Early releases for Watson Chapel School District students on Wednesdays have been put on hold.
The WCSD board Monday accepted Superintendent Tom Wilson’s recommendation to have students attend school the entire day each Wednesday starting Feb. 21 and concluding May 15. This will allow the district to make up two of the four missed school days (Jan. 16-19) due to a winter snowstorm.
The other two days have been added to the end of the school year. The last day of classes is now May 30.
WCSD students have been released at 1:30 p.m. each Wednesday to allow faculty members time for professional learning communities. That practice, however, was called into question during a December report to the Arkansas Board of Education when board President Sarah Moore of Stuttgart suggested it created a lack of instructional time in the wake of inaccurate schedules, for which the WCSD was put on accredited-probation through the 2024-25 school year.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Wilson reviewed the district’s February report to the state board, saying Moore recently visited every district campus with other state officials.
Sheila Whitlow, associate deputy commissioner with the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, detailed Wilson on observations including providing professional learning opportunities, job-embedded coaching to improve teaching effectiveness, and improved security measures such as checks at every door of the junior and senior high campuses. Students, however, will be asked to go through security checks if they must re-enter the building, and staff members are asked to be visible in hallways and monitor external doors students are not allowed to access.
BUILDING REPORT
The lowest bid Watson Chapel received for construction of a new high school was $41.7 million, Wilson said.
General contractor Baldwin and Shell opened the bidding process Feb. 1, and Wilson said he will ask the firm about how to lower that cost.
“I told them, ‘That really wasn’t what y’all told us before,'” Wilson said, referring to the cost. “We looked at that $39 million being a maximum price. They said the first bid is not unnormal, and they tend to come in higher. Right now, they’ve talked to the bidders from each company, and they know more about the construction cost and material cost, so they can go back and say, ‘Hey, this is out of line with the last job you did, and the price hasn’t gone up that much and we want to be able to beat it.”
Wilson later said the low bidder has knocked up to $600,000 off his price, but that still doesn’t give him the final number he’s looking for.
The district has about $39 million allocated toward the 92,500-square-foot project, which will be constructed at the site of the recently razed junior high school next to the current high school.
The bidders know how much Watson Chapel means to Wilson and the community, he said in his superintendent’s report.
“We’ve got to build this facility. It’s going to be a beautiful facility not just for us, but for the future of the kids,” Wilson said. “That’s why it’s important everybody gets aboard this new building.”
WILDCAT WARRIORS
Coleman Elementary fourth-grader Kingston McBride and fifth-grader David Sterling were named Wildcat Warriors for February.
Network administrator Chance Baughman was named faculty Wildcat Warrior. Technology and testing coordinator Jennifer Howington credited Baughman with restoring internet services with Windstream Communications at Edgewood Elementary following the snowstorm.
FINANCIAL REPORT
The district has received $2,148,657.26 of revenue in January and spent $2,100,944.72 in non-activity funds, leaving an ending balance of $12,378,406.68.
PERSONNEL MOVES
No new employees were hired.
The district accepted resignation letters from security director Thaddeus Arnold, instructional facilitator Varnette Bruce, paraprofessional Mildred Crane and elementary teacher Ginger Daigle.
Fourth-grader Kingston McBride was named a Wildcat Warrior for February. He is pictured with assistant superintendent Dee Davis (left) and Coleman Elementary dean of students Ora Reynolds. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Network administrator Chance Baughman was named a faculty Wildcat Warrior for February. He is pictured with assistant superintendent Dee Davis (left) and technology and testing coordinator Jennifer Howington. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)