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Board members also approved changes in personnel policies and the 2009-2010 salary schedule, authorized the polling places for the annual school election and handled several personnel matters.
"We'd like to be able to offer in-school suspension in lieu of corporal punishment or suspension," PHS assistant principal Brock Swann told the board. "We have set up the basics for the in-school suspension system and feel it would be more appropriate in some circumstances."
After discussing the process, board members voted to allow the implementation of the program and instructed Swann to formulate an official written policy.
"We'll need to review the various offenses in our handbook and determine which are more suited for this program," Swann noted. The measure passed unanimously.
Board members also approved the financial reports and expenditures for July and voted to accept several changes to the personnel policies for both certified and non-certified staff. The salary schedule for the coming school year also was approved by a unanimous vote.
Following a brief executive session, the board reconvened and voted to officially accept the resignation of Shawna Stone as a custodian. Stone was hired as an aide at the elementary school at a meeting earlier this year. Tara Rigdon and Darlene Taylor were hired as custodians for the coming school year.
The board also unanimously voted to hire 11 staff members for lunch room duty at the elementary school and approved pay of $900 each for the year for the additional responsibilities. They also approved pay for Janice Beck, Linda Banning and Wanda Rodery outside their regular contract.
On a split vote, the board approved Michael Harrell, Shawn Hearn, David Hendrix and Danny Baldwin as cafeteria supervisors at the high school for an additional $1,200 for the year. Board members Hope Burns, Jeff Benbrook and Neil Morgan voted in favor of the measure, while board president Robert Jackson cast the lone dissenting vote. Board member Trent Holcomb was out of town and not present for the meeting.
The board also passed a resolution that the upcoming school election be conducted by early and absentee voting only. Due to the fact that the race is not contested and there is no millage increase being sought, state law allows for the change. Julie McMillon is the lone candidate for the seat being vacated by Jackson, and patrons may cast their ballots from Sept. 8 to Sept. 15 at the county clerk's office.
In other action the board:
* Approved a technology purchase order for the agriculture education department in the amount of $23,342.64. The money for the purchase of several pieces of equipment is being made available to the school through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
* Authorized the renewal of the license agreement for the Jedi tutorial program at a cost of $13,226.
* Heard from Superintendent Ed Winberry that the bell and clock system has been repaired at the high school campus and will be ready for the start of school.
* Were updated on two paving projects and were told the teacher's parking lot at the high school should be completed soon. Winberry also reported the paving job at the football field had been completed in a satisfactory manner.
* Heard from PES principal Leean Mann that 18 new students have been enrolled at the elementary campus and that she's expecting around 586 students by the start of school next week.
* Also heard from Mann that test scores from this past spring for the elementary campus were excellent and that first, second and third grade students outscored the majority of schools in Northeast Arkansas.
Comments
A SHOCKING Children's Civil Rights INEQUALITY exists in 21st Century Classrooms! The FACT is that Corporal or Physical Punishment is ILLEGAL IN SCHOOLS in 30 STATES, in contrast to being practiced frequently in SCHOOLS for minor infractions such as not turning in homework, without parental consent or notification in the remaining 20 states. SHOCKING news headlines of injuries suffered by children abused by school employees in states where the practice is legal are all too common! Physical or Corporal Punishment is HEAVILY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PORNOGRAPHY INDUSTRY, just type corporal punishment or spanking into any internet search engine to verify. There is a PUBLICLY FUNDED CHARTER SCHOOL, the Memphis Academy of Health Sciences that made news headlines recently for disciplining Middle/High School students (girls too) during an assembly called "Chapel" where students are taken on a stage and hit with a wooden paddle by their 6'6" former football player principal and/or have their hands whipped with leather straps IN FRONT OF ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS AS A DETERRENT TO PUBLICLY INDUCE SHAME/HUMILIATION AND FEAR AS AN INTIMIDATION TACTIC! The "Educators" and "Administrators" of this PUBLICLY FUNDED CHARTER SCHOOL state their "Discipline" practices are within Tennessee State Laws! U.S. Congress is currently holding hearings on Abusive and DEADLY (kids have died at the hands of government employees entrusted with their care and education in our tax payer funded schools) practices in SCHOOLS and must take immediate action to ABOLISH CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF ALL CHILDREN IN ALL SCHOOLS! There is NO EXCUSE for any "Educator" to hit a child with a weapon/wooden paddle as PUNISHMENT when credible professional educators who have EARNED RESPECT effectively "DISCIPLINE" by teaching children with reasonable and fair consequences everyday in schools the 30 states where Corporal Punishment is ILLEGAL! State Departments of Education promote the EFFECTIVENESS and training for educators in NON-VIOLENT Discipline methods, such as Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Systems.