The Stuttgart School Board Met September 15 with a lengthy agenda. There were no reports from Certified or Classified PPC. Todd Barnes was the only member not in attendance.
PAE’s Principal Pam Dean gave the PAE update stating they have two more weeks of K-2 assessments, they are working with their Solution Tree Grant and are awaiting feedback from parents on their remote learning day, Tia Brickey, a finalist in the Arkansas Teacher of the Year is awaiting a visit regarding that and they are planning a fundraiser.
Matt Euler, MMS Principal, said they had started the year and was excited about the teachers making digital learning fun. They are planning the first PTO meeting on September 28, at 5:15 p.m. they have opened their PBIS Rewards store last week.
“We got a new camera/intercom buzzer system and Ms. Karen is excited about that,” said Euler.
Amy Marek, SJHS Principal said they have been learning the procedures to keep everyone safe, they have received money from Gear Up for an after school tutoring program and have five teachers willing to tutor, they will also provide snacks during this time.
“We have started our Library round where Ms. Strabala takes bags around with students names on them and students are able to request books so that while they can’t go to the library, they can still experience the library,” said Marek.
Jeff McKinney, SHS Principal said, “We are off to a good start with the Ricebirds at 2-0. The battle of ARCO is this Friday night and there are no tickets available.”
Unfortunately, after this meeting was held, the game was cancelled due to Covid 19 concerns.
Euler said, “We will be voting on Homecoming in the next couple weeks, it will be October 9. We are going to have Homecoming some kind of way. We are excited about that.”
“The students have been doing a great job wearing masks. I want to give a shout out to Randy Shelton and the custodians they have done a great job spraying and sanitizing our school. Also a shout out to Mrs. Euler and the cafeteria staff.”
They had literacy screeners in testing students to help address some of the literacy issues.
Superintendent Dr. Rick Gales discussed bond refunding information he had received that could save the district money. He discussed the football field turf having a company repair it that was under the estimate.
Board President Napoleon Davis asked, “Are we doing something to prevent someone doing this again?”
Gales then discussed the solar project should be online by mid-December. The virtual academy has 234 students enrolled which is about half of total students.
Board member Bryan Hancock asked if there had been grades to access how the virtual learning students were doing. McKinney said the counselors and parents are receiving weekly updates. The counselors are identifying students who are not performing well and notifying parents as well.
ASBA issued new policies regarding EmergencyCOVID Emergency Leave which the Board then adopted.
The District Plan of Support was approved next, as was the Federal/Indistar 2020/2021 Assurances and Superintendent Authorization.
The 21 Budget Approval was voted on per category, the Indistar/ACSIP budget passed, the Special Education budget and District Cycle Annual Financial Report 2019-2020/District Budget 2020/2021 was then passed.
They transferred a Building Fund Transfer of $200,000 back to Operating. The Board approved a legal transfer from DeWitt to Stuttgart of one student.
In personnel the board approved the transfer of Shelby Williams from PAE para to PAE teacher.
“We had to add a teacher because we have more kindergartners this year.” Said Gales.
There were three resignations from the Ricebirds Nest, that were accepted. There were hires approved next and a stipend.
The minutes from the August 11 and August 20 meetings were approved along with Financial Statements.
With nothing else on the agenda the meeting was adjourned.
Since the board meeting, there have been four positive cases of students with COVID 19 in the district. A call to the Superintendents office resulted in confirmation of this, although they could not say which schools the cases were in. No teachers or staff have tested positive.
