The Forrest City School District has been selected as one of five sites around the state for economic education workshops, sponsored by the Arkansas Council on Economic Education.
Locally the conference will be held July 16-20. An estimated 45 to 50 teachers from around the state are expected to attend. Teachers from Forrest City may also attend some of the other conferences, since each workshop is on a different economic theme.
"Ours will be regarding how schools impact local economies," said Lee Vent, superintendent of Forrest City schools and also a vice president of the Arkansas Council on Economic Education.
Ideas on how to analyze and maximize the economic impact of schools on communities will be developed, along with an understanding of a community's influence on the educational process. Results will be shared statewide.
"The council members see Forrest City as an excellent site for hosting this workshop," said Vent. "The fact that we have had a nationally recognized Economics America Program in our school district also aided in our being selected. They look at communities that are really active in economic education, and certainly I was not hesitant in putting forth Forrest City's name."
The other meetings this year will be held at Crossett, Benton, El Dorado and Fort Smith.
Vent said, "This conference, the recently announced selection of Mustang Arena for the 5A State Basketball Tournament, and similar accomplishments demonstrate one fact of the school district's role in promoting economic activity in our community. Another fact is the school's annual operating budget, the county's largest, has been a dynamic stabilizing force in our local economy for years."
The St. Francis County Museum Board of Directors has two new members, as well as a new chairman and vice-chairman.
New board members Rush Beavers, a teacher at Forrest City Junior High School, and Christy White, an instructor at East Arkansas Community College, were introduced at the regular meeting this week.
Beavers was elected the board's new chairman, replacing Cynthia Starling who resigned from the position at last month's meeting. Board member and St. Francis County Tax Assessor Craig Jones was elected vice-chairman.
SFC Museum Director Laura Mazzanti told board members the museum is trying to prepare for Black History Month, which is February. According to Mazzanti, the museum had planned to do an art program again this year, but those plans fell through. Mazzanti said she is trying to pull something together to do for the month and is open to suggestions.
Mazzanti recently attended the Delta Byways quarterly meeting. "We were the only representatives from this area at the meeting," said Mazzanti. "There are other officials, museums and individuals from the eastern part of Arkansas who are members, but this museum is the only active member in the Delta Byways."
Mazzanti said the Delta Byways is looking for a place to hold the next annual banquet, to be held in October. "They would really like to look at Forrest City as the site of the next banquet," she said. "We are centrally located, but we have a small staff so we are going to need some help."
"The banquet is a pretty large deal, and lots of people will be coming from different parts of the state. We have great facilities and a lot to show them about Forrest City," Mazzanti said.
According to Mazzanti, the byways will take care of all the costs of the banquet, all Forrest City would have to do is come up with the volunteers to help out. "We need arms and legs to pull off this project," she said.
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City High School will be getting a Bio-Tech and Agricultural Sciences Lab in the near future, thanks in part to a local grant.
Pat Flanagin, Foundation and Resources Administrator in the Forrest City School District, announced this week that the school is taking bids on construction of the facility, which will be located at the high school.
"We plan to use $30,000 from the Forrest City Foundation District-Wide Grant," Flanagin said. "We will be receiving bids from various vendors, and we may accept the lowest bid, but we don't have to in this situation. It depends on what we can get for the money."
During a luncheon this week, school administrators heard from representatives for one of the vendors, Hummert International. According to Flanagin, Hummert submitted a bid of $28,500, to have the materials delivered to the school.
"Hummert offered to supply all of the materials to have the structure equipped with a heating and cooling system, along with rolling benches and various internal components," said Flanagin.
"There are three different options we can go with," said Flanagin. "The first option, which is what was bid on, would be to have Hummert deliver the materials needed on the site and then our students, or whoever, would build the structure. The second option would be to spend an additional $2,800 to have a construction crew from Hummert International come and assist in the construction for a day or so. The third option, would be to spend $60,000 to have the materials sent here and have Hummert's construction crew put it all together for us."
Flanagin said the Bay and Harrisburg high schools have labs which were bought from Hummert recently, and he expects to go there soon and review those operations, before making a decision on the Hummert offer.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Arkansas is statistically one of the best states in the nation when it comes to placing welfare recipients in jobs, resulting in a bonus of $2.8 million to the state Department of Human Services' Division of County Operations.
The St. Francis County TEA Coalition and the Workforce Alliance played a role in this. According to Richardetta Edwards TEA Coalition chairperson, the local welfare caseload was above 600 persons when work began in 1997.
"Now it is below 250," Edwards said. "By engaging all facets of the community in the work of welfare reform, we now have people in the community who are more aware of the struggles and challenges that affect the lives of people.
"I think people generally assumed that people who were receiving welfare were not willing to work. However, we have found that given an opportunity and a little support, people are indeed willing to work and improve conditions for their families."
André Stephens, Executive director of the Workforce Alliance, said that local efforts should be concerned.
"I am pleased with how well the community has come together to make a significant impact," he said, while stating that a lot of work remains.
"The economy is already showing signs of a significant slowdown, and areas such as the Delta will be hard-hit in an economic downturn."
Stephens said there is no plan yet on distribution of the bonus money.
He also agreed that there are some legitimate concerns over how long some people are staying in jobs once they get them.
"We're trying to address it," said Stephens. "But in the Delta area, particularly St. Francis County, a lot of jobs are seasonal, because most of the people we're working with are low-skilled. We're working to increase their skill levels so they can move into jobs with a better future."
He said in the meantime, "We need to be about the business of trying to create new economic opportunity. The money we're receiving can be used for that."
However, he said there is a concern over funding. He said there is a danger that county coalitions or TEA coalitions may lose funding in the future. Stephens said he is trying to work with legislators to keep that from happening.
"Our question is, if they're not going to fund city and county alliances to do the work, what are their plans for the money," Stephens said.
He said the local coalitions have been the only agencies able to bring about real welfare reform.
"We're gearing up for an advocacy campaign, to encourage the state to continue to fund the coalitions, so they will truly be responsible for decisions having to do with people in their own communities," he said.
"I hope the state is looking at ways in which communities can continue the work that they have begun. In particular, we need to be thinking about economic development and living-wage jobs. Otherwise, we will revert back to a situation where there is a high welfare caseload and increased poverty."