Pat Summer, Jasper School District operations director, informed the school district's board of education at its recent monthly meeting that the school district received a grant for security fencing at the Oark and Kingston campuses.
Oark is receiving $36,000. The plan is to add three-feet-high coated chainlink fencing on top of the rock wall that runs the length of the front of the campus. Unfortunately, the project at this time will not include installation of automated gates. Eventually the fence will be extended around the entire campus.
Kingston is getting $22,500 to spend. Plans are still being formulated, but about 400 feet of chainlink fence will be placed on both sides of the entrance of the driveway that comes up the hill to the school. Here, again, more fence will be added as funds become available which may be on a yearly basis.
Summers said it is difficult to find a single contractor who can bid on both projects due to the great distance between the two campuses. Bids are being accepted for each project.
The Kingston gymnasium has been undergoing roof repairs for about the past 12 years, Summers said. A new roof is estimated to cost $400,000. Harness Roofing has done an inspection and the company says it can make substantial repairs that will prolong the life of the roof for another 5-7 years.
Superintendent Dr. Candra Brasel said the school district has made a request to apply for partnership funding from the state to replace the metal roof, but the state has denied it.
If the state sees the district is trying to maintain the roof and have records to prove it, the state may reconsider the request. Partnership funding could meet up to 75% of the cost of a new roof, Brasel said.
The board passed a resolution authorizing the school district to hold its annual school election in conjunction with the preferential primary election. For 2025, that election will be held Tuesday, May 13. This continues the policy already in place. The county clerk's office will be notified and be given a copy of the resolution.
The board approved the budget for the Drug Free Community Grant awarded to Partners in Prevention, a community-led coalition, last August. The school district is the fiduciary of the federal grant providing $125,000 annually for five years. Bailey Taylor was recently hired by the school board to be the program's director.
Partners in Prevention was created by the Newton County Hometown Health Initiative and is led by a core committee representing 12 sectors of the community including: Law enforcement, youth, youth organizations, parents, health care providers, faith based and fraternal organizations, non-profit organizations, volunteer groups, state agencies, drug recovery organizations, businesses and schools.
The board went into executive session at 6:44 p.m. to discuss personnel. It returned and called the meeting back into regular session as 7:10 p.m.
The board hired Whitney Tennison to fill the Save the Children Early Steps to School Success coordinator's position at the Jasper campus.
Gavin Chalmers was hired for school maintenance at Oark and Saundra Sanders was hired as a bus driver at Oark.
The board also authorized the payment to all staff, a one-time $500 bonus. The bonus is traditional in the school district coming just before the holidays. Brasel said the schools' Policy and Personnel committees recommended the bonus, but the superintendent cautioned that the district will be hard pressed to offer bonuses in the future in light of falling enrollment. As of November, enrollment district-wide, K-12, is 806.
Dr. Brasel announced congratulations go to board member Lisa Snow for earning her 25 credit hours of board training through the Arkansas School Board Association and presented her with a pin.
The ASBA annual conference will be held in Little Rock, Marriott Hotel, Dec. 11-13.
