Watson Chapel School District Superintendent Danny Hazelwood briefed the district board of directors on the potential implications of the failed April 10 millage election at the board’s regular monthly meeting Monday night.
“We need to discuss a letter we received from the Facilities Division of the Department of Education,” Hazelwood said. “On April 18 I attended a meeting with the head of the Facilities Division, Dr. Charles Stein, to discuss the failure of the millage campaign. This has put us on a bad track. This letter is very, very pointed and straightforward.”
Hazelwood said that because the district’s 10-year facilities plan that was approved by the board in January includes the construction of a new middle school, the state will hold the district to that plan.
“The state will contribute $6 million to the cost of the new school but we must come up with our share, which is $2 million,” Hazelwood said. “This will require the passage of a millage increase. The state will give us two years to get this done. If we don’t eventually come up with our portion of the funds needed to build the new middle school the state could declare us to be in Academic Facilities distress and could then remove the superintendent, the school board, eliminate all extracurricular activities and even consolidate the district with another one.”
Hazelwood said that an inspection team from the Facilities Division conducted an inspection of Edgewood Elementary School last Friday to evaluate the district’s plans to replace that building with the new middle school.
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“The ball is in their court now,” Hazelwood said. “This is a serious situation that we have to face. Nothing has changed in the way of our needs.”
Board president Danny Holcomb reiterated the seriousness of the situation the district is now in as a result of the millage increase failure.
“Because the constituents of our district voted down the millage increase we aren’t able to come up with our share for the new middle school,” Holcomb said.”We want to be able to provide the best educational opportunities for our students.”
Board vice president Sandra Boone said that getting the millage passed is vital to the future well-being of the area.
“One of the first thing businesses and industry look at when deciding if they should come to a particular area is what shape the school district is in,” Boone said.
Handbook updates
The board approved a series of updates to the student handbooks used by schools in the district.
The updates include the addition of the words ‘approved for use’ on the front cover of all district student handboooks, which Hazelwood said was recommended by a visiting accreditation team; the addition on field trip permission slips of a place for parents to indicate that they don’t want their child photographed in school related events; the addition of a section on the new teleparent communication system; the addition of the phrase ‘it is the parent’s responsibility to notify the school of any address or telephone changes; the elimination of a section entitled ‘Incentive to Improve Standardized Test Scores’; the addition of the word ‘buying’ to go along with ‘selling’ of unauthorized good or services as a forbidden activity; the addition of a penalty for students who are suspended from riding the bus who then rides the bus anyway of a doubling of the original suspension period; instead of using the term ‘normal school on campus hours’ the use of ‘7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.’ to define the period when students are prohibited from using personal electronic devices; the addition of the 9th grade to academic hours; the addition of a section on a code of conduct for student use of the internet; a list of consequences for failure to abide by the student internet access contract; the addition of a section on earning of credits; the addition of a section that forbids a student who quits a sports team from joining another team during the same semester; for the punishment related to possession or use of alcohol or a controlled substance changing from the remainder of the semester to for one semester (90 school days) for the first infraction; the addition of Beta Club membership rules to the junior high school handbook; and the removal of the terms unexcused absence and excused absence from a section on detention hall to reflect the new state law that just lists them as absences.
Internet policy updates
The board approved changes to the Student Access Contract for internet usage and the Staff Access Policy for internet use to be in compliance with state law.
Financial statement
The board approved the financial statement for April, with the district receiving $2,120,765 and spending $2,032,401 in the non-activity funds, leaving an ending balance of $8,436,838.
Personnel action
The board accepted a series of hiring recommendations made by Hazelwood including the rehiring of all classified staff except for those who have resigned or retired; and the hiring of Karen Stewart and Bryan Walters as social studies teachers; Jasmetria Edwards as an elementary teacher; Meredith Murphy as an English teacher; Nevada Mills as the junior high band director; Robert Tate as a special education teacher and assistant coach; and Terry Shelton as a substitute bus driver.
Board communications
Boone and board member Maxine Nelson reported on their attendance at the National School Boards Association conference in Boston at the end of April.
“It was very informative,” Boone said. “I appreciate the district for allowing me to attend.”
“I am always proud to represent Watson Chapel schools at events,” Nelson said. “I was one of three Arkansas delegates to the Delegate Assembly that had representatives from 49 of the 50 states attend.”
Board member Robin Barker expressed her appreciation for the achievements of students and the work of teachers during the school year.
Boone publicly recognized Watson Chapel High School band director Allen Wimberley for his work.
“I would like to publicly commend you for your rapport with the students,” Boone said.