The Gravette School Board met this past Monday. The meeting opened with a celebration of seven new teachers:
GMS Special Education Teacher Donna Boyd
GHS Special Education Teacher Hailey Bridges
GUE P.E. Teacher/Basketball Coach Hayden Shields
GHS A.L.E. Teacher Drew Tingley
GUE P.E. Teacher/Volleyball/Softball Coach Lizzy Ellis
GDE Music Teacher Sharnetta Campbell
GMS Dyslexia Specialist/Reading Teacher Arica Rainey
We have a great group of new staff this year!
Mr. Gravette gave a report on back to school enrollment. The district is up in enrollment from the end of last school year by about 50 students. The average attendance the first 8 days of school have been in the 1930’s, with 1,965 enrolled. Mr. Gravette expressed that he was happy to see that number rise to start the year and expected enrollment to settle in the 1,950-1960 range for the first quarter.
Mrs. Andrews gave a report on district reading levels. The board and Mrs. Andrews discussed strategies for improvement this year, celebrated the growth across the district and looked at the terminology that state ATLAS testing uses to describe reading skills. The district hosted very successful summer reading classes that saw the majority of students raise their reading level. The teachers as well as Dr. Newsom and Dr. Barrett did a great job making the summer program a success.
District Communications Specialist Dustin Mapes presented his annual report to the board. Mr. Mapes prepared a detailed report on the district’s web and social media traffic from the previous school year. The district had over 278,000 website page visits last school year. Mapes has a goal to make all information findable in 3 clicks or less. The board complemented Mapes on the easy to use icons he has developed to find school information. The district’s app and website are nearly fully integrated with one another. The conversation concluded with a discussion on the new Rooms communication system integrated in the app and website. The district encourages all parents to sign up for this new feature that has replaced the Remind app this year.
Crossland and BiLD Architects presented an update on the completion of the classroom addition at Gravette High School. Robert Adams from Crossland reported on finishing touches being added to the project. The district plans to hold a ribbon cutting in late September. Mike Spaeth from BiLD Architects reported on the completion of a roofing section at Gravette High School this past month. District Chief Financial Officer Dennis Kurczek presented the monthly financial report.
The board heard an update from Colliers Real Estate Agency. Collier’s is proposing to purchase a 9.18 acre tract of district land adjacent to Stagecoach Road and Highway 72. Agent Steve Lane fielded questions from the board on the proposed price of $1,599,523. Mr. Lane reported that his agency represents a major retail company with a desire to open a store and gas station at that location. The district could still use the location to build a school or other district facility on the remaining 40 acres. The board plans to vote for or against entering into negotiations on this offer at the September 21st Regular Board Meeting. If the board votes in favor of entering negotiations there would be a later vote on accepting the negotiated offer. Mr. Lane detailed that the whole process could take 6-9 months. The board is seeking public feedback on the proposal.
The board’s next regular meeting will be on September 21st.