001going to call our October I almost said September October 14th 2025 school board meeting. I want to welcome everyone. Thank you all for being here. Sorry we're a little bit late getting started. Um, at this time I'm going to call Carson her who is our senior representative from Springdale High School to the podium. He's going to lead us in the pledge. If you'll stand and then we'll get to talk to Carson for a minute. [Music] 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. >> Have to tell you about the pledge part. Hopefully that >> that's fine. >> You probably said it a time or two. >> Yes, sir. >> All right.
002Well, this is uh Carson Hater, Springdale High School. Instead of us asking you a bunch of questions, why don't you kind of tell us about yourself and where you've been and where you're going and >> Okay. Uh yeah, like I said, my name is Carson Hater. Um I'm a senior at Springdale High School. Um on the football team, um play quarterback right now for the Bulldogs. Um, and uh I'm going to uh after I graduate high school, I'm going to go to Harding University to continue playing football and study business. >> Yes, sir. >> What schools have you gone through? >> Uh, I started at HARP Elementary and then when NAP uh opened my third grade year, I went there, finished there, then went to jail Kelly, then George, and then Springdale. >> Yes, sir.
003wide receiver turn quarterback back to wide receiver at Harding. >> Yeah, that's the that's the hope, I guess. Um, but you know, we play kind of Harding's offense in the shotgun, so you know, if they ask me to go down under center, I I'll say yes, sir. >> Based on what I saw Friday night, I'm pretty sure you could do whatever you want to do. >> Well, I appreciate that. >> You played really, really well. >> Where do I have any questions for Carson? >> Yeah. Where do we make an appointment for car detail? You can uh uh message me on Facebook or at Live Royal Detailing um or message me directly. I'll give uh my number to Mr. Emerson. How >> how long have you co-owned that business? >> Um so me and my
004buddy started it uh my sophomore year. Um and then we usually just do it in the summers and then after football season. So I guess about two years now. So yes, man. >> That's awesome. >> Very cool. You're learning a lot of important skills. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And music. You play the guitar. >> Yes, sir. I do. Yeah. I've played, uh, since I was, uh, 5 years old. I, uh, I told my parents, I was like, I can't be a, I can't be a pastor if I don't know how to play the guitar. So, uh, they got me in and, uh, I started doing lessons and I wasn't very good. My dad expected, uh, me to be, I don't know, something great out of the gate. But, uh, no, I I just continued with
005it. Um I led worship uh for my youth group at my church and then um played on Sundays as well and yeah I love it. Yeah, it's my favorite thing outside of school and football. So are >> your mom and dad here? >> Uh they are not but um my mom is a principal at Nap Elementary now and then um my dad was on the way but he works in Springfield so it's kind of a long drive so yes sir. >> Anybody else? >> I have one question. Are you going to be a pastor? Is that what you said? >> Um I I don't know honestly. Uh I I I've kind of felt that call my life. Uh I hope you know that would be an awesome thing. Um but you know I've always just
006kind of uh also had like a desire to help people with uh special needs. Um and um so I hope to kind of do something in both aspects. That would be really cool. I figured studying business would give me opportunity to a lot of different doors that um a lot of different things that I could do with that. So, yes, sir. >> I want to make sure everybody realizes he was here before serving us coffee >> with J Kelly. >> Oh, yeah. >> You didn't read this all the way to the end. >> And I think that's super cool because I think our favorite thing, all of our favorite things is like to see the like how kids grow and learn and become and that's amazing. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you
007so much for being here. We're super proud of you and excited to see where you go and what you do in the future. So, >> thank you very much. >> Thanks. [Applause] >> That's a 44 speed walking out the door for those that know what that is. And it is fast, I can tell you. Okay. So, that brings us uh to uh our agenda for tonight. >> Look for a motion on that. >> Make a motion to approve the agenda as submitted. >> Second. >> A motion by Mr. Hudson and a second by Mrs. Creek to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor? I >> opposed. >> All right, Dr. Cleveland, that brings us to our celebrations and reports. I'll turn it over to you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, well, it is
008National Principles Month, and as you know, we've got some really great ones, but I want to recognize just a couple tonight. Um, first I want to recognize tonight is Dr. Paul Greek and uh somebody said they saw him not in a razor back shirt or uniform or any of that at a racer back game. They just saw him actually wearing a name shirt which was strange. And so I got some text about it and uh apparently there was a story there. So Darth G, would you like to tell that story? >> Your face is awfully red. Well, um well, Dr. Cleveland, thank you for the opportunity to come tonight and and board. Um I'm hoping Corey, who's this person behind the story, he's on his way and got caught in that typical Northwest Arkansas traffic,
009so he may come in at any time. And if so, I'd love to introduce him to you. But, um Corey Ray is a custodian at Harbor. Um he is in my mind just, you know, the top of the chart in terms of his work ethic, his his personality, his character. If any of you have had kids come through harbor, you probably have seen Cory cuz he's been there since the day that it opens. Um Cory's personality is one that he's quiet behind the scenes. He would, you know, he may be driving slow just because he doesn't want to be in front of a crowd. He's just that kind of guy. Works hard, serves. Uh he has not only my respect but the respect of our staff and maybe you know even even deeper what speaks
010about him is the respect of our kids. Um Corey has been invited you know to to games by kids where they you know look for him and say hey Cory are you going to be there tonight? Um and he you know he works early in the morning. He gets there at you know 6:30 in the morning. So you know for him to go to some of these games again just speaks volumes of of his commitment. Uh he'll go to banquetss. Uh even our baseball team a couple of years ago when they won the state championship made made sure that he was part of the celebration. Um well one thing Cory and I do every morning is we just touch base. You know what's what's needed at Harbor? Is there anything special going on? And so
011over the past 8 years we've got to know each other. And one thing about Corey is he loves he loves football. Uh he loves Notre Dame and he loves the Chicago Bears. And so we'll talk a few minutes, you know, about about football. And um so earlier in the summer, um his parents surprised him with two tickets, uh to the Notre Dame Razerback game. And if you would have seen the look on Cory's face, I mean, you would have swore he got a new car. I mean, this gift to him was just, you know, again, the top of the mountain. And um so I was excited for Corey. And um then like a couple weeks later, you know, Cory, he said, "You know what? I'd really like to invite you to come to the game
012with me." And I was like, "Corey, I can't do that. I mean, number one, I'm sure these tickets weren't cheap. And number two, I mean, take your dad, take somebody else." And Corey said, "No, I I really want to take you." And that just spoke to my heart. you know, just felt so humble that of all the people he knows that, you know, he'd want to go to the game with me. Um, and so I thought to myself, I've been to some pro games before and I know sometimes the crowds could be a little intense if you're not wearing the right jersey. And uh, so I thought to myself, you know what, I'm all in for Cory this game. And so I didn't own a Notre Dame shirt. I went and bought one and I
013just thought, you know what, this is about Cory today. And so needless to say, we won't talk about the outcome of the game, but Cory had a lot of funy. >> And uh and I had a lot of fun just celebrating with somebody who I consider my friend. And uh so there's a picture of us at the game. And uh you know, again, I'm just super proud that to have an employee like Corey in our district. To me, he's just what Springdale is all about. He not only just shows up, but he works hard for our kids. And so I appreciate you letting me share the story and just really celebrating Corey because to me that's what it's all about is the people that serve for our kids and and um so thank you. >>
014Well, it's not just about Cory too. It's about you and you care about everybody. You're a great you're a great example of every principal because >> Well, thank you. >> Every principal cares about everybody in the building is a family. That's why we say our Springville family. >> Yes, sir. And so I I appreciate your example and quite frankly I have to thank Mr. Bell. Mr. Bell turned me on. You didn't know that. >> Yeah. >> Well, we saw each other at the game. So, uh, >> I noticed you noticing him. >> Yeah. >> Appreciate that. So, >> well, thank you. Yeah. >> Probably trying to bag your shirt by the end of that game. >> Yeah. So, anyway, but thank you, Dr. Cleveland. if it's okay before he gets here. Maybe we recognize >>
015Oh, sure. >> Absolutely. I'd love that. So, he should be here any second and I'll I'll step out and wait for him if that's okay. >> Absolutely. >> But anyway, thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Next, we want to highlight Miss Jill Jackson of Jones Elementary uh for their for academic excellence. While she's coming, uh, I want to just talk a little bit about Miss Jill. You know, as she comes up here, I've toured around Jones with her. Don't confuse her tininess for not mightiness because she is a mighty mod. I'm telling you, she is powerful. And uh, her leadership is powerful. and her team, the Jones Elementary School, and she can share it, but I just want to recognize her, her team, not just her administrative team, but the entire team, custodians,
016food service, teachers, everyone who supports, they've grown two grade levels. They've gone from one grade past one grade to another grade in one year. And that doesn't just happen, does it? So, why don't you go ahead and and and share. >> Well, thank you, board. Thank you, Dr. Cleveland. Um, I am tiny, but mighty. I'm a little bit scrappy, as Dr. Cleveland said. Um, but I was definitely going to take that F and turn it around. And we're not done. We, my team will tell you, we're not done. Um, but I the first thing that I will tell you is it takes a family. And so I have taken the Springdale vision and we are we are a family at Jones. We firmly believe that from the custodians to the kitchen ladies to our sped
017team to our IAS even to our community clinic. We work very closely with them. Um we that's just something we firmly believe in. Um I am very present throughout the whole school every day. Hey, I have subs tell me they're like, "Oh, are you a are you an IIA? Are you a sub today?" I'm like, "Oh, no. I'm actually the principal." And so, I hear that a lot, but we are hands-on all day, every day. Um, but as you know, Jones is not an easy gig. Um, I had the reigns passed to me and was taught very well about um the community and population. There was there's a lot of things. And so one of the things our leadership team decided when we really wanted to go on this journey is that we could all
018sit there and look at okay this glass is half empty or we can look at it as this glass is half full. We lose some years between 200 and 250 students. We have a very high population of uh sped students that live in our community and but we just said hey what can we do not what is against us but what can we do and so these past this past year really we really looked at data we really looked at our tier one instruction we really looked at our tier 2 and tier three instruction and our leadership team our guiding coalition with the help and PD that our district leadership team has given us we just decided we're going to move this bus forward and we did. We went from an F to a C
019and we are going to just keep on moving. I mean, we are we feel like we're rocking and rolling. We're celebrating with our staff on Thursday. Um but there was a lot of tears um when we got to celebrate that, but we definitely are a family at Jones. Um we're pushing all kids. Um we push our a lot of inclusive practices for our sped kids. We push, you know, we have a lot of English language learners and so we are we believe in all our kids and we want them all there in the classroom learning. So we are we're ready to keep going. >> Well, we took some children last year that arrived that were stolen bottles and diapers >> and we had that again this year. Um so we um have a potty schedule
020that we run every day. Um and so we all have our kids that we we do. So, I have my five kids that I take on a potty schedule and my nurse and um I'm going to be honest with you, we have some kids that need some one-on-one support. And um my own son, he's 18. He has jumped on board this week and he is a one-on-one parah um on just on a time sheet cuz we need we need help. We need hands. And so, he's helping with a new kiddo that just enrolled. And so, um so when I say family, I mean all family. We are all hands on deck. Um but um we're we're doing it. We're moving it. So, and if you want to come by and see, we'd love for you
021to. Um but we we are a team. But yes, Dr. Cleveland's right. We've had diapers, bottles. Um we've had two new kids enroll in the last two weeks that are seven, never been in school, um not potty trained. So, we do, like I said, we could look at the glass half empty or we could look at it half full. And we've had a lot of victories with those two in the past couple weeks. Um, but we just have to we're going to take those victories and keep going and they're going to make progress just like all our other kids have. >> A lot of opportunity. >> So much opportunity. We have a lot of victories, >> but we do we are tired sometimes. So, >> okay. Any questions? >> Just thank you for all you
022do. >> Thank you for supporting us. >> Thanks for coming. Let us highlight it today. >> Thank you, Dr. Cleveland. Next, uh, Mr. President, we'd like to recognize Miss Kelsey Roth. I know she's here. Yes, Mr. Steel's been a little bit under the weather some, hasn't he? >> Yes, he has. >> He said Oh, certainly. >> Um, Chris is I think he's on the mend hopefully. But, um, thank you so much for coming. My name is Kelsey Roth and I am the director of development for the Springdale Public Schools Education Foundation and I'm so glad to be here to talk to you about our 14th annual Cornerstone event which is on Thursday, October 23rd. We would love to have each of you there. It's going to be a great event. Um thanks to Trent and
023his team. We've had the opportunity to interview all of our um award winners. You'll see them on the sheet. But what's been really cool about the interview process is these four people, the three people and then um Mr. Van Hus's family love Springdale so much. I have never seen people so proud of their community. Jana Fleiner, who's gone on to be a really successful musician in Nashville. We got to Zoom with her and just what she said about Springdale and Springdale schools, her whole face lit up. She was so excited. the Matthews family just has the absolute nicest things to say about Springdale and the Springdale schools. And so we are really excited to celebrate these people. Um Jana is our outstanding alum. The Matthews, Bill and um Walter Matthews family are the outstanding patron.
024Um Sarah Ford is our outstanding retiree. And then Jerry Van Hus is our legacy award. Um, one thing that we're doing this year that we've never done before is we are awarding a grant of the year to um, the board, our board voted on the their favorite grant from this year and it's going to go to Josh Worthy at Snora Elementary for his work um, where students got to talk to the astronaut aboard the space shuttle. So, that'll be really exciting. Um, and then we'll just recognize these awesome individuals for their I mean unbelievable impact on our community and our schools. So, we would love to have you there. Um, I think that's about it unless you have questions. >> All right. Well, we'll see you on Thursday, October 23rd. Thank you so much for
025letting me come and announce it. >> Yeah. [Applause] >> Dr. if you want to come on up with Mr. Ray, sir. >> Well, Dr. Cleveland and board, again, thank you for the opportunity to introduce Corey to you. Um, as I'd mentioned before, Cory's been working at Harbor since the day the doors opened and uh he's really a pillar in our district. Corey's one of the hardest working people, you know, with a servant's heart. And so, um, as as I said earlier, I was really honored and humbled when he invited me to go to the Notre Dame game with him. And, uh, we had a blast. I know he loved the outcome. And, uh, and again, I just want to introduce to you, uh, Mr. Corey Ray. >> Hello. How are y'all? >> Good. Good. >>
026Sorry, I got here late. >> That's okay. That's okay. >> Took me an hour from Ventville. Tell tell us just a little bit about why you do what you do, why Harbor, why this long. And >> I I enjoy being around the kids. I mean, I've been a kid my whole life myself. So, I mean, I just enjoy it. I've been at Harbor for 21 years and I hopefully I'll retire there in six more years. >> He said 16. Well, it sounds like you have a very special relationship with >> Yes, sir. >> administration all the way down to students and I think that's a lot about >> one of the best principles I've ever worked for. There's other ones, but he's one of the top. >> We became good friends over the years. So,
027I pleasure that. Yeah, I agree. >> Well, we didn't enjoy the outcome of the game. I'm glad you did. >> Yes, sir. >> Have you been a Notre Dame fan? >> Since I was 10 years old and a Chicago Bear fan since I was 10. >> Is that where you're from? >> No. >> Okay. >> My dad was in the army, so we traveled every year. >> Okay. >> And I just saw Notre Dame and Chicago >> on TV and fell in love. >> There you go. That's all it takes sometimes. >> Chicago got a big win last night. >> Yes, sir. >> Beat my dad's team. >> Yeah. The gift of a fumble, right? Happens. Well, we really appreciate you and everything that you do every day and hopefully you realize that we um
028uh really appreciate everything you do and it doesn't go unnoticed and we're very thankful. >> Well, thank you. >> We appreciate it. >> We got some good kids at Harbor. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Cory, thank you for being here. You're welcome. Thank you for making >> Oh, you bet. Um, all right. Next, uh, we'd like to recognize our school psychology team. They're your special team. Is Sandy here? Oh, hiding behind the >> hiding. Miss, would you mind to share a little bit about your special team, what they do, what and the award they received. >> Yes. So, Dr. Cleveland and board. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be here tonight and allowing me to um to congratulate our amazing school psychology team. Um they're all they're here. We have 22
029um school psychology specialists that serve um students across our district. Um they were recently awarded the outstanding service um award from the um Arkansas School Psychology Association. Um this is the third time that they have won this award. So that's pretty awesome, which just really shows that they are truly like the best in the state. So um the award recognizes teams that um for their excellence and just their innovation and being able to serve students um with differing needs across the state. So, um, our team I won this award because they, um, work really hard not just to do like what we think the traditional role of a school psychology specialist is, which is to do the evaluations for special education, but our team has worked really hard to um to take that a little
030bit further and to work on like making sure we're providing services um for students, not just for academics, but also that mental health piece, which we all know is really important um for our students. So, our team is truly leading the state and um you know and thinking outside of the box and stepping up and doing what they're all trained to do, but we've kind of just gotten our state has just kind of gotten stuck in just doing the evaluation and not really utilizing them for all of their skills. So, we're really pushing forward and the team has done a great job um making sure that we're serving the whole child and meeting all of their needs. So, we're very proud of them for winning this for the third time. So if do you want
031to stand up? [Applause] >> How long have we had this program in the district? >> How long have we had? >> Um >> yeah, as >> you were the first intern. J was the first intern. I mean we've had it for I mean because they're part of our evaluation team. So, our school sites are the ones that do all the um like all the big majority of testing for students to determine if they qualify. >> Did you say since 2000? Is that all you say? >> 2000. >> Okay. Okay. Cool. You >> have questions? >> It's a big deal. >> Yeah, that's awesome. >> These these people are salty people that can go anywhere and do anything at any time that they choose to be here. And so most of them have come through and
032that I've that I've gotten to interview. Uh some have beg to come here, right, and stay here. And so I'm so thankful that they've chosen to be here and that they choose to serve our kids because they can do anything anywhere at any time. Right. >> Absolutely. >> They are the best of the best. We're proud of them. >> They have the right heart and we're very fortunate. very >> great leaders, great. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for letting us celebrate you here tonight. It's a big deal. You deserve deserve to be celebrated. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Ellis, Mr. else has not been in front of you for a while. Just brought some guests. We're going to talk a little bit tonight about industry day and then uh give you an
033update on the fine arts uh I'm sorry, fine arts, industrial arts. >> Hey, good evening board. appreciate the opportunity to come speak to you today a little bit about some current events we've recently had in our career and technical education also known as app. So we had a recent industry day um October 9th at the Don Tyson School of Innovation and our Venture Career Center campus and I've got some special guests here I'll introduce in just a second but just wanted you to um understand a little bit about what that event meant. We had 11 plus school districts that attended from all across the region as far away as Newton County, Arkansas, a little town called Deer. And we had communities from schools from Clarksville, um the western side of Benton County, Washington County. We
034had 34 plus vendors that came and the goal of this um this is going into year four west I think. >> Fifth year, right? Man, time flies. So, fifth year and it's gotten bigger and better every year. We had a thousand plus students attend. Um these vendors come and they spend the day with us from 9 to 2. Um it takes a team effort. So Miss Harrison staff um works with us along with Miss Williamson. And we've got several instructors about eight total that help put this together along with a lot of students who um work through different processes and show the skills that students learn. So it's very hands-on. Um, and we try to get other students to understand what some of those skill sets are through hands-on activities. So, some of the areas
035that we did this year, um, we focused a lot on some automation, um, which I'll let Mr. Higginson and Judith talk about in a second. We had a lot of construction skills and we had our CDL program there along with, um, we had our some of our armed forces um, people there as well. So the goal is again for not only our students but other students to see as we're secondary career center there which they can attend. So any student from the region can attend these programs as well through some funding that um our partnerships allow between NWAC and NWTI. So, it was overall a really good day, a great team effort, and just some of the highlights that we have um speak to this event over the years um as we've continued to grow.
036And I think to date, this was our largest attendance of vendors and students. So, I think we have a short video clip show that some of Trent's team put together, which we appreciate their coverage. that second >> NWA steel, one of our partners who's donated a lot of in kind materials to us as well as hire our students. So, I'm going to turn this over to Mr. Wes Higginson. He's our industrial maintenance instructor at Venture Career Center and Judith Konoko. I did that right, didn't How about that? So, I wanted them to speak to you a little bit about this event and what it meant. And uh I'll let you guys have the podium. I'm also going to introduce Judah here, but just to give you a kind of lead in, uh, Miss Harrison, Mr.
037Ellis, and Miss Williamson have been instrumental in supporting our program. And as you know, we started out as the industrial maintenance program, and we're really not the industrial maintenance of much since we are industrial technology because we've advanced the program every year. We buy new equipment every year. Uh we need more real estate because of that, but that's okay because now we have Judah here who as the industry day went along. We had uh a lot of the executives from Tyson come through and Judah had an opportunity to share with them our automation program. So I'm going to let Judah just tell you what our automation program is. Uh hi, I'm Judah. I'm a senior at SOI and if you caught me if you caught me last Thursday, I was on the automation trainer all
038day. And basically what it is is a small distribution center like a simulator and it's based off of a PLC which is a programmable logic controller. It's like a industrial uh computer if you think about it that way. Everything uh ties into the PLC and we had a VFD um that controlled the motor that spun the conveyor belt and we also had an HMI which is the display that we had above the PLC which shows exactly what's going on with the PLC. And I was just explaining to everyone how uh everything works in conjunction and how I was um uh wiring it and stuff like that. >> What Judah hasn't told you is he was explaining this to the production manager from Tyson. Okay. Tyson has their technicians and their upper level technicians are automation
039technicians. And I'm standing there just watching you and him converse. And he looked at me and he goes, "This kid is speaking on the level of our automation technicians already." That morning before the event, we had some students wire up some photo eyes to identify product as it goes down the conveyor belt. They weren't initially installed properly. Judah troubleshot them that morning in calibrator before they ever got there. And now he's in the process of writing the code to interpret barcode reading that process goes along and identify where it's going to go. And hopefully if we can get the equipment next semester, he'll be writing the code for a uh cobot to identify defective materials and take it off the conveyor belt to move it. He's already writing that code. >> That's awesome. The thing
040about it is partners that we have uh we had our district CT uh last month and it was we had we had approximately 30 members there a lot of them you saw on the screen there and that's one of the ways that we keep our program relevant to identify exactly what industry is doing. Uh and so we had one of the industry partners who came in was talking to Judy he actually was a pre prior student of ours uh Max Tisher and he's working for uh Kronics. He came in and he told Judah Jud was a claim to him and he looked at Judy he goes every cabinet I open looks just like this and so he's getting real quality training because of the fidelity of that opportunity to work with our partners. What? Go
041ahead. >> Go ahead. >> Well, I was just going to ask what are you a senior? >> Yeah, I'm a senior. >> And what are you going to do after high school? >> Hopefully have a great job in automation. >> It sounds like I thought the next thing he was going to say is they said, "Come work for us today. Forget the last semester of school. We need you now." I >> hope so. >> Bet you won't have a hard time finding this one. >> I hope not. >> That's awesome. >> Great job. >> Very cool. else. >> I saw him over there. I saw Max Tisher in his cool boots there too. His fancy boots there that day. But yeah, you were very impressive. I wasn't really sure if you came with Max or
042if you were a student to be honest with you because you were doing such a good job. And when we saw uh we walked Trent Jones and I walked with Mr. is through and the the new I guess he's that new, but the new chief operating officer, Tyson Foods, was walking through with his team. Most of what they said was, "I didn't know this was here. I didn't know this school was this awesome and this was here." And so they they shared about you and the quality of the students that are there. So, I just want to thank you for being as good as you were. and you were just being you, but you were a great representative of all the students over there. So, thanks for doing that and thanks for sharing. >> Congratulations.
043Good job. So, um, moving forward, um, Industrial Arts NX, which is the former lock building, um, we moved into that thanks to Jeremy's team and a lot of effort on some partnerships, but Jeremy's guys have worked um, around the clock along with Southern Brothers and some of those other subcontractors to get that open. We've got approximately 200 students um, going through that facility every day. That's kind of a model that we're looking at that's more of a hub and spoke system. So that's allowing us to concentrate some really rigorous training in one location, transport students back and forth. We've got some construction management concurrent classes happening there through ENWAC. Um we're looking to open up some opportunities along with some other post-secary providers there. Um the four instructors who are there currently are are splitting
044some time. um one of them splitting some time at Springdale High to help feed this. But what this is is is really a a format similar to the venture career center that you've seen at Don Tyson School of Innovation. So we're working with our partners. We initially had um a little over a year ago November a group of about 45 business partners come and you ever saw the old lock supply building before we retroed it? um it was pretty rough and so with the help of a lot of design and again with Jeremy's team um some of our partners we've been able to turn this thing and flip it and get it going. Um we're currently putting equipment in. Jeremy showed you some of these photos I know at some of the schoolboard meetings, but
045you know this is one of the awnings that was recently installed with an outdoor workspace because in these type of fields you need to be um conditioned to climate. So you need to be conditioned to working outside or inside. So we're in a good outside space. Um the guys over there, I let them along with Mr. TJ Whis who's um one of the assistant principles at Harbor is really done a lot of work there. Um three of those instructors were at Harbor. We have a fourth instructor at Harbor who's feeding the foundational skill set just like we do at school of innovation in Springdale High. So, the guys that are here are doing more of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing piece. And so, they came up with this acronym, which I like, the grit and
046the grind. Um, those are some things that they've designed to go on some t-shirts. And that's something that we're focusing on with our our students there as they become employable, teaching those professional skill sets and the technical piece. So, we've also devised um you know, we had some things hit us on this budget. I'm sure Jeremy's addressed those in a safe room. Some additional things required by the state. So, what we decided to do on this venture was we've reached out to partners and this is a working document, but we have equipment needs, machinery, instructional materials. Um, we have courses that we're developing alongside those partners. We work with ABC contractors and youth apprenticeship and we work with concurrent credit. So, the overall at the end of the day, there's a lot of expense to
047these type of programs. But we're developing levels of partnership and we've seen quite a bit of um interest in that and some donations of um funds or materials in kind. So that could be materials that you see there. Um anything from lumber to steel to welders. Um NWA steel um Middleton Plumbing, Heat and Air is also another company that's donating some pieces to us. Um Kimble Mechanical is donating some pieces. So the whole piece of that for us is it could be used equipment that they have, but it allows us to get our hands on and get them dirty and also build our cognitive skill set because they're coming into the classroom, they're helping us with their subject matter experts, guest instructors working with us on code um that would be required in a licensed
048trade like plumbing or electrical. So these different pieces are help us to build a culture of professionalism. Um these skilled trades today are not what you grew up with. um these companies desire leadership traits. They desire um if there's an option for concurrent credit. So, we've built those pathways for the students and we're seeing a lot of success in our workforce and how our our students are going out and um creating opportunities not only for the employers to expand in Northwest Arkansas, but we're starting to become known in our district. Um it's really neat for me to see. We've got outside companies who are moving in who are starting to knock on our door because they're finding out what we're doing. Um, thanks to the the leadership of the board and under Dr. Cleveland's foresight
049now, they're kind of looking at us as a talent bucket, which I think is really neat for our kids. So, it's setting us apart from a lot of other districts and what we do. And also, I think it adds to how we brand and increase our enrollment numbers up because I think kids are going to kind of want to take these programs. So last of that, if you don't have any questions or if you do, I'll be happy to answer any of those. I hope that um you if you've not, you will receive an invite for November 20th. We'll have a grand opening through the chamber, have a um coffee event where we'll go through that building and you can see the finished product. But I think it's something to be really proud of in
050this district. Uh, I've had some recent meetings with Arkansas Tech and some other post-secondary partners who are coming to look and see what we're doing and and potentially offer some further credit options for students. So, I think there's a lot of growing interest in what we're doing across the state and it's going to be providing dividends for us as a district and for students as well. Do >> you know how many partners you've had come forward so far? Yeah, roughly on that um level, we've had probably 10 to 12 um confirmed commitments. So, I've been working with Miss Hopkins when we created a budget system where we can intake any funds and then dispense them a letter um on basically with the school heading on it to give them a tax credit. And then um
051also we've received um commitments to probably roughly $15 to $20,000 of materials in kind donations. So that could be anything from a HVAC unit to steel that we would use to weld on or any types of materials like those. >> I know we've got some really great partners and I know you they come forward and you shared with them and >> yeah, >> they're really investing in our students and that's great. >> Yes. Okay. >> Thank you. >> You bet. I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Fle. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well, I appreciate that. U I know last month you all asked me about some enrollment numbers and we've done some work. Mr. Donell was going to be here today, but he's had some rehearsal issues and so he with family. So, he's
052with them right now. So, part of the uh report that he was going to do, he's going to do next month. if that's okay. But I have a portion of that that I'd like to share. I've given you an enrollment data sheet and I have to thank Jacob Hilton who does RE school where really does a good job every day. He sends me a report, a really good break. I've shared it to you report um and I'm asking to do just a little bit of this work. And obviously this is Dr. Smith's work. You know, she always is really good at putting it make it nice and pretty. Um, so thanks Dr. Smith and whoever else wherever she went uh to do that. But I asked some questions of uh Mr. Hilton. I I said
053uh you know I appreciate all he does, but I'd like to be able to track where our students are going. Private school, home school, uh public school or charter. And since the state legislature follows a public school and the charter is the same, then I categorize the same. Uh students are out of state or out of country or unknown. I need to know their pre- reduced lunch status or paid. Of course, we don't track them by name, just as a student. I need these broken down from 2425 to 2526 two different ways. uh one is May to May and one is the end of the year to start of the year and then finally I need them broken down in our grade groups. So, K5, then middle school, then junior high, then high school. And
054uh he he did a really good job and he put a he he has some clarifying notes for me. And one of the clarifying notes I'd like to bring to your attention, he said, "Out of country isn't tracked by the Department of Education. Technically, they're all out of state, but we try to enter the destination in our notes if we know it." Um since it's not a requirement, it's sometimes missed. So real out of country numbers would most likely be just a little bit higher in that number five that that suggests but there are only 33 out of state codes missing the destination. So that number would be much higher than what we have coded. So it's pretty accurate. So as you're looking in those numbers, you can see that the vast majority of the
055students that we are missing, 492 of the 621 are K5. That's a big suggestion to me that I mean that that's the size of an elementary school and that that's uh that's worrisome. of the sixth and seventh grade 113 eighth and ninth 137 but look at your 10 through 12 and I think that this 10th through 12 we're up 121 students I think the offerings that the high schools Don Tyson Springo High Harbor High School and then that collaborative work that we do through venture career center people are choosing Springdale for a lot of different things. Our course offerings for AP, IB, uh, Academy model, the house model, of course, Don Tyson has venture career center, all the things that we do. I think our effort over the last several years to really invest in
056our our business and industry efforts are paying off there. So, we really need to focus on being the right kind of choice from junior high down. And so we're going to study that. And uh Lord, we really need your help. Uh I know this this just isn't on the leadership team, the teachers, and the principles. I think you hear from the community. You're in the community more. Like I told somebody last night at the regional workforce center. I'm at my farm. I'm at my church or I'm at home or I'm here. And and not out like you all are. And so you hear, you're the ears, your eyes, you're the feet, and you're the hands in the community. So you're going to provide the vision. We need your help. So help us and we will
057know what to do from that point forward. So um there's a lot of work to do and people can can blame a lot of factors. Uh I at this point I don't our effort is we've got to make sure that we're servicing our students and our families at the highest level. So they want to select our our district to serve their students. So anyway, you want to talk about this at all? Anything you want to visit about or want the public to know or you just digesting the numbers? Anything stand out to you? 621? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Strong Man, I know you're a numbers guy. >> So, so the uh public charter number here, >> so that's that's the biggest >> indicates a lot of movement, a whole lot a lot of transfers back
058and forth. >> So that the charter schools >> there's 24 total in the state. There's some more that are up here. Lisa Academy Lisa. The big names for me are Lisa Academy Hall County School of Darth. They may have changed their name. Is that correct? Not sure what name is now. Those are the three big ones that I'm aware of. Of course, there are some private schools and there are multiple uh micro schools. I know that districts around us are feeling the impacts of micro schools. I know there's a new private school coming in. I think they've had a u kind of a contract on some property here in town, but that contract fell through, but there's a contract in Rogers that passed here now. I can't tell you the name. >> So we will
059see additional private hand [Music] waiting lists. So as they expand that number that the homeschool number is just the numbers that have gone to it, but that's not our total total, right? >> That may be a number I need. >> That's the number you went to from the end of either one of those metrics last year, >> right? So let's say 800 last year >> and I just threw that number out. That's not a number that's accurate. State is basically it though. I should have asked what that number is today. >> But that's good information for you. What other questions regarding enrollment do you need me to try to get to answer because we're going to have a work session relatively soon and I want to make sure that I've answered those questions or at
060least gathered that information for you. >> Okay. Well, just think about it and if something strikes you or whatever, just pick up the phone, call me and I'm always willing to uh just try to dig in dig that information. If not, you you know every single person on this team, call him about it. So, >> and tell me again, these numbers are from when to win. >> Um, okay. So, like if you look at the net change from last day of 2024 25, >> okay, >> to May 24 to May of 25. >> Okay. So, what I ask uh what I asked Jacob to do is from the end date from the end of school like June to the start date, forget what that was. But really, I wanted October 1 to October one. So,
061we'd know how many we lost if we over 600. And so, it's strange little number that I've been watching cuz we'll lose two or three and then gain a couple. So my little average is about one to two a day uh is what we're losing and for various reasons you know moving out of state or you know we Springdale and Northwest Arkansas strangely we've lost some jobs was a large a large employer was over a thousand jobs and that did impact us and we miss them in lots of ways they were a great employer for us [Music] Thank you. We have some really good partners still out there. Well, just let let me know. I want to make sure I answer your questions and get the information you need cuz this we need to work
062on this together. >> I think the biggest question that I'm not sure we can all answer is the chart being the largest number K through five. I guess why? >> But it's also going to other public schools, >> but it's also going to other public schools or like neighboring public schools. >> Yeah. And often Yeah. public school. >> So what public slash Okay. >> Yeah. So since the legislature says that a charter school is also a public school, we put those together. Yeah. >> So, this includes this number includes them going to Fateville or Bedville or >> Now, we could fill that out further if we know, but we'd have to track it down to the academic records. >> I'd like to know which are just leaving public schools going to charter if you can
063get that number. >> Often times those students come and go pretty quickly. They might go to a charter or something and come back. But we can answer that question. Can't we take this to speak? Okay. We'll I will break that down for you, >> but he did answer the question I asked. But I think that that answers your question, Mr. Talk about choice. People are doing a lot of that. >> Correct. Okay. Mr. I don't know if the labor is being anything else. Uh Mr. Thank you for your patience. >> Good evening, uh Dr. Cleveland and school board. Um, it is my honor this evening to be able to deliver the Springdale School District annual report to the public for 2025. Um, as you all know, um, Arkansas rules and regs require us, um, all
064of us as school districts to conduct a public meeting annually to discuss our progress and performance. Um, on the first slide here, we just have a review of our mission and vision. Our mission, pursuing educational excellence. Springdale Public Schools ensures a safe and inclusive environment, empowering a community of learners. And then our vision, Springdale Public Schools provides personalized, innovative, and culturally diverse learning opportunities to launch each student to a successful life pursuit. I know that you all are familiar with our big audacious goals. We have over the past 6 to 12 months um made just some nuance changes to these goals. Any goals that were made were obviously with um stakeholder input. And so I'm just going to touch on these super quick. Um the first and second goal talk about how each child will
065be on or above grade level in ELA math and science every year as measured by our Atlas summitative assessment. The second goal is the same except demonstration of growth. And so we want our students to be on or above grade level and we want them to grow every year in every assessment as me as measured by the atlas. Number three, the district will exceed state averages on summitive assessments. That may look like a repeat. However, it is not. When you think about the number of summitive assessments that our students are able to take and choose to take, that would include assessments like ACT, PSAT, um the actual SAT, the National Merit qualifying test, um the ASVAB, military entrance exam, and several others. Number four, each child will be on the path to one of the
066three E one or more um enlistment, enrollment, or employment. And then number five, the district will create and maintain a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment that prioritizes the well-being of all students and staff. We have our four pillars for student success and throughout the annual report to the public this evening. Just going to briefly touch on each pillar and reflect on our progress and performance within each area. So, beginning with safety, um an update on where we are with SRO's and our CSSOs. We are currently um we have 23 commission school security officers. Um those 23 officers are assigned one to prek, 18 to our elementary schools, and four middle schools, meaning one CSSO at each of the four middle schools. We also have 11 school resource officers. um we have assigned to our four
067junior high and four high schools. Each junior high has one and then our high schools um a few of them do have more than one. And I just want to again as we do in multiple public meetings point out our partnerships with the Springdale Police Department, the Springdale Fire Department, the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and the Washington County Emergency Management Team. All of this work would not be possible if it weren't for their ongoing partnership. social workers. You can see there the mission and vision for our social worker team. We currently have 18 social workers and those 18 social workers serve all 31 school buildings. Now moving on to nursing, you can see uh nurse Amy Schultz there in the picture. Um we have 39 full-time nurses and 17 part-time nurses. Our nurses um cover
068a wealth of responsibilities in our district. Some of those include serving students and staff with things like hearing and vision screenings um conducting vaccination and immunization clinics. And then um we celebrated last year that all 31 schools are currently designated as project atom hearts safe schools. Um, and I know that you all have seen in news that those skills have actually come to play and been used. Um, and so we know the power of Project Atom Hearts Safe Schools and we will be our nurses will be working to make sure that those certifications stay up to date and ongoing with our 31 campuses. Moving on to student achievement. This is the curriculum that you all approved at the beginning of the school year. Uh this is just simply a review looking at our foundational reading
069skills curriculum which is phonics first and structures and morphology with structures. Moving into the comprehension, background knowledge and vocabulary. You can see there um we have Odell education curriculum for literacy and then benchmark workshop. Um we are still evaluating dyslexia curriculum um and continue to evaluate as more of the rules and regs come forward. And then if you look for science, mathematics, and English language development, which is EL, you can see the list of curriculum um that has been previously approved in those areas as well. Any questions? I feel like I'm moving really fast. Just jump in there if y'all need me to slow down. Okay, moving on to personalization. Um, this is a list of our student centered programs. I feel like this list is a little bit general, but we tried to encompass
070all of our programs, but you have several. Um, when you look at our advanced programming, you can see things there. There are pictures from international baloria and of course advanced placement. We have um gifted and talented. We have seventh and eighth graders that have the opportunity through acceleration to earn high school credits. um AP, IB, a whole multitude of concurrent classes. Um that bullet that says multiple pathways to graduate to graduation with merit and distinction. I do want to point out something of clarification with those pathways. Um there are pathways with AP, IB, and concurrent. They they're called general studies. But career and technical education has multiple pathways now that are considered acceleration and they will lead to merit and distinction. And so from now on when you think about acceleration or advanced programming um
071and we'll be presenting more about this I just want to emphasize that several programs are now considered accelerated and we'll have weighted course credit similar to AP um and concurrent and some of those courses were discussed here this evening with our student Judah who talked to you about automation robotics. There are several others. We also have the biiteracy program. We continue to lead the state in the number of graduates who attain their seal of biiteracy. We have our careermies program at Springdale High School. And then of course at Don Tyson School of Innovation, we continue to grow and develop our associate degree programming. Career and technical education. Here are the 25 pathway opportunities that are currently offered in Springdale public schools. um you can see this comprehensive list and immediately you're just like wow literally
072in our district students can pretty much do and study and excel in anything they want. Um the pathways at the state level are going through a transition and so you may be hearing and seeing things about pathways uh transitions over the next three to four years. Just know that a lot some of them are merging. So if you see a list from the state, it may look smaller. It's not necessarily smaller. It's just that they've merged some of the pathways and realigned the clusters that the pathways reside in with a national career clusters model. And I'm happy to discuss that more in detail at any time. So some gifted and talented information from 2425. We were up 196 students in GT, which is great. totaling 2394 students. Um you can see there how GT services
073are provided all the way from K through 12. There are a multitude of ways that students um can engage in gifted and talented services and also engage in acceleration and advanced programming in general. When you look at our framework for advancing student recognition and achievement, um, this is just more of like an AP report, you can see that last year, Springdale administered 3,191 AP exams to 1,895 students. That is an increase of 193 students participating from the prior year. That is huge, by the way. um 3,191 AP exams is tremendous. You can see there that 236 students received a five, 621 a four, those are up 44 and 40. And then 1,03 exams received a score of three. That's up 340 students. This part is unprecedented. 60% of total exams received a score of three
074or better. That is huge. Like if you look at global data that is a very high pass rate and most of the time a three, four or five with some caveats do equal um college credit of some sort depending on the university that a student attends. 15.3% of all district seniors scored a three or higher on at least one AP exam prior to graduation. When you look in terms of national merit achievements, you can see there um the data from 2020 until the end of last school year. Um the number of semi- finalists versus the number of finalists. And then just a reminder that a student becomes a national merit scholar when they accept a scholarship from a university. So, a lot of students may be a national merit finalist, but if they don't choose
075to accept that specific scholarship, um, then they don't become a scholar. And so, you can see there the semi- finalist versus finalist. IB recognition and achievement. Um, as you all know, we had the awesome opportunity to present our six IP IB diploma recipients with their actual diploma here at a board meeting, which was fantastic. that was something we've never gotten to do before. The timing just worked out perfectly. Um and so we continue to um push our students in terms of rigor and coursework throughout international balora to pursue uh the diploma in the areas in which they're passionate about there partnerships. I will not read this slide to you. It is very long. Um, but you can see there that we continue to have ongoing collaboration and partnership opportunities. Um, we just had our first
076community engagement council meeting um, last week, formerly known as Patron Shelf, and that meeting went really well. It was very well attended. We had upwards of 50 um, community partners who engaged in that meeting and that conversation with us. And then you can just kind of see there a multitude of um collaboration and partnerships that are ongoing. Some additional partnerships. When you look at district and school community partnerships, um I know that Mr. Ellis talked about a growing number of partners specifically to the industrial arts annex, but within our career and technical education, whether it's through advisory or business and industry partners, we are well over 70. Um after the meeting with the industrial arts annex, we're probably closer to 80 active industry partners. You can see there are treehouse pantry partners. Um post-secondary of
077course chamber of commerce and education foundation. Parent and family engagement. We continue to have our Springdale family literacy program at eight of our schools throughout the district. And then we continue to grow our parent university opportunities. You can see a photo there from one of our parent universities where our students in conjunction with their parents or family members went through an electrical course that was a five-week course um that our students and and parents engaged in. Um that those courses are taught by our district career and technical education teachers and they are also um assisted by current students in those programs. You all have already seen our enrollment demographics. I will not belabor that point. Um, if you look down where it says total, that first number is the total from September of 2025 compared
078to September of 2024 in that purplish color. Um, just for your reference, at the top I put the enrollment as of today in real time there for your review. 21,128. That does not include preK. Um, just as a clarifier. Any questions about this slide or any other ones that I've gone over so far? Okay, here is our academic achievement with Atlas. I do want to point out that the value that you see here on the slide represents the percentage of students scoring a level three or a level four on the Atlas summitive. And anywhere you see green that indicates an increase in that percentage of threes and fours from the 23 24 school year to the 2425 school year. Um you can see there that we have work to do everywhere. Um there was an
079anomaly in grade 5. That anomaly was not just with us. Um there is statewide conversation going on. Um and then when you look at grade 10, um one thing that I do want to point out when you look at mathematics and science, any students who are accelerated or in advanced courses took the Atlas summitive in math and science in the nth grade. And so when you look at the 10th grade scores, what you are seeing there is the ongrade level. Um any student who tested that wasn't accelerated, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Those those students tested in nth grade and those students stayed in the junior high pool there. All right. Graduation rates, we continue um to mostly improve in this area. Um we as you can see there the state and
080district average versus um each of our high schools are broken down there. Each of our high schools has an active goal in their strategic action plan to address four-year graduation. I do want to point out you can see in the 22 20 in the 22 school year there was a four-year and a 5-year graduation rate. We no longer have a four-year and a 5-year graduation rate. We simply have a four-year graduation rate. You either graduate in four years or as for accountability purposes, we do not get credit for that if they if it takes longer than four years. So, you won't see that 5-year data anymore. Bullying report. I'm happy to say that we had a drastic decrease in um our documented reports of bullying from the 23 24 school year to the 2425 year.
081Um you can see that drastic reduction from 242 reports to 106 when you look in upwards of 22,000 students. Um we are pretty proud of that especially with the decrease there. All right, Springdale School District and all 29 schools are fully accredited by the Arkansas Department of Education in the 2425 school year. And in closing, a quote from Dr. Cleveland. I am grateful for our dedicated staff whose commitment drives student success. And I deeply appreciate our valued stakeholders and our school board for their vision and support. Together we are strengthening our educational community and creating opportunities for every student to thrive. Dr. Jerry Cleveland. And um he has a note there. Please direct any comments or questions to him at jcllandestdale.org. Are there any questions this evening um that I can answer for you as
082board members? I really flew through that super fast. >> Everybody good? >> This will be posted on your website, too, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Well, good evening board. It's good to see everyone this evening. I am here to give an update on some information that Miss Rojo learned midepptember about some funding cuts that will happen to our prek. But before we get into the funding cuts, I wanted to give you a little bit of background knowledge about how prek is currently funded. So currently our prek program has 1,12 students enrolled and remember those are our three and four year olds. Um, prek students are funded through three different avenues. The first is Arkansas Better Chance and also known as ABC funding. And parents qualify based on
083income or other qualifying conditions. The range of out-of- pocket expense for family goes anywhere from full pay to they pay 80% of what the state reimbures the district for. And we are reimbursed at a daily rate of $28.40 40 per child, which equates to $5,55.20 a year per child. And if you think about our state foundation rate that we get for kindergarten through 12th grade students, that's around $8,100. So our ABC funding is significantly below that amount. Currently, um, we have 743 students being served through ABC funding. Um, of the 743 students that we serve through ABC, 34 families pay a co-pay on a sliding scale fee of 20 to 80% of the tuition rate. Next, we have child care and development fund, also known known as CCDF. Parents qualify based on income and their
084work status. So parents have to work at least 30 hours a week and fall with under fall underneath a certain income guideline. Um currently parents who qualify for CCDF um attend preK for free. Interestingly enough um our prek is funded at different levels based on our better beginning levels. What our better beginning levels are. Um, we are scored a one through a six based on site visits and other indicators that they look at. I'm happy to say that currently Springdale prek programs um rate anywhere between a level four and six, which means we have high quality prek programs. So, level ones and twos are reimbursed at $39 a day. Level two, I'm sorry, level three $42 a day. Level four, $45 a day. Level five, $46 a day. Level six, $47 a day. So, we
085we will say on average we're reimbursed at a rate of $46 per student. Um or it's $8,188 a year, which is closer to our foundation funding received for K12 students. Finally, we have parent pay. Um, that is where parents just pay the full tuition rate of $195 a week. Um, that averages out to about $7,100. Um, we have 109 preK students that are full pay. And I think I forgot to mention we have 163 students that are in that CCDF funding, which will be important here in just a minute. Any questions about current funding? So, the changes that are coming um our CCDF slots um we have we historically received 212 slots that we could sign students up for. They've cut those to 192. They're also cutting our better beginning level funds. And so, instead
086of having the tiered system, which rewards us for our hard work, everyone will be paid at the same rate of pay. Um, at your desk or at your seat, I put a chart looks like this. This is the state medium income chart for families. And so, moving forward, parents who earn 40% less than the state medium income will remain free for families, and the state will now pay $39 a student. So, if you look at this chart, if you look at the family size, and let's just say we have a family of four, that family of four cannot earn any more than about $36,000 a year without having to pay um some co-pay for their prek student. Families who fall between 41 and 60% of the state medium income will have a co-pay of $11.70
087per day and the state will pay $27.30. That equates to families paying $57.85 per week out of pocket and 2 or $231.40 per month, which also equals $2,82.60 60 cents a year. So again, if you look at a family of four, a family of four within that 60% can earn anywhere between $36,000 to about $49,000 before they have to start paying a co-pay or they would have to start paying co-ay. Um 61 to 85% of the Smi will have a co-pay of $15.60 60 and then the state will reimburse the district at $23.40 a day. That equates to $78 a week, $312 per month or $27 $2,776.80 a month or a year. And then finally, the 86 to 100% can only qualify with waiver circumstances. And I'm unsure of what those waiver circumstances are if
088I'm being honest. And we'll still have to pay a co copay of$,560 a day. And then anybody that earns more than that um they don't qualify for this any longer. Another change that we were made of made aware of this year um is that we can no longer enroll students in C CCDF funded slots after September 1st. uh we were not aware of this um condition and so we had continued to enroll students after the September 1st deadline and we were unsure if they were going to fund those students but um through some advocacy work with Miss Rojo, Dr. Cleveland and Dr. Smith, they did come back and say that they would go ahead and reimburse us this year for the extra students that we had enrolled after September 1st. CCDF funding is now $39
089$39 a day regardless of our better beginning level. Um so better beginning level funding um currently if we were at max capacity with 212 students which we probably could be close if they had allowed us to continue to enroll um that would have been about $1.7 million. But under the new um funding funding formula, um if we were at our max capacity at 192 students being re reimbursed at $39 a day, that is about 1.2 million. So it's about half a million less that we will be receiving. So originally um October 1st was the deadline for all CCDF changes to occur. and by all parents had about a week's notice that they would have to pay the co-pay. And so I know Dr. Cleveland, Dr. Smith um went to Little Rock, had some meetings with
090some legislators and with the commissioner. Um good news is they did push this back to November 1st. And so our daily rate funding cuts will begin November 1st. But even better than that, um, for students that are enrolled in public school preK programs, they are waving the co-pay for this year only and that will start for next school year. So, they did listen. So, impacts. Um, again, we have a potential loss of $500,000 in prek funding for next year. Parents that utilize CCDF funding may not be able to afford the co-pay and keep their children home to be cared for by relatives. Sometimes um the relatives are elderly parents that live in the home. Parents that utilize CCDF funding may not be able to afford the co-pay and quit their jobs to keep their children
091at home. If you think about um the income guidelines, a lot of these families are bluecollar workers who work in our factories, who work restaurant industry, who work construction, and so they don't typically make a lot of money to begin with. And so they may decide that it's not even worth working um if they're having to pay for child care. Um this year, um we will be impacted. Um we currently have 163 students. We have 121 days left in the year after the November 1st deadline. We were being reimbursed at a rate of $46 a day, but now they've cut that back to $39 a day. And so this year, um, we have a loss of $138,000 that we had not budgeted for. And so Dr. Smith and Miss Hopkins have been working to, um,
092push the money around to try to cover the loss that we will experience this year with preK. Any questions for me? >> I know I was a ray of sunshine. >> September 1st deadline. >> We are unsure. [Music] >> It's one that we've never had to do before. >> It we are unsure. There's been a lot of um change in um positions at in the Arkansas Department of Ed. So, we really don't know where that came from. >> Yes, but not for CCDF funding. And I will tell you right now that our ABC slots are full. Um, and we just don't have a lot of people that are enrolling at this point in the year for full parent pay. We're limited in our ABC slots as well. Our prek is very full. >> Our main
093thing is to make sure you're fully aware. Well, it's it's interesting that you know when we were in DC, we met with Department of Ed and Department of Labor in a joint meeting and their biggest concern was child care and workforce and people not being able to afford child care and people quitting their jobs so they can stay home with their kids. That was pretty much what our meeting was about and what their biggest concern was. and and you get reports like this that it's just going to make that even worse and even harder. So, it's an interesting point that I thought of while you were speaking. So, our efforts still going to figure out a way to create opportunities for our prek to be very functional and high quality. We're not going to change
094our expectation of what prek is. We have great great employ. I mean high quality teachers fully licensed and their mission is still functioning for our kids. So that's our effort >> data on the diff on >> I don't know how to word this student >> kindergarteners that were went through our prek program or a prek program versus ones that didn't. >> I know the state is working to collect that data through the ELDI tool. um that was something we participated in the year before last with certain schools. I just we don't have enough of that data yet to say, but I will tell you anecdotally, and I know Miss Hannah's here, she teaches kindergarten. She she would tell you anecdotally, she can tell the difference from students who have been in a pre-K program and
095those who have not. >> Oh, your kindergarten teachers for sure would and so would the principles. >> All right. Thank you board. >> Thank you for always being a great >> All right. Good evening board and Dr. Cleveland. I've got a um pretty small construction update this month. So, at Harbor High, the uh multi-purpose field, we've got all the turf down and um they've got another crew coming in to to resurface the track in about 2 and 1/2 weeks and then that job will be completed. We'll put the fence back up and and have that one finished. Okay. So, most of our time here lately has been on Westwood planning for that. So, I've shared some um blueprints and some renderings on Westwood Elementary. Uh so, this is the this will be the site plan
096after all the construction's completed. So, you can tell we've added um bus lanes, delivery lanes, and uh trash trucks. Welcome in the uh the north side of the campus. Um we'll have a little bit of parking back there for prek and the uh kitchen staff. And then on the south side by uh on the south side of the school, you you'll have a double stacking lane for your uh kindergarten through um third grade. And then you'll have another um double stacking lane for your fourth through the fourth and fifth graders. And that'll get all the cars off of um the main road right there. Um so this is your first floor. Um you've got the clinic on on the bottom right um which will have dental and then exam rooms. Um then you've got art
097uh GT and then a lot of your specialty classrooms. And then on the bottom left is your office space that that has all your office your counselors um conference rooms. And then when you go up up the uh left side, you'll have all your kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms. Um and then on you get to the top of this page, you'll have your uh gymnasium, your cafeteria, your kitchen, and then your music room back there. And then the the building on the right, that is the existing library. We're going to turn that into uh some preK rooms and some multi-purpose rooms. Um, so that that's the section we'll be keeping from the existing building. And then this building is twotory. So, so bottom left you upstairs you'll have your library, media center. Um, you'll
098have a computer lab. And then you'll have your fifth grade, your fourth grade, and your third grade. Um going through the second floor, there's a rendering of what it it will look like when we're done. Um so we're shifting the building over to the west and then um trying to line up our driveways with the existing Dire Street. >> Is this McCra? >> Yeah. And then Walk Walker Street comes in on on the uh norththeast corner so the buses can enter and exit. It keeps everybody separate on their parking. There's a view of what the front of it will look like. So up upstairs on the media center and the computer lab, it actually has an outdoor classroom space where the kids can come out. um it's covered so they could use it uh no
099matter what the weather is and then the the clinic will have its own entrance to back to the east. Um this would be in the the gym. Um and then it will also be the storm shelter. So there's restrooms and and water fountains and everything in this area. The cafeteria will have a stage and then it'll have access down to the music room and it'll have storage and then it'll also have a a garage door and double doors that open up into the gym space. Um, you know, if they're having programs or or whatever the library media center upstairs, this is what it it it could look like. And it's got your circulation counter kind of off to the side, your your librarian's office, and then a lot of open space for the kids to
100be in groups, and then the computer lab. It it has doors that adjoins the media center and the windows. So, there's you there's daylight to all the rooms in this school. It it really has turned out very well. Um, do you guys have any any questions on Westwood? I know we've already went through the planning commission uh last week. Got approval. So, we go to the city council on October 24th or 28th. I think it's the 28th. Um, and then we're going to send um civil drawings to the state this Friday. And hopefully once we get all those approvals, we'll start moving dirt on November 2nd at Westwood. So, we're starting to take down parts of the playground this week um to prepare for the November 2nd. Actually, the construction will start. So, >> okay.
101>> Y'all started this years ago. Jeremy's bored. He wants something to do. >> Yeah. [Music] >> Okay. Um if that's it, I want to introduce um our friends with Bowwin and Shell. They've got some very exciting news to tell you guys. >> I got props. >> All right. Eagle trophy. That's pretty. >> There we go. So, uh, Dr. Cleveland and, uh, members of the school board, my name is Troy Mus and I serve Bowwin Shell as our division president here in Northwest Arkansas. And on behalf of Ballwin and Shell, I'm proud uh to share that Southwest Junior High uh has received two honors uh given from the leading construction industry organization in the state of Arkansas, which is the Arkansas Builders and Contractors of Arkansas. First is this uh the Excellence in Construction Award. And
102this one might look familiar to some of you because this is proudly this isn't the first time that Bowwin and Shell has has been associated with a project with Springdale Schools that's won this award. Uh projects such as Don Tyson School of Innovation have also won this award. Um but it it uh Southwest Junior High won uh first place in the category of K12 institutional projects and um across the state of Arkansas. It was judged on factors such as uh leadership, safety, innovation, and of course quality. Um and that's something that we're uh super proud to present to to y'all today. Hey, we we will have a replica made of this with a custom plate to present later, but it's still in fabrication, I'm told. Um, and next is something that we're super proud of.
103So, this is one you may I know you haven't seen before. Um, this guy, it's a little bit bigger, so bigger is better. And so, uh, best of the best is what this is. This is the, uh, state of Arkansas chairman's award. And um it was uh selected um as um the only I mean first of all it's the only one in the entire state uh only project in the entire state that we'll see reward like this in a year. Uh it was selected among 54 competing projects in all categories of uh construction and again the only only one chairman's award is given each year. So, it's super special and um you know, it's special recognition really for everyone involved. Um you know, the school Springdale schools and of course uh Jeremy and his team
104uh they're they're always a pleasure to work with and uh their professionalism and collaboration and their their ability to make quick decisions is what typically leads to um uh project success. And I also want to recognize where is he? James Martinddale. So not only, you know, to bring him along here to carry the heavy stuff, but uh he he also was instrumental in our project management team for Southwest Junior High in uh in ensuring the success of the project. Um you know, these awards uh they don't all only speak to, you know, the quality of these projects. Um, and that's something to certainly be proud of, but they they also we we at Baldwin Shell feel that um, you know, it's also um, reflection of the strength of our partnership with Springdale Schools and um,
105we certainly are truly honored to um, share these achievements with you and to continue the the district's mission of providing these outstanding facilities and learning environments for the students and the staff here in Springdale School District. So, thank you very much for your time and uh again, uh we're super proud of these. So, hope hopefully you all are too. So, >> thank you. Thank you. >> I'd like I'd like to >> make sure that those get put on Jeremy's desks desk when we get those in. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's good. That's that's a um big achievement to to win those awards. So, >> all right. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you guys. >> Thank you guys for being here. I appreciate. >> Thank you all. >> Good evening, school board and Dr. Cleveland.
106My name is Valerie Hannah. I am the president of the SEA and also a um educator here in the district. And I'm going to take just a moment of personal privilege real quick and step away from that role and go back to what Miss Fank had said. And the question from every kindergarten teacher isn't, "Did you go to preschool?" It's, "Honey, whose class were you in?" Because we can tell exactly which kids came from our preks. And in my school at Elmdale, I'm like, "Were you in Miss Tate or Miss Carter?" I know exactly which kids they are. And it makes such a difference um with their education and just in general how we're able to start our year off, too. So side note and back to this like 100% it's so necessary. So um
107very excited that we are going to be taking eight members of SEA down to Hot Springs uh or early November to the RA and again we have several of our members who are going to be presenting new business items. So, um I think it's become kind of a um not a challenge to do, but like a a thing that we feel pulled to do to to make it go further and to really see what the need is where we are and ask for those things on a higher uh at that state level. Um, with all the uncertainty that has been surrounding the recent developments at the federal level, um, several of our members have reached out and had concerns about the how the potential IDEIDA funding cuts might impact our district. Specifically, they've asked how
108Springdale plans to continue funding and supporting our special ed programs uh, should these reductions occur. And of course, I did miss the front end because I was doing parent teacher conferences. So, if that was addressed, I apologize, but um we have reassured those members that Springdale will always prioritize doing what's best for our students, especially those in the sped populations. Um however, we would greatly appreciate any guidance or information that our district can share um as it becomes available regarding how these changes will affect us within our in our buildings. And then to a happier note. Um, and this is more on a just general teacher note. Um, today I had the privilege of having my nephew come and job shadow me. He is 13, going to be 14 end of the week. Um, and
109chose me as what he wanted to come see. Chose teaching. Um, and he had to ask me a list of questions that his instructor had given uh him and he could choose any of them. And he asked me, you know, how long have you been doing this? Uh, what are, you know, kind of the perks of it? What what's the, you know, kind of the good, the bad, and the ugly? And the last question he asked me, I actually had to take a moment and which was he said, "Have you ever wanted to quit?" And it wasn't, "Do you like your job?" or you know, have you ever wanted to quit? And I kind of went and I went, you know, honestly, I I can straight up say no. At no point have I ever
110wanted to quit being a teacher. There's all these things that happen, including what I just mentioned, um, within our world as educators. And it happens at every level. But the teachers that we have, not only in Springdale, but just in in Arkansas, too. Like, I hope that there's never a day that I don't want to be a teacher. All that other stuff aside, what we do and what you allow us to do is just so important. But that being said, um, having my nephew ask me that question and me being able to be honest to him and by the end of the day he's like, "Man, Aunt Val, I'm I'm tired." And I'm like, "Yeah, kindergarten's hard." So anyway, thank you for all that you do and thank you from us. >> Thank you for
111being here. Okay, that brings us uh we have no patron comments tonight. That brings us to item E, our consent agenda. Do we have any questions about the consent agenda before I entertain a motion? >> Okay, I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to uh approve the consent agenda as presented. >> A motion by Mr. Hutchinson and a second by Mrs. Cook to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Brings us to our action items. >> Good evening board. Good evening, Dr. Cleveland. The first item on my section of the agenda is a proposed budget of expenditures and sample ballot. This is for uh the March 3rd election. And so it's kind of an odd thing. We bring this to you every year. And so it's
112essentially what we think the uh revenues of the district will be spent on for school year 28. And so what we do is we took um what what our uh budget that you approved last month was for this school year and then kind of just applied some percentage changes looking at what we project out and just kind of a just it it's a guess. Um but we try to um adjust it as well as we can to what our current budget is and and kind of what we expect might happen. So um just asking for your approval of this. The next step um if you do approve it is it will need to be published in the newspaper and then I once the newspaper has been published um and there's no uh feedback on that
113then I'll submit it to the clerk of court for it to be on the ballot in 2026. Do I have any questions? >> Make a motion that we approve the proposed budget of expenditures and sample ballot as presented. >> A motion by Mrs. Creek and a second by Mr. Bell to approve the proposed budget of expenditures and sample ballot as presented. All those in favor? >> I opposed passes. Thank you. Um the next item is the approval seeking approval of the September 2025 financial statements. Um just wanted to give you a few highlights. Um our current balance, our fund balance is about 4.5 million more than it was this same time last year. And that was uh part of the plan as we carried forward um at the end of last fiscal year deciding how
114much to put in building fund and how much to carry forward. And part of that was um a little bit of concerns of what might happen uh this school year with funding. And so uh I did not have a crystal ball as to what we've uh Miss Frink shared with us on prek, but um that was part of the reason why we were conservative in holding some of those balances over so that we can kind of weather those changes. So um just wanted to share that part with you. Um we've collected about 17% of our revenues, our budgeted revenues so far this year, which is about on target with where we anticipated we would be. Of course, um as you know, October uh at tomorrow is real estate and personal property tax deadlines uh payments
115due. So what we will see are November um revenue will be significantly higher than what we normally see. That's typically November and December and May are our highest months for collections. So, um you can pay it online if you haven't paid it yet. >> So, um and then on our expenditures, we are about the same as where we were last year. We're up a little bit. Um and those are anticipated areas that we expected. um special education, we know that our needs have increased as they have the last few years. So, that's up just a little bit. Um on our repairs and maintenance, those are up a little bit as well compared to where we were this time last year. Um we um I know that y'all all attended our opening of our professional development
116center. So, we had some cost associated with that as far as um outfitting uh you know, having furnishings and that type of thing. uh we've had some repairs that needed to be made that did not were not covered by insurance as a result of the hail storm that we experienced last May. And so um just all that to say that that it is up a little bit, but they're one-time expenditures. And so uh we're monitoring those very closely as we continue through the school year. Are there any questions on the financial statements as presented? Make a motion to approve the September financial. >> Second. >> A motion by Mr. Ombi and a second by Mrs. Cook to approve the September 2025 financial statement. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion pass. >> Thank you,
117board. Do you have anything else or anybody >> with that meeting is ajourned? Nice.