The number of bullying incidents across the White Hall School District decreased from the 2022-23 season.
Superintendent Gary Williams announced at Tuesday’s district board meeting 81 cases of bullying were reported during the 2023-24 school year, a drop of 20 from the school year before. Of the 81 cases, 36 led to out-of-school suspension.
There were 84 out-of-school suspensions due to bullying in 2022-23.
“We just continued to build relationships with kids,” Williams said. “We included Capturing Kids’ Hearts, which is a program that builds relationships and works on classroom management and addresses behavior. It’s a systematic approach. High school did not have that in place last year. That will be added to the high school this year. It’s just a consistent effort that addresses students’ behavior. It also acknowledges good behavior.”
Board members approved a request from Williams for an $81,000 purchase in additional surveillance camera equipment at Taylor and Gandy elementaries. Common areas such as playgrounds, front door, hallways and cafeterias will be covered, he said.
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“It’s not any problems with those buildings,” Williams clarified. “Over time as other buildings have had cameras added, those buildings have not had as many cameras as we added at other buildings.”
FINANCIALS
The WHSD’s ending balance for May was $6,838,816.48. A year earlier, the balance was $7,552,190.01.
“There were some one-time expenses we didn’t have last year that actually totaled over a million dollars with new buses and band equipment,” Williams said. “Those are big-dollar items that we purchased one time. We’re actually in pretty good shape.”
RECOGNITIONS
Five WHSD students won first place in the Southeast Arkansas Regional Art Show. Their artwork will be displayed at the Southeast Region in the State Youth Art Show at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library from Saturday through Aug. 31.
The winners are Rosalie Kline, a Gandy fourth-grader; LIllie Hallman, a sixth-grader; Dane Harwick, a seventh-grader; Addison Prince, a 10th-grader and Yuki Lin, an 11th-grader.
Nine middle school FBLA members competed at the State Leadership Conference in LIttle Rock. Two of them placed in events and qualified for the National FBLA Conference in Florida. Paige Price was second in “Running an Effective Meeting” and Micah Reinking was fourth in “Video Game Challenge.”
PERSONNEL MOVES
The district approved the hire of sixth-grade English teacher Alexis Passmore Stratton; high school PE/health, assistant basketball and assistant football coach Lester Mendjivar; sixth-grade math teachers Selena Jacks and McCain McDougald; middle school social studies, seventh- and eighth-grade volleyball and seventh- and eighth-grader basketball head coach Stormy Swain; and high school physical science teacher Ashlea Thompson.
Classified hires include district bus drivers Monique Coop and Elaine Perrin, and special education self-contained paraprofessionals Kayla Davis and Carnitris Hale.
Certified contract additions were approved for high school assistant football coach John Welch and assistant varsity boys basketball coach Adam Johnston, effective July 1.
WATSON CHAPEL SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH
Interviews for the next Watson Chapel School District superintendent will begin Monday, board President Goldie Whitaker said Wednesday.
The new hire will replace Tom Wilson, who earlier this month announced his retirement, effective June 30. Wilson was hired as interim superintendent in July 2022 and elevated to full-time superintendent in October 2022.
“We still have applications coming in,” Whitaker said. “And so, we won’t decide on the number [of finalists] until we see all of the qualifications of the applicants.”
Whitaker said shortly after Wilson’s announcement she plans for the board to hire a superintendent by July 1, the start of the district’s 2024-25 fiscal year.