The Hope School Board unanimously approved a resolution and certification letter for a $1.5 million Arkansas Community Assistance Economic Development Approval grant during a special called meeting Monday (8-3). Hope School Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley said the $1.5 million requires a 20% match, “which is available”. Dr. Crossley explained that the potential to use state partnership money from the state of Arkansas if received in May. He said $300,000 of the grant is believed to be partnership money If awarded, Dr. Crossley said there is a 24-month timeline for project completion. The timeline “fits honestly perfectly with what we’re planning on doing.” he said. Projects include HVAC replacement at Clinton Primary and security measures.
Concerns from Dr. Crossley were that previous millage did not pass. “Worry that $2.4 million from the state might not be enough to complete projects without “draining our building fund,” despite having saved $700,000,” Crossley said that would be a “really hard discussion to have.” Dr. Crossley noted in the application process that initial pages were submitted to express interest. He said letters of support were obtained from the State Representative, State Senator, Secretary of Education, local Economic Development Corporation President, and College Chancellor. “The local EDC is actively supporting the application,” he reported to members all present. A previous local EDC grant application was denied because the state preferred “student facing” projects. Dr. Crossley said this application is believed to align better with state preferences. “I don’t think it’s a shot in the dark, I think it’s a decent application, we just need your approval before we send it in,” he said. Dr. Dr. Crossley: They expect a decision within the next 1.5 to 2 months.
Personnel announcements included two resignations were received “before they even started,” Dr. Crossley said. That included a special education teacher and a social studies teacher/coach. Dr. Crossley said all teacher positions are filled if the personnel packet is approved. Unanimous decisions were made on accepting the resignations and new hires for recommendation of employment. The board is asking local media outlets to announce a replacement is needed for the replacement of board member Bubba Powers who gave his notice in late June according to McClain. Notifications went live via media, Facebook page, and website on the day following the meeting noting the board vacancy for Zone 2: The proposed timeline for replacement looks like this…
September 4th: Deadline for applications (one-month period).
September 15th board meeting: Potential for the board to interview candidates.
After certification, potentially at a special meeting in October or the regular
October 20th meeting. For the process, the school public relations manager Antonio McLain, places notifications in various media outlets as required by statute.
Then board members need to finalize questions for candidates, also, according to legalities.
McLain said a list of questions from previous meetings is available, and the board recommendation is to ask the same questions to all candidates.
New board members can get a one-page digital document outlining the process and previous questions.
The board approved marking all Hope School vehicles with the Hope school logo, but not without some opposition from member Jimmy Courtney, but the discussion concluded with the will of the board being to use the existing school district logo and name on both sides of vehicles. Members said the reasons for marking school vehicles was for safety and to identify official school personnel and vehicles, especially for new employees, or when vehicles arrive on campus. It was agreed marking of the vehicles helps with visibility and ensuring the right people are on campus, especially with many new personnel. They discussed that it is also necessary for accountability and transparency to address rumors, such as school vehicles being at churches when not on call. The members also agreed it was important for professionalism and marketing.: Other districts already implement vehicle marking, and it “publicizes and, you know, advertises our school.”
A motion was made by the board resident to implement personnel policies .310 and .311 with agreed-upon changes, and that all vehicles in Hope Public Schools should have some kind of designation as Hope Public School vehicles. The motion carried with a 3-2 vote, Later things addressed included discussion to re-establish contact with the college president (a “Hope High School graduate”) co-op programs providing “free resource college” for implementation and problem-solving was also addressed. Dr. Crosley will follow up on re-establishing contact on those opportunities including federal grant information for the college, specifically the “H E E R F and Cares Act grant to purchase firewall.”
