By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City School Board will have to fill a temporary vacancy while one of its members serves Uncle Sam.
Gordon McCoy, who was also the school board president, has been called into active duty and will be gone for about 18 months, Superintendent Lee Vent told the board during its regular meeting Monday. Vent said McCoy is to report no later than Nov. 1
Attorney Brad Beavers explained the procedure to the board, as laid out by Arkansas law.
"It is the first time I know of that we've had to face this at Forrest City," Beavers said. "But it's not the first time anybody ever thought of it, because there is a specific statute."
He said that under the law, when a board member enters the armed forces, a temporary vacancy is declared to exist, until the end of the term of the member, or that person's return to civilian life.
The vacancy is to be filled, but only until the person returns.
"Basically, what you as a board can do now, is to fill the vacancy, but only until Gordon comes back, presuming that occurs before the end of Gordon's term," he said.
The law also states that a board member is eligible for re-election, even if he or she is absent. And if re-elected, that person can retake that position on the board upon returning to civilian life.
"The whole purpose of this statute is so that it does not prejudice the person who is called into active service in the military during their term of service to the school board." he said.
The filling of the temporary vacancy is to be done by a majority vote of the remaining board members. If the board fails to do this within 30 days, the quorum court will fill the position. Beavers said the board should have time to make the appointment at its next meeting.
He said he doubted that the board would have to appoint anyone to be president, but simply to take McCoy's place on the board temporarily. Monday's meeting was the time to elect board officers, and Vent said the board president has to sign certain things, such as payroll. Aubrey Jayroe was named president, Sandra Taylor was named vice president and Ronald Williams was named secretary.
No action was taken Monday on filling the position.
On another matter, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Alice Barnes gave a brief rundown of the school district's curriculum. She said there are three kinds of curricula: Written curricula, which is from the state; taught curricula, which is what the teacher actually teaches in the classroom; and tested curricula, also from the Department of Education.
During her talk, she said that the school district has more course offerings than the state requires.
Board member Mallory Nimocks asked about the idea of "teaching to" the standardized tests.
"I've heard some rumblings from this school right here (the meeting was held at Lincoln Middle School) that the decision has been made to solely focus on Benchmark," Nimocks said. "And I hear that some teachers aren't really enthused about that."
Barnes said that at the moment, local control is limited when it comes to what is going to be taught.
"The state says our students will have to pass the Benchmark exams," she said. "The Benchmark exams are based on the frameworks (standards from the state). If you teach something other than that, then the kids aren't going to pass the test."
And if too many kids don't pass the test, the district can get into trouble.
"A classroom teacher may think, 'These are my standards,' but the state says, 'These are our standards.' And somehow you have to make those standards correlate and work together, and be sure you include all the state standards."
On another matter, it was reported that the seats for the new junior high auditorium are expected in about a week. Gary Kennedy of Kenco Construction said he believed the auditorium would be in use by the middle of November.
"It would be nice to have a Christmas program there," said Nimocks.
Vent informed the board that the sale of bonds approved in the last school election will take place this Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Vent also made a proposal for a 3 percent, across the board base salary increase for all employees. No action was taken, because it was just a proposal.
The board also approved two resignations, one of a certified employee and one as a classified employee. Gwen Franklin has resigned as a special education teacher at Caldwell, and Courtney Grady has resigned as an instructional aide at the ABC School.
Two new classified hirings were approved, including Elizabeth Towery as a P.E. aide at Stewart and Eric Walker as a P.E./music aide at Caldwell and Madison.
Several transfers of classified personnel were also approved, including: Deborah Davenport, from P.E./music aide at Caldwell and Madison to pre-K poverty index position, Title I, at Madison; Sharon Pierce, from P.E. Aide at Stewart to Title I parental involvement Aide at ABC; Brenda Sims, from music/P.E. aide at ABC to preschool aide, ABC; Jennifer Wright, from instructional aide at ABC to preschool aide, ABC; and Doris Ursery, from Title I Parent Involvement Aide at ABC to instructional aide, ABC.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The status of the Madison Police Department was the primary topic during the Madison City Council's monthly meeting Monday night.
Madison Mayor James Brooks fielded several questions from council members, ranging from the scheduling for city officers to the number of officers the city has. According to Brooks, he currently formulates the schedule for officers since the city does not currently have a chief of police, although they are searching for one.
"We've never been able to find someone who we wanted to bring in as chief of police, but we are looking and have been looking. We have been running ads in the Municipal League magazine, but we just haven't found the person we're looking for," he said.
Brooks also told council members that there are times when there is not an officer on duty for the city.
"If a person calls the police department before 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings, they won't get an answer because our first officer comes on duty at 10 a.m. We were having them come in at noon, but we changed that a couple of weeks ago. It's also tough to get in contact with officers after 5 p.m., but that's because they are out on patrol. If a person needs assistance, I suggest calling 911 which goes to the county, and they get in contact with our officers or send someone out if we don't have anyone on duty," Brooks said.
Council member Ocie Williams suggested that the city hire enough personnel to give full coverage 24-hours a day.
"I don't think that we need to depend on the county all the time. We need to go out and hire enough people so that we can have someone on duty 24 hours a day. If you're in need of the police and have to call on the county, then you have to wait a while for someone to get here, when we should have officers available here in the city," Williams said.
In other business, Brooks updated council members on the status of the city's new community center. According to Brooks, construction is going well and the only problems have been with too many people on the work site at one time.
"The only problem that we have really seen is the number of people over there working which causes them to bump into each other occasionally, but that is a minor problem with the work that they're doing," Brooks said.
He also asked council members to submit any future questions on financial matters prior to meetings so that he can accurately give them figures. Last month, Brooks told council members that utility bills for the community center would be close to $500 annually. Monday, he adjusted that figure to $5,000 annually.
"I try to answer whatever questions are put before me, but when I do that off the top of my head, it gets me into trouble occasionally, and that's what happened last month. In the future, if the council has any such questions or if a citizen has questions over anything, if you will let us know by at least 2 p.m., I can get an accurate answer and provide documentation," Brooks said.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
Two bids were approved by the Hughes City Council Monday night for repairs to a city building and an insurance provider for city property.
The bids were received by the city for repairs on the damaged roof of the old fire station building. The roof of the building was damaged during storms earlier this year in May and June.
Mayor Donnie Mooney stated that some of the damage had already been repaired. "We had both the roofs of the well house and the old fire station damaged. The insurance company gave us about $15,000 to repair both, and we repaired the well house for about $3,000."
A pair of bids came from S&L Construction in the amount of $10,794 and Larry Habner in the amount of $11,731. According to Mooney, both are local firms. Councilman Malcom Curne said he felt the members should rebid the project. "If we rebid, my experience is that they (the bidders) will return with lower bids if we reject their first offer."
Another concern of Curne's was the time the project will be completed in. "I want to know how long this will take and have a deadline for the roof. That way we will know when the project will be done, and we can use the building." The council discussed rebidding the project, but unanimously decided to take the lowest bidder, S&L Construction. After a suggestion from city attorney Jerry Roberts, the work will be paid for in three payments. After completion of the project, the final 10 percent of the project will be paid.
Bids on the insurance for city property were then considered. Two bids were received by the city. Fidelity Insurance bid $6,391, and the Arkansas Municipal League bid $3,459.57. According to Roberts, both bids were based on yearly premiums. The members unanimously voted to accept the bid of the Arkansas Municipal League.
Before adjourning, Hughes Police Chief Timothy Sheets updated the council on his plans to improve safety in the city.
"Crime (in the city) is getting better, but we (the police department) have to get hard-nosed," began Sheets. "People will complain, and they are welcome to come to the us and the council with those complaints. But they will be able to sit on their porches with their families without fear of someone getting chased through their yard or people hanging out in parts of town at night.
"We don't have to harass or be brutes or bullies, but we do have to enforce the law. Some of these people do these things here because they think they can. They don't go to West Memphis or Forrest City doing these things because they know they won't put up with it. We want to hold a community meeting. The meeting will let people express their concerns and help us know what the people think is the major problems in the city."
Sheets also requested that the council purchase five vehicles that are being sold by the Memphis Police Department. "These are good vehicles. They are about $1,000 each, but may require some equipment like lights. The council stated that after the first of the year, you were willing to purchase a new vehicle for the department. I am asking that you purchase these five instead so that we can have five good vehicles instead of one."
No action was taken on Sheets' request.
Let's chalk another one up for the ladies who have dominated the first six weeks of the Professor Pigskin Football Contest.
The ladies have won four of the first six contests this season and Joyce Pounders of Colt leads the way.
Pounders, who won Week Two, repeated her efforts again last week by winning for the second time.
Pounders missed only two games of last week's 20 to take home the $50 cash prize. Pounders missed the Paragould-Marion and Sylvan Hills-White Hall high school games.
Three entries came close -- Donald Ford, Lee Coleman and Alma Dulaney -- who missed only three each.
This week's list of games can be found inside today's Times-Herald.
The horse trails are now open at Village Creek State Park for day use.
The trails are subject to closings due to being wet, and riders should call ahead to check for trail conditions and closings before visiting, according to a VCSP press release.
Registration is required at the park's visitor center before each use, and negative Coggins papers must be presented. For more information or information of trailer fees and annual passes, call the park at 870-238-9406.
Veterans of the Vietnam War have been added to the list of veterans eligible for honorary high school diplomas during a ceremoney scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Mustang Areana.
The Veteran's Day observance program will begin at 10 a.m.
The Forrest City School Board is searching for World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans in St. Francis County who entered military service prior to achieving a high school diploma. The district will recognize those veterans with honorary high school diplomas.
For more information, contact Henry Haven at 633-3095, Tammy Siler at 633-1485, Phyllis Russell or Judy Murray at 261-1806, or the SFC Judge's office at 261-1700. The deadline for submitting names is Nov. 1.
All parents of children from kindergarten through grade 5 who want to help their kids with math may attend a "Math at Home" session with Dr. Linda Griffith, to be held Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Forrest City Junior High Cafeteria.
This will be an hour of learning new ways to teach children math at home.
There will also be refreshments and door prizes. For more information, contact Allison Fogg at 261-1858.