July School Board Meeting!

The Mena School Board met at the district administration building the evening of Tuesday, July 23rd.

The meeting began with the superintendent’s report. Mr. Weston gave the board a brief update on bus driver training and new board member training that he and board member Susan Rowell recently attended.

The board approved a bid for district vehicle & bus insurance for $27,238.30 from the Polk County Farm Bureau. Only one bid was received.

The petty cash allotment was approved unanimously. Each campus as well as the administration office begin the school year with $200.00 in petty cash.

A report on 2019-2020 new board policies and revisions was shared by Assistant Superintendent Paulette Sherrer. It included changes in board member training, dates for school board elections, recording school board meetings & clarifying the duties of licensed and classified employees role as a mandated reporter. Changes in student discipline, student medications, an annual report on bullying & guidelines for excess cafeteria food was also presented.

Changes in the district handbooks were presented by campus administrators. Louise Durham & Holly Harshman Elementary only had one revision. They will be issuing walking tickets to students instead of taking away recess time.

At Mena Middle School the handbook will have the drivers license procedure removed. A change in cell phone policy was made & the policy on students with unpaid balances being provided an alternative lunch was deleted. A full reimbursable meal will be provided to any student in our district.

At Mena High School the handbook has been reduced from 78 pages to 28 pages. The wording on how the A.L.E. program is applied to students was updated. The driver license procedure has been removed. Parking space rental for student increases from $5.00 to $10.00. If a student is given in-school suspension they will be allowed to complete regular assignments & they will not be allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities until I.S.S. is completed. The final exam exemption has been removed & a course of study in health professions will now be available to students.

Mrs. Sherrer reported to the board on the recently released ACT Aspire test results. She said the 4 year ACT comparison trend data continues to show positive growth in combined English, Reading, and Writing scale scores as well as in combined Science and Math.

Sherrer also shared an update on the school improvement plan for the 19/20 school year. Each campus will have a monthly PLC team meeting as well as the district PLC. District Administrators recenlty attended the High Reliability Summit in Colorado & brought back new ideas to lead the district in collaborative cycles of inquiry to better meet the needs of each individual learner.

Next Mr. Weston addressed the board about a change for the district in the amount of money the district qualifies for from state transportation money. The amount has increased to $60,000 per year. Weston recommended the board approve the purchase of two 2010 low mileage Blue Bird buses at a total cost of $25,000. The purchase was approved unanimously.

Mr. Danny Minton gave those in attendance an update on construction & improvements across the district. Patrons will be noticing thes changes during the upcoming open houses & events. That report included projects at Bearcat Stadium which are all being funded by donations. You can get more info on the district social media & on the website www.menaschools.org

Next on the agenda was the opening of bids fo CD interest rates on $1,216,316.27. The board accepted the bid of 2.52% from the Diamond Bank in Mena.

Personel changes were the final item on the agenda. The board accepted the resignation of Heather Woodral, Mysti Gates, Lea Ann Johnston, Aaron Blehm. The board also accepted Scott Wright’s resignation from his position as Head Baseball Coach.

A few current staff members will have new positions. Ryan Luttmer will be transitioning from Head Jr. Football coach to Senior High Special Teams coach and Assistant Jr. Football. Chad Arnold will now be the Head Jr. High Football Coach. Aaron Obrien will move to alternative education at MHS. Lynn Ashley will move to alternative education at MMS. Kirsty Hall moves to 7th grade social studies. Chelsea Johnson will be 6th grade social studies & Jason Hendrix is being promoted to Head Bus Mechanic.

Recent new hires were also approved. Including the addition of Landon Dover, Jerusha Neufeld, Matt Sandifer, Kyle Smithers, Kayla Beck, Amanda Johnson-Asher, Max Hartwig, Monica Belcher, Tracy Floyd & Jim Pennington.