DMJ discusses 5-year plan

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

MT JUDEA — At a specially called meeting of the Deer Mt. Judea school board at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, the primary agenda item was a 5-year plan.

Prior to discussing the plan, superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Nichols shared that the district recently advertised for janitors listing $11/hr. In doing some research, she found a recent pay rate of $12.19/hr for DMJ custodial work. In an effort to recruit staff that may be displaced through position elimination, such as in the cafeteria, Nichols proposed hiring at the higher rate.

In addition to the plan discussion, the board accepted the resignations of:

• Celia Wortham, K-3 digital learning teacher
• Jordan Rupert, K-3 digital learning teacher
• April Willis, Deer elementary teacher
• Lorie Cantrell, Deer 2nd/3rd grade teacher

and the hiring of:

• Wayne Allen Warren, Jr., Deer principal
• Kim Rhoades, Mt. Judea custodian/janitor
• Jennifer Casey, Deer custodian/janitor

Board member John Kent has been advocating for a long-range plan for several months, which culminated in this special meeting.

In addressing public concerns about the need for a plan, Nichols explained the intent being for the district to innovate and return to the district’s former status before losing the 88 students last year and address the novel competitive environment. Without ambitious goals, the district will not implement steps towards achieving those goals. The discussion involved possible ideas, but no decision.

Board member Rodney Ellis agreed with Kent in the district needing a strategic plan, including facilities and academic aspects. While the state is funding more competition for student enrollment and advocating for increasing the student-to-teacher ratio, DMJ is losing students and has the geographic reality of needing two campuses. He said the district leadership needs to understand where the campus stands today and what the major obstacles are to getting where they want to go.

Kent asked for clarification on the state of the budget.

Nichols explained that the state pressured her to reduce staffing, while acknowledging the board had strong reservations against reducing staff size. Nichols has met monthly with staff from the state for them to monitor DMJ’s finances. With the changes and reductions already approved by the board, the current projection, barring anything significantly negative happening, is that DMJ will conclude the 2026-27 school year with a positive balance.

The main concern from the state is what happens when state funding for the DMJ district (and all school districts) is reduced for the 2027-28 school year. The state continually asks Nichols for a plan on how the district intends to deal with the impending changes.

Nichols listed the efforts currently underway. Her priority efforts are in creating a team that will remain in place to create more stability for many years to come. She cautioned the board that meaningful academic results from current changes will take three to five years to be realized.

Currently, all eight-grade students will be enrolled in agriculture and business classes, and, when they complete tenth grade, they will have completed those CTE (career and technical education) pathways. This leaves their final two years of high school open to participate in apprenticeships and workplace learning, all of which will look good to the state and better prepare graduates for life after high school.

Nichols encapsulated the current 5-year plan process, which is for the board to develop a written plan that will be posted online, after which they will schedule public meetings to get community feedback on the proposed plan. Board President Johnny Smith emphasized his intention to involve and listen to the community for the plan and moving forward in general, starting as soon as possible.

Kent also confirmed everyone was in agreement that the district needed to, and should, grow enrollment. Nichols believes that administrative stability will lead to better teacher retention, and ultimately to increased enrollment.

Some of Kent’s ideas were:

• addressing community concerns
• improving online offerings that emphasize local strengths including expertise, experience, and the environment, as well as technology (e.g., GoPro cameras and a green screen room) that could include Arkansas Game and Fish, agriculture, trades, and STEM woven into it
• creating a residential school experience, establishing dormitories where students would live Sunday through Thursday, with pathways and opportunities unique within the state that would attract students and parental interest from all parts
• Overall, needing to simultaneously be creative in differentiating the DMJ experience from all others while improving academic results towards becoming an A-rated district.

Some of Ellis’ ideas include:

• improving facilities, especially the shops, on both campuses
• improving academic programming and results
• improving graduation rates
• better incorporating the statewide merit and distinction program

Ellis recommended selecting three goals for each area of the plan. Improving test scores and increasing teacher and instruction oversight being two possibilities for the academic portion.

The HVAC project at the Mt. Judea project could be one for facilities. He also offered to form a group to add things to the shop facilities, since many of the students want to work with their hands. He thinks that business and industry might be interested in being involved in improving these shop programs. Specifically, the group would be comprised of community members, general contractors (all skilled trades that could be taught in the shops), and trades businesses and the local chamber of commerce.

Smith emphasized the inclusion and improvement of the district’s animal science programs.

A third aspect of the plan could be growing the digital campus enrollment.

Nichols explained that due to block scheduling for high school, they can only include one agriculture program. Should that remain animal science or move to agriculture mechanics. Or, is there a way to incorporate both in the future.

Kent expressed optimism for DMJ prospects, assuming the adoption of a 5-year plan, and encouraged the board and superintendent to consider approaching the state for bridge funding, which would allow the district to hire more teachers to create these unique offerings, thereby significantly increasing student enrollment and retention. Nichols agreed by saying, “the worst they’re going to do is tell us ‘no’.”

The next regular meeting is scheduled for 6:30 pm Monday, Jul. 13 on the Deer campus.