001Uh we would like to welcome everyone out. Thank you for being here. Uh this is the February 9th, 2026 meeting of the Seno School Board. Um at this time, I would like to call Sepeim Francis to the podium. She is our uh student representative from Springle High School. She's going to lead us in the pledge and then tell us a little bit about herself. So, if you guys will stand and join me in the pledge. >> Sorry, I kind of rushed. >> You're okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> So, welcome. >> Hi. >> Thank you for being here. >> Of course. So, if you want to just tell
002us a little bit about yourself, where you came from, where you're headed, and then we might ask you a few questions. >> Well, hello everyone. My name is Sephosine Francis. I am a senior at Springdale High School. I attended a couple of actually I've attended all Springdale schools my entire life. I went to JB Hunt for a few years and then I transferred to Turbo Elementary and then I attended then I attended Snor Middle School and then Lakeside Junior High before attending Springdale High School. Um I in Springdale High School I'm a part of the IB program and I'm also a part of student council and Bulldog TV. I actually represent um Springdale High School as their student body president. Um, and yeah, >> plans after high school. >> Um, I don't know where I'm
003going yet. I get all my decisions back in March. >> But for right now, I know I want to go into marketing and social work and try to find a way to promote schools to younger children and adults. >> Sounds like a position at Springdale Public School. and you're you're way over your required volunteer hours. So, you have to be volunteering on something you love. >> Yeah. >> So, tell us a little bit about what you do at your volunteer. >> Um, so my sister is actually the operations coordinator at the Marshall's nonprofit downtown and she's always asking us and my friends to go help um kind of lead their groups, especially their youth groups. Um, so I get a lot of my hours from there, but I'm also part of like Key Club and
004National Honor Society. So I get a lot of my hours from doing community service with them as well. >> Very cool. >> Do you have a favorite class or a favorite teacher that really had an impact on you? >> Well, Mr. Jones is a great principal. He's a great principal. Did he pay you to say that? >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> Um, but I actually really enjoy the IB program. I feel like the pace is very um it goes well with me because because it's like very small classes. I feel like I'm able to really talk with all my teachers and every single one of them. I feel like I'm able to build a really strong connection with each and every one of them. So, being in the IV program, that's
005probably why you said earlier you don't you don't get any of your decisions back until March. Apply to a bunch of different places. >> Yeah. >> If if you could pick one, your dream spot, where where would you love to go to school if you had the opportunity? >> Well, right now, my number one is Emory. It's in Atlanta, and I really want to join their uh business program, man or their business program and marketing school. >> Well, good luck. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. You did a great job. >> Awesome. >> Good luck. >> All right. Well, that uh Dr. Cleman, do we have any changes? >> Yes, sir. Unless the board has changes. Okay, we're good. Make a motion to approve the agenda. Yes. If any >> second
006motion by Mr. Hutchson, a second by Mrs. Cook to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. That brings us to our celebrations and reports. Dr. >> Yes. Well, as you know, uh tonight is kind of a bittersweet night in that uh our own Mr. Kevin Owen B. This is his last official meeting to where he votes. And uh I've only known Mr. Owen B on board. Came here a long time ago. I mean, I think you started what, 15 years ago. You're >> still good with that. >> I don't want you to leave. No, I don't. uh not only have you been a very special mentor to me, you've uh directed the district and been strong and had quality service and provided a like a a sail when the
007wind was blowing in the right direction and and quite frankly a a wind block when the wind was blowing in the wrong. been uh from my perspective, you've been a a quality steward for the district finances and you've been a steward for me as a personal friend and guide and I couldn't thank you enough personally because I feel like I've grown under under you in lots of different ways. >> Thank you. >> You're a gentleman and you are kind and strong and you like to win. and lots of things. But that being said, you also are very gracious. People don't know how kind you are when nobody's looking. And uh except maybe the family. And I think that's why they're so strong and they're so good. But I would like to ask the board if
008any of you have any special thoughts or comments because he's your special friend too, right? And I know y'all had wild conversations of sometimes agree and sometimes you don't. So, >> well, I just want to say thank you from me cuz I came on the board not having any idea what I what I was doing and you've been a great leader of great. um you ask hard questions when they need to be asked and you are the biggest advocate for this district and the love and passion that you've put into this position is really inspirational and I hope you guys know like he has fought for y'all whether it was asking the hard questions or um you know standing up for better pay let's do the best we can I mean he has been an
009advocate and so from me like Dr. Cleveland as a friend and as a fellow board member. Thank you. We'll miss you. >> Absolutely. >> I don't know what um there is left, but um >> they both said it really well, but um yeah, I mean I've been on the board about um 8 years and you've been a role model, a mentor. Um, like Debbie said, one thing I've always admired about you is your ability to think outside the box, to think critically, to ask hard questions. You're passionate. You stand firm in what you believe in, which is um a really good characteristic. And anybody but a board member and a friend for sure. Um, and you're not a not afraid to wear shorts at any point in time. which I admire about you. Um you
010you are who you are and you don't you don't ask for forgiveness for that and I admire you for that and um it it will be big shoes to fill. Um I'm going to miss those meetings of um your your thinking and your questioning. Um and um but we will honor you in finding someone that will will fill your shoes. And um I just thank you for 15 years. My kids go to this school district. My wife works in this school district and I thank you for looking out for them for the last 15 years. How to follow that? Huh? Well, no. it, you know, they pretty much hit the nail in the head and um we really appreciate your time. Um it is a thankless job. Um and a lot of people don't know
011we don't get paid for this, right? And uh I I do the thing I appreciate like they mentioned most about you is you do ask the hard questions that sometimes we all don't ask or maybe don't think the same way. Um and I think that speaks a lot about you and um thank you very much. It's been a pleasure serving with you. um not real happy you're leaving. Um kind of keep us all on our toes and you are one of the reasons why I ran for school board. You, you know, suggested that I look into it and that, you know, were the first person to ever say that it that I might enjoy it and that I might be good at it. And um 13 years later, I'm thankful for that still. um you
012pushed me especially when I was president um during a few votes that I was unsure about um you made me um grow both as a president and as a board member to to see things differently and not to be afraid and not to you know to be as cautious as as I tend to be. Um we're grateful for your family that they gave their your time and um cuz we know how much time is given by the family for us to be on the board and we appreciate that Holly and the rest. Um so enjoy your time on the lake and think of us. >> Well, I'm not happy about this either, but I know that this is what's best for you and your family. you're going to get to go hang out with the
013grandkids and uh that's one of the most awesome things ever as the only guy sitting here that's got more time than you. Um 20 years on the board now. Um and I didn't know you from Adam when you walked in the door and I'd never met you before and I've really enjoyed getting to know you over the last 15 years. You know, everybody's talking about the hard questions. I I attribute that to working for Tyson for 24 years. >> And the way that your approach is about, you know, being real surgical about your, you know, personnel and that kind of stuff kind of makes everybody faint in a different way and in a good way. So, I appreciate that. I'm going to hate that you're, you know, not here. You you shepherded us through a
014really tough time uh on the board. Uh, and I'm glad you were here when when I all came down because the other ones of us maybe were too close to that whole thing. So, thank you for for doing that. So, going to miss you. Do two things. Watch a video we put together and you can speak or you can speak and then watch the video. I don't know. Miss Obi, which should we do first? >> You should speak first. So, humor me for just a minute. Um, I'm sure a lot of you will be glad I quit asking the tough questions. >> But it was my responsibility to you guys. So, anyway, I want to introduce my family. That's my lovely wife, Holly, right there. STAND UP and she's been teaching for 35 years. That's
015my grandson Henry. Molly and Anthony Caldera. My daughter Molly is returning back from business trip. So, they're both not here. This is my son, Zach. And his wife, his wife, Hannah, she's doing April. Hello. This is my son-in-law, son-in-law, Adam. My daughter Magg, her son, Preston, and my granddaughter. AND ALL three of these kids, all three of my kids, including Hannah, are product of the Spring Hill School System, pretty much kindergarten all the way through. So, I think they turned out all right. I also want to say it's been an honor of a lifetime to serve on the board. Really has. I married a teacher and I thought I knew about education. To be honest, I had no idea. Serving created a real purpose and ignited a real connection for me to Springdale and the
016community. This helped me realize how critically important the school connections are to our city government, local businesses, and industry partners. I mean, I I do not think you can operate without them. And I've learned that over and over and over for 15 years. I believe the school system actually accurately reflects the heartbeat of the city and the surrounding communities. The Springfield school system is very special. We do extraordinary things. Have we done everything right? Nope. Are we going to do everything right? Nope. But we do a mountain of things that are good that far outweighs any any any difficulties we come across. I believe we do this by staying focused on the kids. We support our staff. We create opportunities for everybody. Everybody and we are extremely flexible to meet the changing needs head on
017every day. As I leave the board, I want to challenge our current board, administration, and patrons of the district. I would love for you to continue to remain focused on our students, staff, and team member safety. I think that's critically important. When making decisions, always weigh the outcome on student, staff, and community benefits. Think out of the box. Ask the hard questions. Challenge our legislators on the status quo. Public education is changing and we must maintain our leadership role. And never forget in Springdale, all really means all. Thanks. created a little video for you. Hope you like it. A son of Russellville found a true home in the Dale. He put down his roots and he stayed to serve his call. He and his family raised their own lives here. Thank you, Kevin, for those
018almost 20 years. From the front of the room to the back of a hall. A volunteer spirit who answered the call for the sacrifice made and the time that you gave. The 22,000 you pave the way. Oh, thank you Kevin for the heart you have shown for being the leader who never let us stand alone. When the 38 year came to a close, you were the president steady while the pressure rose through the shifts and the changes and the weight of the years. Thank you for the strength that calmed our fears. With a student voiceless heart and a community mind, a leader like you is so hard to find. Thank you for standing where the cost was so high. In the quiet moments when you said goodbye. To the parents who raised you while you
019still stood tall. To catch every student before they could fall through the global crisis and political storms. Thank you for keeping us safe in the forms. A servant leader who wouldn't back down. The steadying hand for the whole of this town. You'll see your fingerprints on every new wall in the plaques and the cornerstone standing so tall. Thank you for the humor and the truth that you brought. The authentic spirit and the lessons you taught that no matter your story or where you began, Springdale is the place where you can make a plan. If a child has a dream, Kevin made it go. Thank you for the kindness you pulled from your soul. These competitive shot any plays for the win because failing a child was always a sin. Thank you for leaving us better
020than before. As you take your leave and you walk through the door, it's time to step back. Let the sun start to set on a service and sacrifice we'll never forget. So, thank you for the standards and the bar you set high underneath that big wide spring sky. The buildings may weather, the seasons may flee, but thank you Kevin for this legacy. Yeah. Thank you for it all. legacy remains. >> Oh, I didn't see a puddle cuz I want to get Thank you. I know you you probably need to go, but thank you, Mr. Be. I appreciate you and thank you guys for being here. >> Thank you guys. >> We move Mr. up so his babies can be here and go. So, hope that's all right, Mr. Dr. Predo. >> Like to welcome Dr.
021Oo to the podium. >> Good evening board. I don't know how I'm supposed to follow any of that. So, I'm here to just um talk to you a little bit about our English learner data trends that we're seeing. Um I have some graphs and charts and information for all of you. So, feel free at any time to ask any questions. So, we'll go ahead and get started with our current look at our students. Um, when we look at our students that are served for multilingual services, we have our students that are currently being served for English learner services and those that are monitored. The monitored students are the ones that have already demonstrated full proficiency and they've been exited for services, but we continue to watch them to make sure that they're progressing academically. So
022you can see our monitored students are approximately 40% of our students and we currently have about 60% that are in services right now. Our overall number of currently served English learners by year has gone down over the course of the last decade. Um there have been a couple of different reasons for that. The first reason is we had a shift in our assessments and the assessments um caused us to be able to adjust for what makes proficiency available for students to be exited out of services. And in addition to that, we've also had some adjustments with the state department with our timelines and how we organize the students that are monitored um and how we can reclassify. Everything needs to be finished by October 1 and in the past it had not been that date.
023So for exit criteria for our students, they of course have to demonstrate proficiency on their ELPA 21 assessment and then they also have two supporting data pieces and this is evidence that the students are also proficient in language in their content learning. The Department of Education, Arkansas Department of Education has a specific list of data that we can use for the supporting evidence. And you can see this is our number of students that have exited over time since 2013. You can see there's a big bump in 2017. That's the beginning of our new ELPA assessment. So that allowed for a lot of students to be able to meet proficiency because of the new markers that were in place. And you can see that we've grown over time. And our past year, we've had our highest
024number that we've had exited. It's 920 students that reached full proficiency. And we were able to exit all of those students. Um, and that's due to a lot of work from all of our teams at the building level um and coordinating all of our data. So, our overall numbers um of English learners has really lowered, but that's due to our exiting of higher numbers of students. Um our biggest growth that we've had as a district is being able to align our instructional system through our professional learning and our coaching, deepening our overall knowledge of language, and then building a shared data system through all of our CFAs and the work of our CTMS across our schools. We've also had some changes in our overall district numbers. Um, and we've also had some shifts in district
025demographics. We've had a lot of students entering kindergarten now that are second generation multilingual students. So, they are higher in their proficiency when they're entering school. So, that aligns us um all of our practice to our mission and vision. And our main focus of our mission is to provide responsive evidence-based support for all of our students and educators. And we aim to actively partner with all of our schools. And our team has done a great job in connecting with all of our buildings across the district. We support through dedicated ELD, which is a specific time at all of our elementary schools focused on language development. And then we also have specific classes at the secondary level. We also focus on transfer of language to content learning because at the secondary level we want to make
026sure our students are prepared for all their content. We also want to focus on integrated language. We know that language learning doesn't happen just in one small section of the day. So content and language is integrated together to support our language development and acquisition. We've also been able to work with teachers to identify the portability of language throughout the day. We've made everybody kind of come to the realization that the language is the how of learning. And so when we look at how are we having our students demonstrate their learning, it's through language. We also work with our family and community engagement partnering with all of our buildings to support them with parent nights or other family events that they have. We have our Springdale family literacy program that facilitates English learning for all of
027our multilingual families. and we connect with our community partners to provide volunteer opportunities in our schools and we use um a way to just work with our schools directly to see how we can support them in that. We also focus a lot of our intentional work on professional development. We have a team of instructional specialists and they provide responsive professional learning. We do curriculum training, presentations, and coaching. And we do our best to connect all of our departments across the district to align language practices and supports. We have a picture right here. It's very busy, but we have our grades crosswalk document. This is our overall instructional framework, and we've worked really hard with all of our different departments and curriculum to make sure that we have one comprehensive tool to help support everybody. And
028you can see language is part of that. I pulled a little bit of data just so you could see a quick little capture from 2020 to this current year. Most of the information when you do a comparison is relatively the same. However, I would like for you to focus on the last bullet on each of the on that comparison slide. In 2020, we had 75 almost 76% of our secondary students that were being served as multilingual had already been served for five or more years. And our teams working with our district across the district with all of our teachers, we've been able to lower that number to 30%. OUR goal is eventually to get it to zero, but we're in the right direction. So, do any of you have any questions? I given you a
029ton of information. >> What is what are some of the top reasons you think that it went from 75 to 30? >> That's a great question. Um, I would say we have a couple of different reasons for it. The first would be our systematic approach at the elementary level has really accelerated our students language growth so that they're able to exit before they finish elementary school so that when they get to that learning of content in the sixth grade and up, they're already fully proficient in their language and they're able to just add on their content learning. The second could be a small shift in demographics. We've had some students that have just graduated out of our system as well, but I would I would attribute most of it to our overall trends have been
030most of the exits at the elementary level. >> All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> There she is. Good evening. Um, I'm Cassie Couchzer. I'm your current uh certified uh PPC um committee chair. And so here to uh just seek some feedback from y'all about uh hopefully the upcoming calendar if I can. I always have trouble. Um, I wanted to share a little bit tonight of kind of everything that goes into forming our calendar because as we all know, um, it's one spot where you can't make everybody happy. Um, but our PPC overall and our, um, calendar committee who has volunteered some extra time really has tried to take in as much input as we can um, to come to the best options available for our students, for teachers um, and families within
031the community. So, I just shared a little bit. Um, we always have to go through what are the non-negotiables for the year, both from the state and needs at the district level. Um, and then we put a lot of time in this fall to put out another survey to get feedback from, um, uh, teachers and administrators, anybody across the, um, district that wanted to do that. And so, had a good number, 776 people that responded, giving us some great feedback. Um, from that, we found that teachers um, were prioritizing. they really wanted to keep their top rated priority was keeping that full 5-day Thanksgiving break. Um students and teachers being done before Memorial Day um was a priority um matched right along with maximizing our instructional days prior to state testing time um which makes
032a lot of sense. Um, other things that came up on that survey are trying to even out our semesters for semesterbased classes while keeping in mind that third quarter can have some um, snow days or inclement weather days in. Um, and then we had made um a change or PPC had over the last couple years adding on some uh a change to PD time and conference time, switching out some PD days and adding an extra um day of conference time essentially where in the fall all teachers have an extra 3 hours of PD and an extra 3 hours of parent contact time available during the day and then repeating that again in the spring. Um, and as we sent out feedback for that, um, just after October, which is the first time that we did
033that, um, feedback was resoundingly positive that teachers appreciated that extra time to reach out to families. Families that couldn't otherwise make it easily at night were more accessible. Um, and so we've added that back in and had some feedback on that as well. We also made sure as a calendar committee that we sat down and gathered data about our other four U major district calendars. Um, we often get questions asking us why is our calendar so different than the others? And when we sat down and really broke it down and looked, we're the four big districts are really aligned in their calendar. Some small differences in timing and small differences in teacher contract days and when PD is um but trying to align to that as closely as possible since we do have um staff
034members with um living in other districts or with students attending other schools. Um and then the last um thing that we had to meet about and get some feedback because of the policy committee or because of the policy changed to add in those 3 hours of extra parent contact time in the fall and the spring that eliminated a PD day which cut out our January professional development day. So, this is the first year um and as many as I could think of where we didn't have that on the calendar um we went back to our committee in January trying to get some extra feedback and there definitely are some people that find that PD time very beneficial. Um but I think in the end they were looking to prioritize that parent contact time. So, that's
035just a little bit of kind of all the things we took into account going into making this year's calendar options. That said, last week, um, two options were emailed out to staff. Um, and you can see the breakdown on the report. Um, I tried to highlight the parts that were most pertinent, but really we had a different start date off by one date. Um, because we had a lot of staff wanting like a midweek start. A midweek start with our Wednesdays is would be really difficult, especially at the elementary level for young kids trying to get on the bus and get home. So, we want to avoid that Wednesday start. um but did put a Tuesday start option on there. Um that changed our end of the year workday um and a little bit in
036when we were starting and ending quarters, but otherwise the calendars really came about and matched up. So after our vote last week, um calendar A um which had a Monday start um came out with almost 60% of the vote. I think it was just over 950 teachers um out of 1500 looking at that. Okay. >> Can you go back to the other slide? I think we're looking at it just trying to understand the differences in the two. >> Absolutely. >> So the start date >> there's not a ton of differences. >> There really are not this year. Nope. it came down that midweek start has been a priority in teacher asking over the next or over the last several years as I've been on PPC. And so we really tried to work with that while
037at the same time meeting those teacher priorities of still wanting a full Thanksgiving break, but wanting to maximize student um class time prior to state testing. So finishing up before Memorial Day um to maximize that classroom time. And so we still had to find ways to fit fit everything in. Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Was there was there any discussion around the CAP conferences for secondary being that first week of March? >> That is a great question. So um conferences I'll flip back to this one for a minute were moved forward a little bit and that was at feedback from uh teachers asking why do we keep doing conferences right before spring break? Um and so as a committee that was moved up some. Um but we have now since the calendar
038went out gotten a few questions about camp cap conferences. And what I can share is I need more as a committee myself and the whole committee we need some more feedback from secondary teachers because our calendar committee um was primarily elementary teachers. I think that we're in on most of that discussion. So that's a great great piece of feedback that we could use some more information about and we can take back to the committee and seek out. >> So So maybe take it back and see about moving it back to the week to to back two weeks. >> Yep. Back one or two weeks. >> Yep. We absolutely can discuss that as a committee and uh reach out to our secondary counselors for more information about that too. Any other questions or thoughts or >>
039So, as far as tonight goes, we don't need to vote on these. You're going to take back >> We do not yet. No, we wanted to seek some feedback and uh hopefully we'll be back to seek your approval next month. >> March. Okay. >> Anybody else? >> Any questions? >> Thank you. Good evening board. Appreciate your time here and again Mr. Owen your service. So this month is CTE recognition month and I'm not going to talk very long about this. We've got some excellent teachers and students that are going to be recognized and we're going to highlight um tonight on our clubs. So, our CTSO, our organizations that um really do a lot with student leadership. They go and practice in different contests. They do a lot with the community. So, we've got some outstanding
040teachers here from Harbor, Miss Tessa Bunch, is going to come up and introduce her students. And then Mr. Ryan Kelly in the back from DTSOI, and they'll talk about their clubs and let you get a quick overview of that from the students. And Miss Bunch also, I believe, has anformational piece for you that she'll distribute to you. So, without further ado, I'm going to have Miss Bunch come up and get us started. Luckily, I wasn't planning on talking tonight and um I brought them to do all the talking. Um, but as Urelia hands out the handout or Ureli and Carly, they're going to leave behind um, a small gift from us. And then we have um, a CTE and CTSO handout that gives you a little bit of a peak inside career and technical education
041currently at Harbor High School. Um, but I brought um, student leaders from three different organizations with me tonight. Um, these ladies in the Red Blazers are here on behalf of Family Consumer Science and Family Career and Community Leaders of America. And I have a HOSA representative and an FFA representative with me. And so I'm going to let them tell you all about um our programs and um and what we're what we're up to this year at Harbor and looking forward to next year. But thank you for your time. Thank you for your leadership. It's great to bring students and let them see what happens in this building. Um, we should bring students every month, honestly. But thank you. I'm going to turn it over to them. >> Good morning, members of the board, administrators, and
042guests. My name is Karly Phillips, and I'm proud to represent FCCLA, Family Career, and Community Leaders of America, and Family Consumer Science Education. But I'm also here speaking on behalf of all career and technical education students at Harbor High School in honor of National CTE Month. CTE is where learning comes to life across the Harbor campus. CTSOs like FCCLA, HOSA, FFA, and DECA are embedded directly into our classes, giving students real opportunities to apply what we learn, lead others, and build skills that matter beyond high school. In FCCLA, students don't just learn about family sciences. We practice leadership, career readiness, and growth through service to others. With over 475 students enrolled in FCS related pathways in pre-education, nutrition science and diet and dietetics and with fashion and housing design returning next year. FCS courses enrich
043the high school experience and help students find confidence, purpose, and direction. Through competitive events, leadership roles, and service projects, students gain communication skills, teamwork, and professionalism. The kind of durable skills that employers and colleges are seeking. Many of us step into rooms knowing our voices matter because CTE gives us the chance to practice using them. My partner Ureli and I earned gold using our voices as public policy advocates for our FCCLA star event and we continue to work to promote FCS and career technical education as we take our project onto the next level at state competition. CTE doesn't just prepare us for for a diploma. It prepares us for careers, leadership, and life. tell us tell us a little bit about your project. >> Yes. So our project was we were supposed to find an
044issue that connected with us and find ways to advocate for it and on a local level or a state level. So we chose family consumer sciences as our subject to advocate for. Um and basically we wanted to see how leaders around the Springdale school district or around high schools felt about implementing facts classes into middle schools and starting um family consumer science standards for sixth graders or seventh graders before they get to the junior high level. um focusing on seeing on seeing how kids would react to getting that information sooner and learning about things like um cooking and sewing and family dynamics early on. We felt like that would be really really useful for kids to start learning about earlier. So we spoke with um middle school principles and got advice from other CTE leaders
045around the district to see how that would work. um just see if that would be something that we could implement possibly in the future. >> Thank you. >> Good. >> Hi, I'm Mia Core. I represent HOSA, the club of future health professionals. HOSA is aligned with our health science program and supports students who are exploring careers in healthcare which is one of the most in demand fields in our state and country. At Harbor over 500 students are enrolled in health science starting as early as junior high. Our healthc care service pathways including concur concurrent credit options. So like college classes through HOSA students don't just learn about health. We connect with it firsthand. Our members and adviserss have built partnerships with UMAS, UAMS, sorry, and Arkansas Children's Hospital with other local healthcare organizations. And we
046also connect with other partnerships like hosting blood drives at our school. Some students are already serving as junior volunteers at A and others have toured a medical school. HOSA gives students early exposure to real careers, professional expectations, and the responsibility that comes with serving others. It helps students confirm their career paths and discover new ones. Personally, I have decided to career to pursue a career in speech pathology and that's what makes CT powerful. Students graduate with clarity and experience, not just credits. Mayor questions questions. Thank you. Great job. Hi, my name is Adeline Hanning and I'm honored to represent FFA. FFA is an intracurricular uh within agriculture education which focuses on leadership, career development, and hands-on learning in agriculture, science, and industry. At Harbor, we have over 400 students enrolled in agricultural educations with pathways
047in animal systems and plant system classes. Through FFA, students turn classroom knowledge into action through supervised agricultural experiences, competitions, grants, and workforce placements. Our members, myself included, have earned state and national recognition, including grant awards, national finalist, and yep, and students currently working on local career practicums. These experience have helped students uh build responsibility, problem solving skills and work strong work ethics. Across all CTSOs at Harvard over 375 students are active members and thousands more thousand more thousands more sorry guys I'm trying. Uh thousands more are impacted through CTE pathways in business, health, agriculture, technology and media creation. CTE works because it's relevant, rigorous, and real. It connects students to careers, communities, and confidence. Thank you guys for your time and supporting our programs that help students not just graduate, but thrive. >> Great job.
048>> Family. Parents, moms, dads, anybody here with you? Family? >> No. Okay. You're all old enough to drive on your own. Rodney, do you have anything else? >> Yeah, we got Mr. So, we got one more club we're going to highlight real quickly. >> Good evening, everybody. Thanks for having us. My name is Ryan Kelly. I'm a the high school engineering teacher at Don Tyson School of Innovation. I'm also the chapter adviser for the technology student association that we just started this year. Um, I'm going to let some of our members here tell you more about what we do, but I do want to thank you for your support of the CTE programs and student organizations in the district. And with that, I'll hand it off to Jackson, our chapter president. Uh, hello. My name
049is Jackson Shelhammer. I'm the chapter president at DTSI. >> My name is Jackson Baird and I am the chapter's vice president. My name is Darn Patel and I am a member of TSA. Um, a little about what TSA is, Technology Students Association is a um is a CTSO or sorry, CTSO uh um trying to get high school and middle school students into STEM related activities. So they provide um competition uh at a state and national level um in a wide variety of competitions from design and um from design to Avtech and film and debate um and anything in between. And they tried to uh prepare students to get more prepared for um college and career related to STEM activities. Some of the benefits of TSA are that it builds great leadership and communication skills and
050it also helps us to learn more about STEM careers as well as let us do lots of STEM activities and we also get to compete in the state competitions which is I think will be pretty fun when we get to do it. This is our first year of having TSA, the TSA chapter in DTSOI. And we in October, we went to our leadership conference where we learned a lot more about what TSA is and how to um lead it better. Um um so far we have acquired three sponsors and here in March we are preparing to go to the TSA conference where we will be competing in a variety of different competitions. >> Thank you. >> Where's the where's the competition at? It should be in Hot Springs, Arkansas. And the leadership conference was in
051Little Rock, Arkansas. >> Finally, we'd like to thank you for your continued support of CTE and CTSOs in general in the Springdale School District area. And if you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them. >> How many teams will go compete? um schools around Arkansas. >> Well, like of at SO from SOI. >> Oh, we're sending seven students uh to the Arkansas um to the state. Yeah. >> How many students are in your first year organization? >> We have around 15 students. >> How many? >> 15. Okay. >> Very cool. >> Awesome. Good job. Thank you for just to give you another perspective of what we do in CTE. Excellent teachers, excellent student leadership as we're grooming young leaders and also they tie into our community. So, we're glad to highlight these
052students and these excellent CTE instructors that we have and we appreciate them bringing them tonight. >> We'll step outside and get a picture here. >> Mr. Kelly, if you want to bring your students, we'll get a picture. We'll take care of those. >> Thank you. >> No, she left with me. >> Yeah, we'll get rid of those. >> Get into be smarter than the box. Good evening, school board and Dr. Cleveland. My name is Valerie Hannah. I'm the president of the Springdale Education Association and also an educator here in Springdale. So last month I had the privilege of being selected uh by the National Education Association to go to Washington DC and speak about what hunger looks like for our students and why cutting SNAP benefits is bad. Um I sat on a panel at
053Capitol Hill with nutritionists uh school cafeteria managers and uh a SNAP benefits coordinator for the state of Maine. Um, and the room was filled with congressional lobbyists and their aids. Um, and I was amazed at how respectful the situation like in the room was and how the questioning was very engaging. Um, I was also able to meet with Congressman Wulmax's uh aids and dis and discuss my thoughts as his constituent. I was a little disappointed that at the time uh the congressman was unavailable, so I was just able to meet with one of or two of his aids. Um, one of which turns out back in the day before he decided politics was his thing, uh, actually substituted in Elmdale where I currently teach. So, I mean, obviously there are from Arkansas since it's our
054congressman, but it was just kind of funny. He's like, "Where do you work?" I said, "Elmdale." He's like, "I s there once." I'm like, "Okay." So apparently though, as far as the congressman not being available, uh fate kind of had other plans because as I was standing in the airport the night before the blizzard came uh in DC waiting to come home, uh guess who should walk up but Congressman Wack, who was on the same non-stop flight coming back home. Uh and I sat there for a little while and I kept trying to catch his aid's eye, thinking, "All right, if I approach him, is that acceptable? Am I going to get arrested? am I going to get thrown in jail? And you know, obviously not things that are actually going to happen, but also
055if you know, you're not at work, you don't always want somebody walk up to you and talk about work. Um, but I did decide after about 20 minutes of going back and forth to to make sure I came from a distance where they could see me coming towards them so I didn't jump scare anybody. Um, and had a very nice uh conversation uh with the congressman. Um, and hopefully, uh, you know, in a couple of weeks when he gets back to DC that he'll actually look at those notes that I I spoke with his aids about and, you know, maybe it makes a positive difference um, for our students. So many of our members at SEA are ve were very proud to support our students for exercising their voices and engaging in civic expression. During
056last week's walkouts, multiple educators reached out with questions about participation and we encourage them to act in good faith to support their students to ensure their safety. We have seen fellow students, fellow educators, and even our district being subject to negative and concerning commentary online. This has created an unsettling situation for all of those involved. Students and educators should not face adverse actions for decisions made in the best interest of the student safety and well-being being. Springdale admin and our school board has consistently shown that they have our backs, which is reassuring and comforting given the current circumstances. More than anything, we are just seeking clear parameters so that our members and all educators in Springdale understand the expectations on how to best care for our students. Creating a school climate that is rooted in
057safety and belonging is essential for students to learn at high levels. Yet it becomes challenging for the educators when we are unsure about how to address the very issues that students are raising and asking us directly. Likewise, ensuring sta student safety is difficult for an educators when we ourselves feel unsure and unsafe. That was a lot. Um, I appreciate everything you do. Appreciate Mr. Owensby or Owen B. Um, and we know that things can get difficult, but what I learned from my trip to DC is that even the hard things can actually be kind of fun. Um, and I hope that even through the hard times, we all will still take stay together and have each other's backs. So, >> thank you. >> All right. So, that brings us to our patron comments. Um before
058we move forward with patron comments, I will read our rules and guidance on um how this will go. We do have uh two patrons that have signed up. By signing in and speaking before the board, you agree that no item will be discussed that would operate to prejudice the board concerning a student or personnel matter that could come before the board for disciplinary or employment considerations or that is in conflict with other district policy or law. Please do not use any student or personnel names. You understand the board will not respond during the meeting. Failure to abide by this agreement will forfeit your right to speak before the board. You will have um three minutes. At the end of that 3 minutes, your time will be up. We'll ask you to take your seat. We
059cannot hear student or personnel specific information as a reminder. So, first up we have Mr. Robert Leak. Good evening board. Um pleased to be here and um there is an incident last week and it's going to be going to need be addressed um communitywide. Um student walkouts, accountability, and public safety. I bring a business acumen to this uh uh this aspect. Good evening. My name is Robert Lorenzo Malito Lee. I am here as a taxpayer and community member. This is not a political statement. It is a governance safety and educational stewardship concern. Students have first amendment rights, including peaceful assembly. Schools are legally permitted to enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions during instructional hours. When students leave class during the school day, that is truency. An unexcused absence alone does not deter repeated behavior.
060This creates lost instructional time, staff division, safety risks, and liability exposure. Civic engagement should be encouraged, but outside instructional hours without blocking traffic or violating a ordinances. If walkouts are being materially organized by outside groups or school affiliated personnel during paid time, that raises governance and ethics concerns. I ask the board to adopt stronger contentneutral accountability measures to protect students, taxpayers, and the district. Since I don't have a lot of time, uh, one final point. The Springdale Police Department has stated, uh, that organized assemblies or protests require coordination so they can ensure safety and lawful conduct. To my knowledge, that coordination might not have occurred here. When students leave campus during instructional hours, engage in organized activity without coordination, the issue moves beyond school policy into public safety, city ordinances, and liability. I asked the
061board to address this governance and safety matter, not a political one, and to set clear enforceable enforcable boundaries so civic engagement remains lawful, peaceful, and outside in structure in uh structural time. Uh this is something that I think we need to have on next month's agenda. Uh, I offer solutions 47 years in business, 20 independently, and I've been a life uh resident of Springdale since uh July of 93. My wife and I moved here. This was our home. Uh, last year around uh March, uh, lost her after being together 43 years to a heart issue. Uh, subsequently shut down my two restaurants in the area. uh move my personal life ahead about 5 6 years. This is where people need to be helping the community. The community helped us for so long. I appreciate your
062time and consideration. Y'all have a super night and I believe you got the handouts ready. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Right. And next up I have uh Mr. Brett Rston and start. Dr. Cleveland, President Emerson and board. Um I want to thank you for the wonderful job you did. I think you made a really quick and efficient statement regarding the walk out that happened on uh February the 3rd, the Tuesday. I think and and I I I pray that it quelled a lot of fears that were in the area because we all agree that the students have a right to protest. The question is, was it done in the right way? There's always a right way and there's always a wrong way to do things. And I think we can discern just from what
063happened, the kind of chaos that involved, the lack of information, who knew what, who was doing what, who started it, who organized it. Were all those things correctly related to the police as they require a 72-hour notice? Were they uh given to uh you, Dr. Cleveland? Were they given to the board? Were they given to the principles? Did the junior highs that participated in this? to the principles. Were they aware? Because we want to keep our And it's all right for them to be aware, but you should have been made aware of those uh pending walkouts that happened on the third because they were all throughout the city. And it all of a sudden on social media, like the young lady said, there were a lot of concerns that were on there, some validated and
064some not valid. But at the same time, when there's fears, there's chaos. And there was chaos that day. There was disruption in the schools. There were some students that didn't want to participate. Other students that participated because they had a deeprooted feeling about this issue. And then there were some students that participated that just did it because of the peer pressure. But certainly I don't know what time it happened at all the various schools, but there was disruption that occurred in those schools. And that's something that none of us want. Also, if you look at it, February 3rd was the most vulnerable that the Springdale School District has ever faced as far as a safety issue. With all of that disruption, with students coming and going, with doors being open, with students and cars and
065vehicles, there was no way to keep our schools safe that day. the police was was was busy about, you know, trying to direct traffic, but that would have been an and I even hate to speak this out loud, but we've seen the violent activities that have gone around in schools throughout our nation. That would have been a key point. And if this were to be broadcast before, if it happened during school, you're going to see people try to take advantage of that that have very violent tendencies within our school. You have an obligation to make sure that these protests don't happen during school hours. They should happen before, after, weekends. Get after it, kids. Protest all you want. I'm going to miss that. That brings us to our consent agenda. Do we have any questions
066around the consent agenda board? >> Second. A motion by Mrs. Creek and a second by Mr. Ramos to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Miss Hawkins. motion for the consent agenda. >> Good evening, board. Good evening. >> You want to Miss Hopkins, you want to wait just a minute? The call is supposed to be wear. >> Thank you. >> The first item on my section of the agenda is to seek approval of the January financial statements. Those were provided in your packet. Uh just wanted to point out just a few things. Um we are lagging just a little bit when you look at as a percentage of collections of our revenues. However, we're still about 5.5 million ahead of same time where we were last year.
067Um so as you know the next couple of months are the lowest collection months for taxes. So we'll see those numbers be very low for February and March as well. and then we'll see a pick a tick back up as that starts coming back in again. Um on our expenditures, we're holding tight where we would expect to be this time of year. And so um it's pretty uh standard for the month of January. Are there any questions on the financial statement? I'll make a motion to approve second report. >> Second. >> So have a motion by Mr. Hutchinson and a second by Mr. Ombi to approve the January 2026 financial statement. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. >> Thank you. The second item on my section is to seek approval from the board
068to do business with Joanna Vaughn. Um she is an employee of the district and would like to um have approval to do sale of t-shirts and sweatshirts and some decals. Um she provides custom printed apparel. It's available in small quantities at competitive prices for expedited delivery and so uh budget constraints necessitate purchasing services at competitive prices. So this would be a contract um available to her February 10th, 2026 to February 9th of 2028. >> Make a motion to approve the related party transaction before Joel Wayne up on Second. >> A motion by Mr. Ramos and a second by Mrs. Cook to approve the related party transaction for Joanna Ballen. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> All right. At this time, we will go into executive session for personnel. Please
069use Yeah. >> Elvis is getting ready to leave the building. Well, that meeting is adjourned.