NSD patrons in for surprise

By Staff, 07/28/17 7:31 AM

ROSSTON – When students and parents attend the Nevada School District’s Open House, from 4-7 p.m. on Aug. 8, they’ll be in for a nice surprise.

A new Promethean board will be on display in the hallway, showing the schedule. Nevada Superintendent Rick McAfee, at the July meeting of the Nevada School Board, demonstrated how the board works. He told the board any application that can be put on a smart phone can also be put on these new boards, which are all touch screen. They will be able to access the internet wirelessly, with the only cord needed being the power cord.

McAfee said the district bought 10 of these boards, some have 70-inch screens, while others have 75-inch screens.

In addition, students and parents will get to see the new arena seating – in Blue Jay blue. McAfee said these seats are the first in the state for a high school and three other school districts have already visited Nevada to look them over.

The first day for teachers will be Aug. 7 when they show up for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and have in-service the rest of the day. On Aug. 8, the day will start at 11 a.m. with the Prescott Ministerial Alliance providing lunch. From there the teachers will have in-service until 4 p.m. when open house begins. The first day of school will be Aug. 15.

By the time school starts, he told the board, the gym seating will be finished and the gym floors will be waxed and ready for the season. He added the district will have a full staff in place for the first day of school.

Nevada kindergarten, he said, will be at its maximum capacity with the student-teacher-aide ratio with 22 students expected. Any more and the district will be required to hire a second kindergarten teacher. A potential instructor has been interviewed and could be hired, if necessary.

The board was informed of two new state laws. The first requires districts to carry no more than 20 percent of their general funds over. At this time the Nevada district is $240,000 above the allowed amount. However, McAfee said, there is a loophole. Districts can put money into their building fund and are now allowed to take the funds out and put them back into their general fund. In the past money put in the building fund had to be used for construction purposes.

“We’ll wait and see how the funding goes,” he said, “see what we need. We could pay the district out of debt, but that would cause other problems.”

The second law concerns school board elections. As of Jan. 2018, school districts in Arkansas will have to pass a resolution declaring whether they will have elections in May, with the preferential party primaries, or November, with the General Election. If the elections are in May, candidates would have to file for both parties to be on all ballots, but if they’re held in November, no party affiliation would be required.

“We’ll look at it,” McAfee said, “and lay out our options. The board should vote for what’s best for the district.” He added this will cost the district more to get ballots printed.

The board approved entering into a contract with the Hope School District for Alternative Learning Education services. McAfee said Nevada would only be charged when a student is there and only for as long as the student remains in ALE. He told the panel this would be less expensive than Nevada having an ALE and hiring a teacher as few students from the district have been sent to ALE. In fact, there have only been three students sent to ALE from Nevada in the last five years.

Per diems for meals and travel were increased for in-state travel. The board voted to increase the meal per diem from $27 to $32 per day, and the mileage from 38 cents to 42 cents per day.

In the financial statement, McAfee reminded the board the district is $240,000 over the 20 percent allowed by state in the general fund. He said the district will find a way to move the money, yet have it available for district use. Otherwise, any amount over 20 percent will be withheld from state funding next year. He said he’ll look into getting a good interest rate on a savings account for the funds. However, in the future, he added, the district will have to watch its spending so it can make its July and August payments and payroll. “I remember having to worry about making our July and August payments and payroll,” he said.

The board accepted bids for milk and food stuffs. Highland Dairy was awarded the milk bid, while Cisco, Tankersley and PFG were all given portions of the contract for food products.

The resignation of Rachel Young, NHS special education aide, was accepted, and the board agreed to hire Jana McAfee, Shanna Moore and Morgan Reeves as teachers for Nevada Elementary School.

McAfee was given permission to advertise for a replacement for Young. The board was told the district is in good shape for bus drivers this year.