Hope School Board

The Hope School Board met Monday November 26th for their regular monthly meeting. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report. Dr. Bobby Hart noted current enrollment for the district is 2,233. This is about 15 students down from last month. He noted numbers will probably fluctuate between now and February. He noted Betyl, Yerger Middle School,and HAPS are in the top 5 in this region on student growth. Dr. Hart congratulated board member Linda Haynes on being designated a “Master Board Member” by the Arkansas School Board Association for compleyion og 50 hours of education. Also noted in the Superintendent’s Report was the December 11th Parents Ambassador Dinner.
Mr. Mike Radebaugh gave a report information he learned from attending the “National Trauma Informed Schools” meeting. Mr. Radebaugh outlined what the meeting called “ACEs”, instances of emotional trauma experienced early in life or “adverse childhood experiences”. Mr. Radebaugh noted Arkansas has the highest instance of students without any”ACEs” at 44% but that the state has the third highest incidence of “ACEs” in the United States. Mr. Radebaugh noted what can help these students is having access to “one trusted stable adult”. Board member Bubba Powers spoke with Mr. Radebaugh for several minutes about the findings.
School Improvement Specialist Carla Narlesky gave a “45 day report”. She noted Hope High and Clinton Primary have gone up one letter grade in every category. She noted HAPS slid back a little and Yerger and Beryl Henry stayed the same. She also noted all the campuses were averaging 90% or better attendance. She also talked about the schools participating in “Team Institute”. Narlesky also noted some individual school’s activities. Dr.. Hart noted there is a young lady in the CATS program who has completed enough work to graduate in December and she wants to have her graduation in conjunction with CATS as the program has been instrumental in her achievement.
The board looked at and approved a “memorandum of understanding” with Dr. Ladell Douglas to provide services to the school based health clinic.
Dr. Hart noted the low bid on the school based health clinic renovation of the Home-Ec building cane in about $473,000. Dr. Hart noted the district is getting $150,000 from the state for the rehab. Dr. Hart said in talking to the low bidder they can easily get to $373,000. He said their options include relocating the clinic to another building or possibly the district doing the job in-house. Mr. Hart noted moving it to another building would probably cost $100,000 over the funds coming from the state. Dr.Hart suggested they take the floor plan, bid out the materials, and do it in-house. The board also discussed not doing all the work in year one. Mr. Hart said the rest could be contracted out. The board voted to accept Dr. Hart’s recommendation.
The board looked at setting school board election date. Dr. Hart suggested keeping the school elections on the primary voting day. Board member Viney Johnson said she and Mr. Willie Buck would be at a disadvantage as they come up for re-election in odd numbered years and with there being no primary on those years it means less turnout for their elections. The board voted to stick to the primary day or the day it would fall on odd-numbered years. Johnson voted against the measure. She noted she wanted her concerns on the record.
The board approved a facilities request for the Yerger Gym for Bobcat Youth Basketball.
The board discussed scheduling a strategic planning session in December. The board also discussed the Arkansas School Board Association annual meeting. The meeting then adjourned.