The meeting began with the appointment of Ty Plunkett as a new school board member. Plunkett was sworn in and will fill the vacancy in Zone 2 created by the resignation of Edd Puckett.
Assistant Superintendent Bridget Buckley reported on the Response to Intervention program. RTI is a multi-component, general education model, designed to identify students who may be at risk for learning or behavior challenges, offer support, and monitor progress. Buckley expressed her appreciation to the teachers at MMS and MHS for their hard work and extra effort. MHS Literacy has invested additional time into developing standards based interventions for students in need and have seen great progress. Of the 92 students at Mena High School who have been a part of the program, 88% have shown growth.
Next on the agenda was the approval of the 2024-2025 school calendar. Dr. Lee Smith recommended the approval of option 2. Option 2 was chosen by 75% of the staff in a recent vote. Option 2 includes
Wednesday start (August 14th)
Built-in data day each quarter (data in the morning, plan for implementation at the building level in the afternoon)
Monday, October 14th
Monday, January 6th
Monday, March 24th
Non-instructional days are on Mondays for the first semester (September 30th, October 28th)
Non-instructional days are on Fridays for the second semester (February 21st, April 18th) and Monday, May 5th in the second semester
Holidays are:
Labor Day (Monday, September 2nd)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 20th)
Thursday end (May 22nd)
5 Days of PD before school
171 Days with students
The first semester lasts through the Thursday before Christmas break
There are 6.7 Days over the minimum (built-in inclement weather days)
The board then approved contracting with Stacy Salisbury as Certified Academic Language Therapist or CALT. CALT provides diagnostic, explicit, systematic Multisensory Structured Language intervention which builds a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language disorders, including dyslexia. Salisbury will assist the two staff members working on their CALT certification.
The board also approved the school choice capacity resolution. This restricts the number of students the district may lose or gain to 2% of the student population due to school choice transfers. May 1st is the school choice deadline.
District Maintenance Supervisor Danny Minton then updated the board on projects. The district continues to pursue safety and security improvements. Damage at MHS from a recent lightning strike has been ironed out and the boiler inspector was recently on campus and gave the district a good report.
Trane has been providing support recently for HVAC and submitted a proposal for a service agreement at $15,523.00. The board approved that agreement replacing a previous agreement Harris Energy Solutions for cost savings to the district.
The board approved the latest financial report with Dr. Smith stating that expenses were up in February but the district revenue remains ahead of expenses and on target for the year.
In personnel, the board approved the resignation of:
Kimberly Taylor - LPN @ HHE
Tish Cox - Special Ed Para @ LDE
Linda Shelley - Special Ed Instructor LDE
Tommy Johnson - Assistant Jr./Sr. Football Coach and Jr. Boys Track Coach (teaching responsibilities will continue)
The restructuring of:
Ryan Luttmer - From Head Jr. Football to Assistant Jr. Football
Zen Valencia - From Assistant Jr. Football to Head Jr. Football
Cody Koch - From Assistant Sr. Football to Sr. Football Special Teams Coordinator
Brad Lyle - From Head Sr. Girls Basketball to Assistant Sr. Girls Basketball
Tanner Womack - From Assistant Sr. Girls Basketball to Head Sr. Girls Basketball.
Rachel Dover - From 190-day contract to 195-day contract.
The board also approved the hiring of:
Ardith Levi Norris - Mena Middle School Assistant Principal
Jackie Lee - LPN for HHE
Robert Sweere - Assistant Sr. Boys Basketball
Rodney Rowland - Head Tennis Coach
Cody Koch - Head Jr. Boys Track
Tommy Johnson - Assistant Jr. Boys Basketball
Finally, the board approved the renewal of a group of certified contracts for 2024-2025.