So,
034I have uh a litigation update and then uh the last question about the FOIA responses We have a case with a former uh principal who sued me. Uh it's an employment case working its way through the federal courts. We filed for summary judgment last week on it and expect to get a response probably next week, I think. I'm not sure of the exact deadline. Uh but, we'll keep you updated on that. Um I got word that the response to the FOIA request had hit the papers and it uh I think the question was to discuss a little bit about responding to FOIA requests and and what gave rise to the response that was given. Uh Over the last decade or so, the amount of information and documents that get generated in organizations has been growing
035exponentially. This is true not just for school districts, but for all organizations. So, all organizations are invested in document management. Uh we see this a lot, I do, in what we call electronic discovery in litigation, where you're you sue somebody and you send them a records request and uh you say, "Well, give me all the emails related to this topic or this person." Which you think is a fairly simple and straightforward request, turns back thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of requests. Um The response that was directed to in this one was a simple It It might be a simple FOIA request for all correspondence, including emails, attachments, letters, messages, or other written communications exchanged between any employee, representative, or agent of the JPSD and a specific email address. And then, the district researched
036that and discovered it turned up uh almost 16,000 pages of electronic records responsive to that request. Uh it required the review of about 1,700 individual accounts from the district. So, that's a substantial amount of records to parse through. Our General Assembly, recognizing that electric electronic records presented a little bit different problems, >> [clears throat] >> uh passed a law, it's Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-109, that governs requests for electronic information, which if you're requesting uh data from our email servers, that's a request for electronic information. Uh and it allows a custodian And typically, the FOIA doesn't require you to compile or pull together information. Somebody requests, "Give me these records." If they're there, you copy them, provide them, and that's it. With electronic information, particularly in the school context, it's a little bit different. You're basically
037dipping your cup in a well of information and you have to sift through it to find what's responsive to the request. And then, for a school, there's a number of exemptions that you have to honor. There's uh the personnel uh evaluation records, uh records that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. And then, there's FERPA, the Family Educational uh Rights and Privacy Act. It's a federal law that says basically, parents are entitled to records on their students, but other people are not. And if you run afoul of FERPA, you can put in jeopardy your federal funding, which for school districts is significant. So, we have to be very careful with that. So, when you request records from uh electronic records from a school district, the district has to put those together and then
038sort through them to prepare those records for production, so you redact the information that is not supposed to go out. Uh And that's often why these requests get so large and they take so much time to deal with. One, even simple requests can ping a large volume of records. Uh A request like this that's unlimited as to person at the district brings lots and lots of different accounts. And then, somebody There's not an easy way to go through or automatic way to go through these records and limit out the information that is either not subject to disclosure or the district is prohibited from providing. So, somebody has to sit in front of a computer and go through the records, read them all, and then redact what is not supposed to be produced. So, it's a
039It's a substantial burden for the district. Uh that's why the law allows, okay, you can charge which a fee for having to do all that work to compile these electronic records. We are always open to or at least I advise all my districts I work with or public entities that I work with, always open to you provide that kind of initial response, "Look, here's Here's the amount of records that this generated. You can ask a more focused question and that will probably cut down on the number of records pinged and the amount of effort that has to go into compiling those records for you." Uh and so, often there's a back and forth with the requestor of "Okay, is this really what you want? Like, you're asking for emails from and to a single email
040address. You might have a thousand pages of lunch menus in there. And somebody still has to go through and You don't know what it is until you open it up. So, you still have to look through all that and see, "Okay, is that FERPA? Okay, what's not a lunch menu? What's not a lunch menu?" It's not a lunch menu. And it all takes time. Well, if we can agree to some search terms and things, we can narrow those down to what is it that What are the records that you're really wanting? And that can make it easier on everybody at home. Um So, the estimate that you read about, that's that's how it came around, you know. A lot of these requests that seem simple on their face, when you go to implement them through
041IT, they turn out to be far more complicated uh than you think. So, I I hope that information is helpful. Again, questions, I'm happy to answer. Questions? I I mean, I I remember reading that article and there was uh they had an opinion of another attorney and uh seemed to kind of discount some of the abilities for us to charge. Did you address those opinions that were expressed? So, if you're >> [clears throat] >> if you're just grabbing documents, copying, and producing them, you can only charge for uh the copies that you produce. There's a different law for for compiling electronic information. So, you don't have This is not a situation where I can just go to a folder or a person from JPSD can go to a folder, make a copy of what's in
042that file folder, and then produce it. And generally, if they're small requests, most uh public entities will provide those for free. They don't have copy costs. They send them along. For these huge record requests, they take a lot of time to compile them. All right. The The districts' uh storage for email is not some file folder where you can just go grab records from and produce them out. You still have to go through those and compile them compliant with the laws that don't allow us to produce certain records. Uh So, it takes time. So, and it's a pretty fact-intensive inquiry. There's a little bit of case law about it, but not a lot. Uh So, I could probably have a good discussion with that attorney and have different opinions uh about what's allowed, but it
043just depends on the facts of um the particular request. Well, you're our attorney, so we're going to listen to you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Any other questions? Anything else? All right. >> sir. Appreciate it. All right. Uh next, we've got the legislative audit FY25 report review. We'll have Kyle come and brief us on that. You all received that in the mail. Good evening, board. Uh I'm sure you all got a copy of this in front of you. Um we completed our audit, I guess, uh end of January. So, this is the report from that audit that is for the '24-'25 school year. So, to keep things brief, if you will turn to page 24. This is the summary of the auditor's results, and you will notice that they have um no weaknesses
044identified whatsoever on that page. And if you will look at page 25, you will note that their findings are that there are no findings for this audit. So, this is as clean an audit as a school district can have. Uh we are finance department is very proud of this audit. However, it it is a much bigger It involves much many more people that are not necessarily in my finance office. You have secretaries, you have directors, you have administrators, you have Dr. Oua, you have central office personnel, all that have a hand in their piece of ensuring that we have a very clean audit. This is as clean as it gets. So, um I'm proud as the finance director that we were able to do this, and I hope that you're proud as well. And this
045is the audit for the 2024-2025 school year. Do you have any questions for me? Any questions? Awesome. Great job. Thank you. >> [applause] >> As he taketh uh takes his seat by our board, I'll just say Mr. Hunt doesn't give himself uh a lot of credit. He has looked at past uh audit reports and ensured that we had systems in place to make sure that those even if they were supplemental findings that we did not have those. And he constantly monitors our processes and systems throughout the year, and so so there are not any surprises when the auditors come that we've already addressed them and have corrected any issues that could possibly uh come up. So, I definitely want to make sure he gets his credit because it's a daily task for him to make
046sure we stay on task. So, thank you, Mr. Hunt. Very good. All right, next item I've got are district reports, uh Dr. Oua. As uh I know we've had a lot of reports, uh but I did want to highlight um some things that we have in motion. You have a handout uh in front of you, uh Act 340, Arkansas Access Act. It uh deals with our concurrent credit programs. I'm proud of the work that Dr. Carr, Dr. Walker, our curriculum and instruction team, as as well as Principal Mims and her team has done over the past uh year in ensuring that our young people have opportunities and that they are prepared. So, you'll see that uh in response to the Arkansas Access Act, access meaning acceleration, common sense, cost eligibility, scholarships, and standardization Act. Some
047thought that it only dealt with higher ed, but it also impacted K-12. Uh and so, I wanted to highlight the pilot program that we have, uh the Pulaski County concurrent enrollment pilot program. Uh it launched to increase the number of Pulaski County high school students enrolling in concurrent uh credit programs. Uh for this fall, uh fall 2025, uh this school year, 2025-2026 school year, uh the program is designed to accelerate the student's skills and completion for higher ed and in careers. And so, that information and the additional information is in front of you. We have different ways that our young people could uh can earn uh receive college credit. Uh partnerships with local colleges such as the Pulaski Tech uh partnership uh for culinary, ASUBB for welding, ASUBB pre-engineering, and then uh uh UALR for
048>> [laughter] >> core content, as well as the AP courses through College Board. Uh at the bottom of the first page, you will see that our numbers for concurrent credit participation has increased over the last 3 years. Fall 2023, we had 46. Uh spring uh this year, uh we had 85. And then fall of 2026 uh for next year, all concurrent credit uh opportunities will be open for the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students uh completing a pathway. And so, if they're enrolled in a college career pathway, they also have uh Not only do they have the opportunity to receive those certifications, but they have the opportunity to get concurrent credit, which now is weighed just like AP uh courses. And so, definitely a lot of uh opportunities for our young people moving forward. The
049second sheet will show you what the plan is for 2026-2027 school year, the MOUs that are in progress uh with local colleges, uh ASUBB, uh drafting, automotive, patient care tech, health care, information technology, ASUSearcy, welding, um and actually we've actually entered a partnership where those courses uh will be offered at the Little Rock Air Force Base Educational Center. So, our young people are not having to travel to Searcy any longer. [clears throat] And so, they'll have welding here uh in Jacksonville. Shorter College, we have a partnership for criminal justice. UALR uh again core content, uh banking, cybersecurity. Pulaski Tech, we will continue with culinary. Philander Smith uh is also exciting because now we have a MOU for an accelerated associate's degree. So, our young people will be able to graduate with a high school diploma,
050but also if they participate [cough] in this program, they'll be able to complete their senior year with an associate's degree even before uh they move to the next level. And so, we're proud of that uh partnership as well. And then of course, you see the AP courses through the College Board that we will continue to provide our young people. So, a lot more opportunities, but also making sure we prepare our young people for those opportunities. Uh answer any questions that you have if you have them. Good job. If not, that concludes my superintendent's report. Do we have any PPC reports? No, sir. All right, next item I've got on the is the consent agenda. Is there anything on the consent agenda that needs to be pulled off for discussion? If not, I'd entertain a motion
051to approve as presented in the packet. So moved. Second. Uh motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Uh next item we've got is the 2026-2027 curriculum approval. Yes, so uh in front of you, board members, um we would like to present the 2026-2027 curriculum approval. Per statute, uh the board would need to review and adopt uh the written curriculum for the upcoming school year, and so we have provided that for you. Uh the cost is 72,000, well, close to 73,000, uh come out of textbooks uh adoptions operational funds. The recommendation is to approve the 2026-2027 science curriculum uh resources and uh adoption material. All right. Got a recommendation from Dr. Oua to approve that. Any questions? So moved. Second. Got a motion and a second. All
052those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes unanimously. Very good. Next item we've got is student disciplinary actions, and I believe we have a couple of contested this evening. All right. First one we have is for uh expulsion hearing for Jeremiah Brown, uh Jacksonville High School. Uh Okay. So, is uh Ms. Wynn, you're here this evening? I am. Okay. So, this is an expulsion hearing for Jeremiah Brown. Law provides that the hearing will be held in open session unless requested by the student or parent to be closed. Hearing is open. Anyone, including the press, may be present. If the hearing is closed, only those who are involved in the conduct of this recommendation uh and hearing may be present. Do you desire the hearing to be open or closed to the
053public? It can be open. Okay, so come on down to the front. So, your son is not expelled yet. Once you spoke earlier, he's This is the hearing to determine whether he's going to be expelled. Do you come up to this front table? Okay. From my understanding, >> Mhm. >> Just a picture of >> Make a motion to approve the superintendent's I second that. All right, we got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes unanimously. Now now that that's done, we're going to make sure everything gets communicated to you and have access to that online portal. Please make If you can't get access, please let us know. Okay? All right, next I've got an expulsion hearing for Elijah Smith. Um Patience Adams.
054Um The law provides that the hearing will be held in open session. Do you oppose? Do you wish to be in open or closed? Open? Online, everything? You're okay with that? The whole world? He says closed. Closed. All right. Um >> Mhm. >> What's the word? All right, we're going to be going us back into open session for the recommendation of expulsion of Elijah Smith. I have that recommendation to us by the superintendent. Do I hear a motion? I make a motion to modify the uh superintendent's recommendation to return Elijah to ALE. I'll second that. All right, so we've got a motion and a second, so basically not uphold the recommendation to put him back in ALE and with the the stipulation that any other violations or any kind of outburst, similar incidents would result
055in immediate recommendation for expulsion and you'd be back here and it would not go this way next time. Is that Is that every- everybody good on that motion? Yes. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you. Goodbye, Elijah. Okay, uh next item on our agenda is uh student hearings. We have some uncontested student uh discipline issues in your uh iPads, so take a second to review those and then I would entertain a motion to approve them. Six. Six uncontested, is that right? Correct. That's correct. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Got a motion and a second to uphold those recommendations. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes unanimously. Next is personnel. Before we go on personnel,
056we've got a addendum before us. I would accept a motion to add this addendum to the personnel report. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, that's been added. And any discussion on personnel would be held in executive session and I believe we need to go to executive session for brief discussion on employment. We will move into executive session. >> All right, we're going to call this back into open session. And we've got a recommendation for personnel to approve from the superintendent. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say "Aye." Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes unanimously. All right, the election was in March and we have four new board members. Congratulations. Uh our four old board members for four years.
057So, it's time for officer elections. So, I'm going to start by nominating Ron McDaniel for president. Second. Do I hear a second? Second. Do I hear a second? Got a motion and a second there. Uh I'd also like to recommend Miss Ava Coleman as vice president. Second. Motion, okay. And uh Mr. Jim Moore as secretary. Second. And I'd like to uh uh nominate uh Dina Tony as disbursement officer. Second. Are there any other uh uh nominations that wish to be made? If not, that's our four positions. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Nobody's opposed. All right, congratulations. Uh it's been my uh been my honor to serve as your uh president the last few years and I appreciate each and every one of you. And uh Mr. Ron will do an outstanding job. Uh
058also, I put on the agenda board member comments. I'd like uh as a standing uh item to be on the agenda moving forward. That gives each of us an opportunity to uh give attaboys or uh to address situations. And I think each of us received this note uh this evening Mhm. uh regarding um traffic patterns, um parking spaces at the high school and some handicap uh during uh stadium events. And a question I had is if if Ms. Memms was aware of any of this yet. And I appreciate Ms. Talent for bringing this to our uh attention in this uh well-organized manner. Uh so, uh I would just say that uh to Ms. Talent uh that we will uh pass this on to Ms. Memms. I received it when y'all received it. Huh? I received
059it tonight when y'all received it. >> Okay. So, if you'll address that, take a look at it and uh any anything we can do to make any improvements on some of these would be great. Especially the handicap parking at the uh stadium events, for sure. But uh but moving forward, we've all got a chance to make comments every meeting. Want everybody to have I mean, I think we do a good job of making sure everybody gets heard. So, with that, any other any Does anybody want to make any comments before we adjourn? There's a game on. Uh I'll make some quick comments here before I do the adjournment. I just want to express appreciation to Mr. Gray for his service. Uh he has done an outstanding job. Everybody knows that if it wasn't for him,
060we wouldn't have a school district. I think I've said that many times. He's put out a tremendous amount of effort over the years to get to this this point. And I just want to say uh thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here at the next meeting. I'm just going to sit in your seat. With that, I'll make a motion to adjourn. All right. Second. We're adjourned. Dina's almost out the door. Bye, Dina. Good night, just say put some on