DEER — Two new hires were approved by the Deer/Mt. Judea School district board of Education when it met in regular session Monday night Dec. 9.
After returning from a 45-minuter-long executive session to discuss personnel, the board voted to hire Ricky Ridenoure as a school maintenance worker and Zach Freeman as an information technology assistant.
The meeting included approving three student transfer applications into the school district and the passage of a School Choice resolution.
Superintendent Bill Mizaur updated the board on the most resent state testing data for students grades 3-10. He said overall scores are in line with the state averages, however, the goal is to exceed those levels particularly in math and reading. He said new curriculum installed in classrooms this year should help.
The new Arkansas Teaching, Learning & Assessment System (ATLAS) focuses on a students individual needs and help teachers take the intervention steps to help the student succeed. Since ATLAS is new and focuses on Arkansas standards there are no previous testing scores or methods to compare them to. After next year's testing educators will be able to make comparable studies. Right now all they have is raw data.
Mizaur also told the board there may be good news on the horizon in brining infants and toddlers centers to the district's campuses.
The previous week the Deer/Mt. Judea ABC Preschool hosted Tonya Williams, assistant commissioner for the Office of Early Childhood for the Department of Education. Williams met Deer Preschool teachers Jodi Moenning, LaDonna Love and Latesha Williams before meeting with Mizaur, Ozark UnlimitedResources Cooperative Director Jeff Cantrell, Early Childhood Coordinator Cindy Lambe, and Local LEADS Captain Anne Cowie for a productive visit to discuss ways to strengthen and grow the community program. It was noted the Deer campus is a Better Beginnings 6-Star Program.
