The Gravette School Board met this past Monday. The meeting opened with the celebration of the district’s Classified Staff of the Year. The district received over 50 nominations for these awards. This year’s winners were Carissa Lewallen, an Alternative Education Paraprofessional at Gravette Upper Elementary, Tammy Forcum, a custodian at Glenn Duffy Elementary, Janice Dye, a cook at Gravette Middle School and Kay Robbins, a district bus driver. The Lady Lions Soccer Team surprised Ms. Kay by entering the board room with notes of appreciation for all the extra effort she puts into driving our athletes across the region to compete.
The board heard reports from Mr. Gravette covering end of year events, chromebook purchasing, and the GHS roof bids. Mr. Gravette thanked all the community organizations that supported scholarship night. Brad Harris opened a discussion regarding the scheduling of the graduation ceremony for the 2026-27 year. The Board reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of moving graduation from Saturday to another day of the week, as well as historical data from previous years when graduation was held over Memorial Day weekend. This item was for discussion only, no action was taken. Crossland and BiLD Architects presented an update on the classroom addition at Gravette High School. The project is still on time and under budget with a completion date this July. Robert Adams from Crossland reported the project will be at least $140,000 under budget. District Chief Financial Officer Dennis Kurczek presented the monthly financial report. The district is still under budget for the current school year.
The board heard from Gravette Director of Planning and Community Development Karen Benson. The board approved an easement to the CIty of Gravette covering district property on Highway 72. This helps clear the way for the much anticipated water and sewer improvements Mayor Maddox and his team have been securing for our community.
The board discussed the proposed staff daycare proposal. After much discussion the board board members expressed support for utilizing initial seed money to launch the program, with the expectation that ongoing annual operations become cost neutral moving forward. Assistant Superintendent and a team of teachers are collecting more data on how these programs are run and funded across the state.
In exciting news the board approved the package to add a new scoreboard to Lions Stadium. Coach Vire and the Go Lions Booster Club were able to secure sponsorship funding to cover the cost of the scoreboard. Lions Stadium is nearing its 20th anniversary.
Rendering of new Lions Stadium Scoreboard coming next season
In the earlier May Special Hiring Meeting the board heard public comments from Representative Hope Duke and Pastor Larry Weihe. Both expressed concern about potentially moving graduation to a Sunday. Representative Duke also voiced opposition to the district potentially selling 9 acres of its 50 acre plot on Highway 72. The board does not comment or respond to questions during public comment. Board members thanked Representative Duke and Pastor Weihe for their comments.
The board approved the hiring of Courtney Mallot as Special Education Director and Fran Howard as Gravette High School Principal. Both will be featured in upcoming district stories and will have welcoming meet and greet events closer to the start of next school year.
The district has recently been awarded a grant from the state of Arkansas to establish a greenhouse and plant science program. The $104,000 grant will help purchase the greenhouse to be located at Gravette High School. The board approved an additional agriculture teacher for the upcoming school year to allow more students access to this programming. A big thank you to agriculture teachers Justin Malott and Suzannah Macleod as well as Principal Shannon Mitchell for securing this grant for our students.
The board will meet on June 1st and June 16th next month.