001Good evening. Welcome to the January 27 225 uh regular board meeting of the popular school district. I want to say hello and welcome to everyone. Thank you for attending. Uh as as always I want to thank my colleagues. [snorts] It is a blessing to be serve and we do what we can. I just really appreciate being on board. Thank you for coming out and supporting parents and our community partners who continue to work with us to move this forward. And of course, last but not least, I want to thank our student for having vision and taking. So I want to say welcome to you all. Say hello to the people out in Facebook live or zoom in zoom uh supporters zebras alumni and all those who want to see the school district go forward. All
002right my view we have a quum the only director that's missing director. So at this time we call the meeting to order. We're going to stand for a moment of silence. Tonight's moment of silence is of course always for our health people, for our students, for our youth, for the teachers, for the educators, for social workers, for those people who are in trying to make sure the students have what you need. We also want to have a moment of silence for officials and for all of our leaders in this city because we all have to work together to make this be successful. After that moment of silence, we will do our pledge and we'll give it to our president of our special recogition. So this time, Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of
003the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, Superintendent Bar, special recognition. >> Thank you so much. We'll start with our So, good evening and we're excited. I see that we have several students here with us tonight that that are going to be recognized and I want to say thank you so much. Um, this week we had something couple weeks ago we had something really special um for our students. There was a spelling bee at each campus and then they did an overall spelling bee. And so tonight we like to recognize our spelling winners. >> All right. So if I misspell or mispronounce your name, don't judge me because you're the expert to be >> probably a
004pronouncer. This first person is from >> Oh, first grade first place winner in the spelling bea Harris. Did I get it right? >> [applause] >> Harris, congratulations. Come down here. Congratulations. [laughter] >> Congratulations. You want to stay up here with us? >> Second place, first grade, we have Paisley Miggins. >> We have Princeton Russell, first place winner for second grade. [applause] >> Congratulations, >> Journey Dixon. Second place winner. I mean for second place for birth second grade. [applause] >> She wants a ticket. >> All right. Payton Chambers. Third place winner for second grade. [applause] Okay. Kimrell Harris. Kimberell Harris. First place winner for third grade, [applause] Golden McW. Second place winner for third grade, [applause] Summer Carter. Third place winner for third grade. [applause] >> Catalena Johnson. [applause] Congratulations. Skyler Perry, second place winner for
005fourth grade. [applause] >> Riley Allen, third place winner for fourth grade. [applause] >> Chloe Christmas, first place winner for fifth grade. [applause] Samira Walton or Samira Walton, second place winner for fifth grade. [applause] Haley Watkins, third place winner for fifth grade. [applause] Kelton Moore, first place winner for sixth grade. [applause] Jordan Carter, second place winner for sixth grade. [applause] >> Chloe Wright, third place winner for sixth grade. [applause] >> Amanda White, fourth place winner for sixth grade. [applause] Okay. >> So, congratulations. This is exciting. I'm very proud. I know your parents are proud of you. I'm not a very good speller, so I look up to all of you as you are. So, congratulations. Let's give them all a round of >> hand. [applause] Want to recognize you. [applause] >> Thank you for being so
006supportive of all the things your children are doing. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to get a group. >> Scoot up. >> Here we go. One, two. >> Yeah, that'll work. >> [applause] >> Okay. So, we next we're recognizing our board not board members um our staff members who have shown their strength. Our first person is recognized for showing outstanding dedication and commitment for students and staff of Pine Love High School. Crystal Barnes. [applause] >> All right. Our next person, outstanding dedication and commitment for students and staff of Broadmore Elementary School, Justin Jones, [applause] you know, >> Mr. Jones is new with us this year. We're so excited for all the things that you're doing with us as well. Congratulations. Our next person, outstanding education and commitment for students and staff of Pond Love Junior High,
007Christina Bar. [applause] Our next person outstanding dedication and commitment with students and staff of 34th Elementary School, Alnetta Wimper. [applause] Congratulations. >> And last but not least, outstanding dedication and commitment for students and staff of Southwood Elementary School, Dorothy Dory Henley. >> [applause] >> And while she's walking up, can we have the proud principles of those schools stand up? >> They already standing. [applause] >> Yeah. >> Thank you for all you do for our students. And I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but January is schoolboard appreciation month. But I do want to share with our board tonight um the community members that we would like to recognize for showing their stripes and being so dedicated to our school district. You um I'd like to share just a few things just in case people are
008not familiar with again what strikes mean. It means the same everyone, but I want to be specific about how you as a board have shown your stripes. S stands for self-discipline. You show up and you follow all the protocols and you and you are disciplined enough to make sure that you're supporting each other. Trustworthiness. You keep the district as a top priority and every decision that you've made, you put students first so we can trust in you to always make sure our students are put first. Respect is our R and you listen to each other in every board meeting. You discuss things in the board meeting and you always have positive interactions because you know the reason why you're here is for our community and our students. Innovation. I love this one because as a
009board you guys have been completely innovative and changed and are doing things for Pineville School District that we haven't done in the past. Some very small examples are our board committees where you guys are involved in all those things that we are trying to make decisions on and you're looking for ways to grow our high school. You're looking for ways to grow our students. You're looking for ways to grow our um our wellness committee and all the things and making sure that our school is safe for students. So, you've been very innovative. You've been patient by listening to community members and being able to share that with with me as a superintendent so that we can make sure we're keeping an open ear to our community. Empathy. You've had grace and support for everyone. Anyone
010who comes to you and has a concern, you've shown grace and support and provided that information back to me as a superintendent. And that means so much. And synergy, which is one of my favorites. I'm so excited to be a part of this school district because of all the work that you do together so that we can all move in the right direction. So, every one of you have shown all these aspects of showing your stripes for combo school district. So I'd like to recognize you tonight our board for our community members. [applause] Mr. Whitmore is not here. He did let us know he has come down with a an illness for for the day. So that's why Mr. Whitmore is not with us tonight. But he did still text and let me know that's
011why he couldn't be here. So next I'd like to say Mr. Patrick Lockett. Would you come on down please? [laughter] Mh. Dr. Charles Coen, please come down and receive your strikes award. >> Dr. Senator Rice, would you please come down and receive your [laughter] go for your practice? Thank you. >> Mrs. Bonita Corman, would you please come down and receive your strikes awards, would you please come down and receive your shirt? and Mrs. Jimmy Edwards, would you please come down and see your stress right here and I'd like if you don't mind first of all [applause] and at this time I'd like to uh read a proclamation from the governor of Arkansas. It says to all whom these presents come greetings. Whereas Arkansas schoolboard members work with educators, administrators, and community stakeholders to determine the
012mission and direction of their local school districts for students formation and safety. Whereas the leadership and vision of the school board members are essential to enact policy, adhere to the law, oversee curriculum, maintain facilities, and employ staff. And whereas schoolboard members play a pivotal role to ensure general, suitable, and efficient public schools. Now therefore, I, Sarah Hudson Sanders, governor of the state of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the state of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim January 2025 as schoolboard member recognition month of Arkansas. In testimony whereof, I have here to set my hand and cause the great seal of the state of Arkansas to be affixed this sixth day of January in the year of our Lord, 2025. >> All right. [applause] Thank you so much. All right,
013that's the conclusion of our >> Do we have some students come in? >> We need a break now. >> All right, come on out and tell us your name. >> Yes. I got your certificate. You come this way. Come here, buddy. >> Sam. Sam, what grade? >> Fifth grade. Miss Sam is second place winner of the fifth grade spelling. [applause] >> Get your mom so she >> congratulations. [applause] Anyone else coming that we get to recognize? Thank you all so much. >> All right. Thank you so much for that wonderful wonderful recognition. I know I appreciate it and be just really thankful to be in this capacity to serve. All right, moving on in the agenda. Uh we're going to uh adopt the minutes board meeting 1216 and discuss call board meeting 116 225. Uh
014do we board members have any questions, comments, concerns about those minutes or any? All right, hearing no feedback. Then I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the board minutes from the board meeting 12624 and the special call board meeting 11625. move the properly second. We're ready for question. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. For me, all the oppos say no. Thank you very much. >> Right now [snorts] moving on to our financial report. >> Thank you board. In our financial report this week, I do want to just highlight a few things. Um the first link in your financial report, remember, is the local revenue uh collection and breakdown. For those of you um when you see that when you pull it up, it's going to show that we did not record
015any collections for the month of December, our tax collections. However, we did receive our tax collections for the month of December, but we didn't get them. The check was written in December of 31st, and so we received the tax collections in January. That was two $244,95. But we don't record it on here because you won't see it in your board packet. We didn't have to the remember when we talk about balancing and revenue and the variances. Since we didn't get the money till January, we couldn't put it in the bank until January. And what you're looking at is a December collections. And so on the board report where you see our revenue for December, this will not be reflected because we could not deposit it till January. So we keep it I mean it's in
016the bank now but it's not in our einance system yet because we have to make sure we don't have a variance. It would show that as a variance for revenue if we didn't. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Um I do want to say that we have spoken um with our county tax collector and um we we're feel comfortable that right now as far as our tax revenue is coming we're we're getting our money in. Um, however, we are very, very closely paying attention to the corn courts and making sure that the taxes are collected so that we can make sure we're continuing to get our revenue that we should have for the year. As far as the rest of your financials, um, what you would see is just your next
017uh, the board report from period one to current. The only thing I like to look at that I was going to show you, that's where you're that you're not going to see the actual tax revenue that came in like I just talked about the 244,000. So, I just wanted to bring that to your attention. The board report for all funds just for this current period. That's just where we're at in the that was in the month of J uh December on the bank wreck. You'll notice that we're still cleaning up any of those um checks that had not been cashed, but we've gotten it very very close. Remember, and I'm I'm really proud of that. We've got a few still from June, but the rest are September, November, and December. So, we do not have
018any um outdated any checks that are from any year other than 2024. So, Mr. Shaw and the finance department has done a really good job taking that up. Also, I bring your attention in the next section under building project reports. That first report that you see is just what the money is that shows an E finance. That's our E finance report of what the money is for our building fund, the 3001 fund, which is just our bond proceeds. Then the next report you'll see are our bond proceeds register. And this is the document that our finance office completes to to just keep it up to date. Um, and again, this is that I've shared with other people in the community that have asked, "What have we paid so far for our high school building?" It's
019completely detailed right here as to what we've spent, the interest that we've earned, and the balance that we have. And then the next one is total project cost. And that's just another document that we keep up with, and it shows the month, who we paid the check to. And at the very bottom where you see December 2024, there's four payments that we made in December 2024. And if you go back, you will find those payments under that board check register. So that's how you can do that checks and balances. We we're we're making sure we keep up with it in both places. So to date from September of 2023, our total payout so far for our Coniff High School building is 12,976,818.84 as of December. >> All right. Thank you, Sydney, for that report. At
020this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the financial report for December 2024. >> Move second. Question discussion, comments, concern. He none all in favor say I. I for me all post say no I accept. Thank you very much. >> Okay committee reports. >> Uh I guess I'll start uh from the executive uh committee and al also from the finance committee. Uh coming in 2025 we decided as a board that finance is so important that everybody serves on the finance committee. Um and we want to use that opportunity to learn to make sure we understand the budgets to to understand how we keep those checks and balances and maintain fidelity of our resources. So we had a training a very extensive training uh in the department for training us. We had exercise, we
021had test, we had writeins, and we're going to continue to do that as a board to really really know what's going on with the finances. But I just believe the board members believe that the more you educated, the better you can serve in this capacity. And so we were excited about that. I think board members taking their time in the evening to come out to get that training and talk about some of those things so that when we talk to the public, we can kind of explain some of the things that's going on. We also can dispel some of those rumors that may be going around that are not true and being transparent and honest with you about where we are as a district financially and what we're going to be going forward. And so
022that's my uh report for finance from executive side. Uh I want to let you know we have an opportunity I got invite from speak to school district. Uh the state of Arkansas is watching us watching our board. Remember I told you about professional purpose and voice. They they really like how we interact with each other as security department. So now we start to go out and talk to other boards about how to maintain that same camaraderie to maintain that same professionalism. So I had an opportunity to do that on Saturday to speak with board to encourage them as they uh are moving forward in their initiative to support uh the students in their area. and I was thankful for that opportunity and thank you superintend as well as for the ad for that invite. And
023so that's uh a couple reports that I have from that side. Um next up, would you like to go uh facilities? >> Good afternoon and I want to give you all an update on our facilities meeting. We had a meeting last uh Tuesday and some things we discussed and actually have moved on is uh we purchased uh HVAC equipment for James Matthews and secondly we're going to have to replace and repair some of the HVAC over at the junior high schools on both sides of the street. So we're working on that. Uh I guess the the new new items are we're looking at a preliminary improvement plans for the uh football stadium. So we're just in the infant stages. So we'll probably have another report for you all in the February or March. Yeah, February
024or March. We haven't decided yet. And last but not least, uh I'll talk that uh East Harding give us a update on the progress of the high school. >> [clears throat] >> appreciate the opportunity as always video. Let's kind of start where we end up at the end of last month. As you can see there from the academy, we were just starting to get walls up uh for some of the the main building going up here. That'll be the classroom wing. Uh as the video progresses, you'll start to see more and more walls uh come up in this area here. We are continuing to do underground utilities. Uh we're in the process of doing the 42in storm and a 36 inch uh sanitary sewer that have continued to come down the north end of the
025site. Uh you'll kind of see the work going on through here. We are using some rock to back fill some of the areas. Uh these guys are still working uh real deep. You can see the trenches that they're working in. And we still got some large pumps running to keep the water out. We got a lot of ground water we're dealing with. Uh if you look real close, you can see a guy standing down in there. A few more up here on top. This is part of the installation process for the deep utilities that we're still doing on the north end of campus. As we're starting to get out of uh the utility runs, it's allowing us to start back filling in for the buildings. Uh some of those are starting to come into play.
026You'll notice that more and more walls come up. Uh this area right here in the big opening, that's actually the front of where the media center will be. The middle of that will be pretty much a glass infill. So be able to look out over the corridor. These are kind of the south end of the main uh classroom buildings that you see going up right here. And then this is over in building A, which is the auditorium. We're working on footings and getting plumbing in over there. You can see the guys carrying some rebar mats. Had about 120 yard pour on Friday. We're trying to squeeze another one in before the rain Wednesday. to get footings in over there and we'll start below grade masonry. As you can see, the walls are getting topped out
027and continuing to work. We're starting to work our way north. You can see up there in the corner um that we're moving on. Uh also, you kind of notice that the the lot to the north end towards the stadium is starting to get leveled out. That's where we're finishing those building pads out on the north end of the stadium and starting to get our plumbers moving that direction. uh which will allow us to kind of come across the north end for the cafeteria uh and the dining hall and kind of over towards the safe room in the arena. So we'll start to see work progressing that way. So kind of an overview but a lot of work going [laughter] this area building A and a lot of work going down here in the main uh
028classroom wing is really our big focus. And as we're moving utilities around to this end, you'll start to see a lot of lot of change happening on this north end direction we're headed right now. So, we were slowed down just a little by the snow as everybody was, but we we're working through it. We certainly appreciate it. Any questions? >> Yes, I have. Yes, sir. the uh academy building had that first classroom. >> Is there a drain there? Because anytime you don't get sunlight in there, you may build up some of moisture. >> So, there is a drain swell that's coming in between those two buildings. It's going to divert the water back to the east towards Olive Street. We do have an inlet uh that's just east of the new building. They'll actually gather
029that water and some of the water coming off that parking lot. All that is being transferred to the east over to the and up to the heart. And we are uh one letting you know we are fencing in the the parking lot that's to the south of 11th. You may see that going up. We're getting ready to start storing some materials over there. Uh we'll have some of the metal for some of the buildings about to hit site. So we are kind of in the process of getting that done this week. [clears throat] Any other questions? >> All right. Appreciate you. >> Right. Thank you. >> Yes. So, I had the pleasure of um my committee on Friday um to pick a math And so at this point I'll let a little bit more about
030that. Um but so I say we but uh she and her teachers that she picked um to do so. So we had we narrowed it down to six resources and each of those uh resources those conference came and presented to the team and provide them with um other resources and templates to uh look at so they can so we can make a decision and we hope to make a decision by the end of the week. U push out a survey to the teachers and choose which one they prefer and we'll So, just to add to that, all of the presentations were just topnotch. Um, and the the the teachers that she fit to be on this um committee, selection committee were very well verssed in what needed to be um needed to be specified for
031our students. So, um, when she's saying narrowing it down, it was very like close because some of the curriculum were so closely related, but they are doing a phenomenal job and have no doubt that >> I had one question. How how will the material be presented? Will it be kind for a workbook style or text style? they have digital work and secondary would have had opportunity at this time to have a choice between the workbook and the hard text. like us being consumables but a couple of companies offer the hard text >> because I think that's important you know you can do that work and also see the examples in a digital format and also see the problematic may depending on which one we go with. Some were specified K through eight, but then there's
032also like that that high school edition, but um they'll they'll cover one that will take care of everybody. >> Thanks so much. >> All right, Director Lock. Yes, sir. I do. I'm still watching everything that's going on in session and u rock doing some reading every day to understand but mainly watching the learn act seeing what changes they're going to do with that. So far nothing has been voted on so we're still in good shape and also the second thing that I have is I want to give some recognition to principal pearls at the south school. We had a meeting at the city hall for our directors and they sent over a group of ladies with their uh with teachers and they helped served us. They helped with the games. Uh they were very studious
033and when they was pulling tickets they were very crafty. [laughter] So we want to thank them for that and also for the anti-bullying campaign. I believe that was in December that they were and I wish I had have known about it that day. I would have came over. So, the students uh participated in that. So, we want to thank the Southwood uh school and staff and the principal for these things that are going on. And so, the more I see, the more I hear, the more the better I feel. I almost said amen. [laughter] Did I miss anymore? I think he's on tonight. >> He is absent. However, I do know he attended. We had a district health uh district wellness meeting last Thursday via Zoom. I think there were some people in person as
034well, but um he did participate in that committee meeting. Um I'm not sure. I think he would be willing to talk about his update with the board at the next meeting as well, but I was the president for that which is good. >> All right. Any other questions, comments, concerns, more committee reports? Thank you. All right. Moving on to PC. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Trust everybody's doing well on today and uh I'm doing well as well as we can be I guess you know but um I rose uh to kind of give you guys a brief update here. First of all, we have u We message to the district regarding the snow makeup days our calendar. Those days were already built in so they've been enacted and so uh we will shorten the
035first part of spring break by two days and that would be no school beginning for students on the 19th and 20 19 out. And so the 17th and 18th will have the instructional contact days for students and then teachers will uh work on a staff day on the 19th and then they have the flex professional development day on the 20th. So that's been the adjustment uh that has been uh added to our calendar. Speaking of calendar, we uh sent out today uh the district survey. Most not going to really be the district. It's going to be for all of our stakeholders uh gauging the temperament. So before we uh decide to which calendar direction we're going in, I think it's important that we gauge, you know, the frequency or the temperature of everybody since we've
036been on this new calendar. So this survey, it's not very wordy, not very long. Just had a few questions to kind of give us um a taste of where everybody was with their feelings on it. And so uh so far uh since this afternoon, I think it was this afternoon, right? We've had 116 responses uh so far and uh we asked a question it's only like six of them so I'll tell you what they are. Uh we asked uh do you have a favorable view uh of the uh early start calendar? 69% of uh respondents said yes. Uh do you believe it's had a positive academic impact? 54% have said yes. Student attendance. If you think it has increased student attendance, 46% have said yes. Again, all of these are opinionated responses. We have no
037doubt. They can't see the data. All right. Uh what about staff attendance? If that has improved, 49% has said yes. Uh I'm I'm excited about this number. Uh and that is staff and student burnout. Has that improved? 60% said yes. Um, and so far we asked the question on the bottom was, "Do you want to go back to the traditional calendar?" 72% said no. [laughter] And so, uh, again, we'll use that. We do have an open response question in there. And so, we'll dissect that data and kind of see u maybe whatever tweaks we may need to make moving forward with whatever calendar we decide to to put before the district. But it is our goal to have for you in February meeting the recommendation for district for 25 26. Right. And that's all I
038have questions. Any questions from board? All right. Thank you. All right. Moving on from PBC to the superintendent report. I did want you to know that I've made this report tonight kind of short and sweet because we continue to talk about And I know you guys had a lot of great reports that still meet all of our systems as far as the support that you're providing in those different areas as well. But I did want to talk briefly about a few things. And if you remember, it is required by law that the district superintendent update the community and the board every month on academics. And so I did want to start by saying we mentioned the math curriculum adoption as that's something that we're really focusing on right now as part of our curriculum. But
039also I've asked Miss Ross to um give us an update on our district common formative assessments. And remember um we're this is something we started last school year and this school year we've given two district common formative assessments one and two both in the subjects literacy and math and so this is the data we have so far and miss she's going to be brief but just kind of talk about what we're really looking at and what we're trying to get from this data. >> Thank you Mr. Ross. >> So good good evening you know this is the best part of the meeting. Uh and so uh this data uh right this data tonight continues to show the story of how school like Dr. just said this last year was the first year that we did
040this year for assessment. So it wasn't something that teachers and even staff were familiar with including students. So what you're looking at is what's in black is the current school year and what's in blue is last year's assessments. And what we what you notice from the data is guess what? We're growing. We are growing from last year to this year. You will see that the majority of the grade levels uh every grade level grew. Uh you can look at starting with third grade. third grade were like 21% from the third the third graders we had last year compared to third graders we got this year [clears throat] u and you can see it across the board third through 12th grade we have some areas that we do need to work on but for the majority
041of the grade levels there was growth from last year to this As you scroll down, we can see the the number of students who were proficient by each of those assessments. In green, you can see the arrows show where we grew. Um, and some of the areas u see where we did. But where you can see the difference in that is across the board we grew in the number of students that were tested. And that means we had a group of students that were included. in the second assessment that may not have been included in the first assessment. So this look I'll go back up to third grade. Use this data uh to measure our priority standards that we chose at the end of the year. So we have 10 priority standards that we chose
042in literacy and math. And so the data kind of shows us where our kids are growing in those areas. Um when we look at the data and we the teachers meet and they their classroom data and they looked at their individual student data to see what interventions and enrichment they need to have to support the student. So when I looked at third grade data, shocking, you know, it dropped. So I I dug a little deeper in the data and what I noticed is that the same issue we had last year was with reading information. And so we made improvements of the reading information for third through 12th grade, but we forgot about second grade. And so these third graders are now they were our second graders. When you look at our data from uh the
043Atlas, uh reading information was our strongest category and it was the area that we put in a lot of effort in last year making sure students uh were were readingformational text and answer questions. So what this data tells me is that uh we got to start in second grade. We need to start in second grade, introduce the second grade toformational text. And so that will be our next step for our third graders going forward because look at the data. They did really well and in the other in most of the areas, but those questions that wereformational text where they had to infer is where they struggled in. And so we're going to work on that and intervention and we're going to look at our second graders. So next sure we won't be in the same
044spot. And this is our DCFA data. [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Ross. >> And and to be specific about our uh district CFA data, one of the things that we're trying to move forward with is really make we can see the data, but we want the teachers to be reflecting on the data in their collaborative team meetings. And so our building principles and our uh support have been in collaborative team meetings looking at the different parts of data. Um we are still going to take the Atlas interim for the second round. It's the second interim. So we had Atlas interum one and now we're going to take Atlas interim 2. And another piece of that that we're going to do is compare are we scoring about the same on our DCFA data as we are
045in what it looks like on our interim data. And for the first DCFA and our first interim, it was very close in those specific grade levels as far as student achievement. And so that's again something else. This is to help us be predictors of how our students are going to perform on those state standards and the Atlas assessment is based on our state standards. So if we continue to put that rigor in front of our students, then we're hoping it's going to transfer onto what they do in on the summit of assessment at the end of the year. Thank you so much, Mr. Ross. Next, um, just very quickly, uh, district operations and fiscal governance. So, it is required every year that the superintendent report on our schoolboard training hours. And now they've given us
046a new fancy form, but if you click on that, it's sideways, so that's not going to do us any good. But, um, I can kind of talk about that for you. So, Mr. Sims, we don't even have to post that. I will report it. Um, as you know, board, you guys, uh, have been attending different trainings and different things, but the law says that it's required for all new board members to receive at least nine hours of training the first year after um, they're they're elected. And so, in the year 2024, we had the board, our board members in the school year, well, let's start with 2023. In 2023, our school board members, Miss Edwards had 17 hours, Miss Calhoun had 17, Mr. Dr. Whitmore had 23, Dr. Rice had 47, Dr. Coen had 26.
047At that time, Miss Corbin and Mr. Lucket were not board members. So, in the year of 2024, of which you guys would have received the nine hours, Miss Edwards had 15, Miss Calhoun had 21, Mr. Whitmore had 27, Dr. Rice had 31, Dr. Cullen had nine, Miss Corbin had 18, and Mr. Lockett had 18. And so you all exceeded what you had to have because now you're no longer specifically new board members except for Miss Corbin and Mr. Lockett. So next you still have next school year to be able to get nine hours as new board member. It's the year after you're elected. So you're already ahead of that. So that's very positive. But I do want to share that in the school year of 2024, our school board, you all earned 139 hours total
048of board training. And since you've been board members, and this does not include, of course, Miss Galache and um and Dr. Broton, but what those that are on the board right now have acrewed 269 board training hours over the past two years. And so that's very commendable and I'm proud of that. I hope you are as well. Um as far as uh facilities and transportation, oh I will say this district operations and governance board. I am on the um governance committee for the legislative committee sessions. And so the governance committee of superintendent that is and so I represent our area our co-op area for the governance. And so the legislative meetings are every Wednesday at 1:30 in Little Rock where we look at as superintendents look at any new bills that are coming up that
049have to do with education or how might affect our school. And so there are three committees. There's a curriculum and instruction committee, a finance committee, and then and then the retirement and governance committee. So I represent the uh retirement governance committee. So we met last Wednesday as a committee with all the superintendents of just that. We go over the upcoming bills to decide how we read them, what do we think we're going to support them as superintendents, are we going to oppose them as superintendent, are we going to not have an opinion on those at the time, are we just going to table them and things like that. So, just as uh Mr. Lockett said, there are several bills that are being presented about learns and and and different things, but right now those have
050all kind of been deferred by the House and things like that. And so, we're not really making move on any of those. We're just paying attention to that. So, um I won't go to Litter Rock every Wednesday, but right here at the beginning, I will be at Litter Rock at 1:30 on Wednesdays for for the legislative committee meetings at this time. If I can't make it there, then we can I can zoom in. So, I just want you to know represent that. Uh facilities and transportation, we had our updates. Uh human capital, we are surveying staff regarding the school calendar. Mr. uh Smith shared that. As far as student support, I did want to talk really quickly about um Pablo High graduation. This was um something that has been on the the tip of conversation
051here lately. And so, um it it's been our ongoing commitment to provide a memorable and safe environment for our upcoming high school graduation ceremony. I've been a part of our graduation ceremony two years now and this will be our third. Um, and so this I want everyone to know that we have made the decision to move the event to a new venue. This decision was not made lightly, but it is essential to ensure that both the celebratory atmosphere and the safety of all attendees are upheld. Now, we recognize the importance of this milestone in the lives of our graduates and their families and we are confident that the new location will offer a fitting atmosphere for the significant event. In addition, the venue venue change allows us to better manage the crowd. We want to
052ensure safety for everyone and so that everyone can be partic everyone can participate especially our students and that everyone can hear and be able to celebrate their students and so um we don't want to compromise anything like that and we don't want to compromise security. So the graduation ceremony is set for Friday May 16th 2025. It's going to be at the UAPB um Harrison Hyper complex. Uh the time of the exact has not been determined yet. We're still looking at that. We're thankful though for the partnership with our local university for providing this venue for free. This is not something that we've had in the past. We've had to pay for a venue in the past. Um I'll say this, the Commonwealth High School has a graduation committee. It's going to be made up of
053seniors, senior parents, teachers, administrators, and district personnel. And they're going to meet to finalize different details that will be shared with our students and families. Two of the main points of discussion that I've tasked this committee with is um how are we going to get each how how each of the graduates guests will be accounted for whether it be a signup sheet for their guests or a ticket system for their guests along with how and where will the parents receive their graduate after the ceremony so that we're ensuring that everyone has that opportunity to be with their student but also that it's safe. Um, and so I wanted to tell you I'm going to be post I would like to make a statement to our community because we appreciate everyone's understanding cooperation as we make
054these adjustments because this is an adjustment for some of our our community as far as where the venue is. And so um, but we're committed to provide this a very meaningful and enjoyable experience for all where we don't have to worry about safety and security. So I just wanted to give that update and Hopefully the whole purpose of this is when the goal would be board when we have our new high school with our new arena that holds 2,000 or more, we will always have PLO High School graduation at Pine Love High School, which is where it should be. So, thank you. That's right. Um, as far as stakeholder community engagement, I did really quickly want to walk you through this because this is something that we uh want to make sure our parents are
055aware of. Um, we have easy access to our Pablo school district bus routes. And so I just want if Mr. Sims would be my navigator for me. If you click on that link that's here, it just takes you right to our district web page. When you go to our district web page, you go to menu. I'm going to say it so Mr. Sims can do it. And when you scroll down on menu, you go down to transportation. And when you click on transportation, scroll and you will see your student's bus driver. Pause right there. And when you you may not see a complete picture, but you will see the driver, the number, and if you look at right under there, there's a little blue square looking thing. And Mr. Sims, if you don't mind just
056clicking on one of them. When you click on that, that bus driver's bus route shows it to you. So you see your driver's route. So this is for our parents and our community to know if they know their student rides bus 91. This is the bus route for bus 91. All of our bus routes have been put on our website like this for parent parent support. So, and that's my update for today. >> Thank you, Secretary. Any other questions, comments, concerns from the board? Go ahead and superintendent support. >> Yes. 3:00. Yes. I come in about the graduation. >> Uh, you know, I've got phone calls on this and it's been s the community for a long time. Don't think I'm against I love but what happened for us to dismiss whatever it is I
057think that we may have not been given the right package if it was the silent system if we didn't have Because I found this out today. I did some research and talked to some people. There are packages that they say with anything that we need. If it was a system, you could add more speakers on the floor. But the conitu is very sad. Very sad. So I'm just relaying that. I know they'll be viewing this to let you know what is happening. And I appreciate you for sharing that with us and I appreciate those members, the committee members for sharing that with you. It wasn't an easy decision. It was a decision that um as the superintendent of the school district, I feel responsible for every person that attends our graduation. And the last two
058years that I've been the superintendent, I have um I felt like I have let our community and our parents down for um the way that it was handled in and and just the lack of being able to manage the people that are attending the ceremony. We do know for a fact that some people attend the ceremony not in positive intent to be there for students and so and that's only from the two experiences that I I've had which does not go as far back as those constituents. Um I myself graduated from Pablo Convention Center as a graduate and so I do understand that it has been a thing of the Um, however, I really would like to um take some conversations from parent, senior parents and students about how we can make this more memorable
059in a new setting so that we do not have to depend and rely on paying for certain packages for one and then um still not being able to manage those things that that we can't control as and I'm not saying we had plenty. We had security, we had sheriff's department, we had police department, we had our own security. All those um but the venue and the setup of the venue and the direction of traffic and where people can sit and different things like that were just um not as uh it wasn't as studentfriendly and as ceremonial friendly as we'd like for it to be. But thank you. And I and those that have concerns, I do want them to their voices. I've had parents email, I've had students email, and I want their voices to
060be heard and I want to be able to take um what they want to bring up. So, for example, um originally at one time the question was, are we going to have it on a Tuesday, graduation on Tuesday, and parents said, you know, that wasn't very feasible for families because families needed to drive in over the weekend, and so we were able to make sure that we had it on a Friday. So, there are some things that are definitely compromisable. Um but it's but the venue at this time that we want to we we want to see if this would be a better idea. So thank you. >> Any other comments questions about that? >> Uh thank you D for bring attention to us being connected and thank you superintendent doing the hard work uh
061in his job. So sometimes it's it's not all rainbows and sunshine. We're also moving forward trying to do the best we can for our community as well as our students. So we take on their charge for that. >> Thank you. >> All right. New business. >> So we do not have much for new business, but I do want to go over um what I'm asking for board. There's a there's anou for the University of Arkansas. It's for the Arkansas Teacher Corp. Um it was I was under the impression that we had already signed anou as as when I became superintendent. However, theou that we're functioning under uh we was signed prior to us and so we partner with Arkansas Teacher Corps. We're also now in a partnership with Teach for America. Remember Teach for America
062was at one of our board meetings as well. And so this is a pathway program for our teachers to get in to be licensed. And so Arkansas Teacher Court, we already have teachers in the program. So, we don't want to we're not going to make them switch programs. So, since we're keeping with that program, I'm asking for approval to uh continue this until these teachers finish their Arkansas teacher core program and to it's anou um with them and then it'll finish out these eight teachers I think there's eight teachers on this pathway. Do you want me to talk about them all? >> Uh no, this >> one. Okay. All right. >> All right. At this time, I'd like to uh I'm seeking a motion to approve the Arkansas teacher course invoice. >> Second move second.
063Any questions, comments, concerns? >> Question will be finished. >> Some of them look at their like >> yes, some of them are for they'll be finished like in school year 2425. So, we have several that'll be finished this year, but I think I have one that or two that entered last year that's in year one of three, but this will be their second year. So, I think 2028 is when our last one. >> Yes. >> Right. Well, and there's no changes. It's just the same except that those payments were made for the last set of teachers that came through. These are the set of teachers that are in this. So technically it's the invoice that I need approval for. But when we were trying to look for theou I realized that the we did not
064have one signed from the for this for these current teachers. So no there's no change. >> Any other questions about this motion and second? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I for me. All the poll say no. The eyes have it. The next item on your agenda is a purchase for fire alarm repairs and upgrades. And so when we had our fire inspection, it was noted that some of our fire alarm systems were not working because we updated our phone system and they weren't connected to that system anymore. And so so for some of the buildings, it's just making those connections. So, what you'll see on the second on that first page are just the different buildings that are make that's the costs to fix the deficiencies for us to be able to
065have a working fire alarm for those areas. But the next um piece of paper that you see where it says Johnson Controls, it says um it has four, let me make sure this is for Pablo High School Academy building. So, we're still utilizing the academy building as part of our new high school. And so, we need to make that that academy building is um has the fire alarm system that's connected with everything. So that's for the fire alarm system for the academy building. And then the next one is for the fire alarm system for the multi-purpose building that's over at Kofi where we use for athletics. Those two did not have a working fire alarm. So that's to install the new fire alarm and make sure it's connected and the other ones are just repairing
066the fire alarm systems and making sure those are all connected in the different buildings. So, we sought out u other vendors for this. However, Johnson's Controls um had the best. This is your This was the best um quote. So, the original quote was going to be around $73,000, but because they had to go back and add a few more things, we're right around $75,000 plus tax to have all of our fire alarm systems updated to our new phone system. >> All right. At this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the purchase of fire alarm repairs and upgrades. Johnson control second. Ready for question? Any discuss? Any discussion? >> This will come out of operating. >> Any other questions, comments, concerns? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I for me. All
067post say no. Yeah, I said >> Miss Miss Edwards, it we're looking at taking it out of M M which would be 2,000, but it could possibly also come in a 5,000 capital outlay because it's upgrades to our current. So, we'll look and see where that and we'll let you know if things so it could be 2,000 or 5,000. >> Oh, sorry. The next one, um, we have been really doing an inventory on our school bus fleet. Um, currently we have 26 buses that are our fleet. Two of those 26 buses are mostly used for activity. Of those 26, we have 11 buses that are long buses. We have four what we would call shorter buses for our special needs students that have uh wheelchair lifts. And then we have two mediumsized buses. And one
068of those mediumsiz buses also have a wheelchair lift on it. So we have a fleet of 26 buses. We have actually nine buses that are out of working order right now at this time. One of them we're saving for uh a literacy project and so we're going to talk about gutting that and doing some fun things for that. Miss Wes is working on that. However, eight of them are absolutely not working anymore. We've taken the parts off of them that we can use and so we need to delete them off our fleet. And so I'm asking for you to leave these buses off or approval to delete these from inventory. What we will do is scrap them and we will get scraped. We and I'll and I'll report how much we get out of that.
069>> All right. At this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve to remove inventory items school buses. >> Private second. Ready for question. Any questions, comments, concerns? >> Was the deleting was that a part of the 26 or in addition to >> That's in addition to Good question. Sorry. that. So we have 26 that are working and we're using and these are eight that are not usable at this time. >> So we are not selling these to the public. >> No >> good. >> We're scrapping. We get more money out of it usually. >> That's cold off that ticket. >> No, we're planning to scrap them. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have a question. What would be the ide? >> So So we talked
070about that. So right now We're running 22 really. Um, and that's not enough. And so we believe we need at least two new full-size buses to have a real strong fleet. Um, we also believe that we could we could hire drivers to do so. So, we need two new buses. I'd like to look at, we talked about that budgeting a bus every year for the next upcoming year, but we've also tasked um our transportation director to look at used buses and new buses to see a good price. So, the hope would be that I'll bring that to you soon, maybe even the February and March board meeting so that we can go ahead and get one ordered if we need to so that it will be here for next school year. It would come out
071of next school year's budget though. >> Good. Any other questions, comments, concerns about this item that was motioned and second? All right. Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I for me. All the post say no. >> The eyes have. All right. Well, at this time we are preparing to go into executive session to discuss personnel. Uh the board members want to take a five minute break to step together and come back. ask community please leave room appcate.