By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
There is more going on in math and technology in Forrest City Schools than many people realize, according to one math teacher.
Karen Busby, who teaches algebra and geometry at Forrest City High School, recently spoke to a Realtors meeting, and she's ready to talk to anyone about what she sees as advances in teaching.
"Technology uses a lot of math," she said in an interview. "It lends itself to math because math is a visual thing, but it goes beyond math. It applies to all the other subjects."
For instance, kids in math classes have access to equipment that didn't exist when many of their parents or grandparents went to school.
"All of our students, at the junior high and high school level, have the latest Texas Instrument graphic calculator," said Busby. "Not to take home, but to use in the classroom. They can add and subtract, but they can also trace the functions, they can do all kinds of stuff.
"And that's for all the geometry classes, all the algebra classes, all the calculus classes, all the trigonometry classes, and all the basic classes in junior high. That's a lot of classes to have a full set in every room."
Even teachers have to learn how to use the graphic calculator. Four teachers are currently attending night classes in Helena, "learning how to use this thing."
According to Busby, technology has reached a level where the calculators are approved for use on every major test, including the SAT, ACT and the tests students take at the end of the year.
Teachers are also learning about hand-held computers, or Palm Pilots.
"They have math programs for the Palm Pilot now," she said. "We found out that in California, Texas and Florida, they are beginning to use hand-helds in the math programs, and we didn't want to be left behind. So part of one of the grants we have gotten is for getting our teachers trained."
There are also currently more than 40 so-called "Smart Boards" in the district.
"Anything you have on your computer or get on the Internet, you can put right up there on the screen for students to see," said Busby. The smart boards can also use touch.
Teachers can also save lessons and put them on a website, "so students who have computer access at home can get on the Internet and see what was done in class that day."
There is also a distance learning lab at the high school, in which teachers can lecture and interact with students in different locations. This can also be used for community service. Recently, Busby said, nurses from Baptist Hospital took classes out of Little Rock, using the school's distance learning lab.
"I wish everyone could come and see what we have," Busby said. "They just don't realize. Sometimes all people hear is the bad stuff. But there is so much good. We have an excellent technology department. They push math and learning in general, and putting technology in the hands of the students. We also have some excellent grant writers and they're getting funds."
Busby, who says she immigrated from Germany and became an American citizen at the age of 4, also has strong opinions on comparing the math scores of American students and students overseas. She said the comparisons are unfair, and explained why she believes that.
"People want to compare scores in math, when we put every student through the same program, whether they are resource (learning disabilities) or advanced placement. They all have to take math and get their grades.
"But if you're in Germany, for instance, by the time you're in the eighth grade, you've been screened. You take a placement test. And if you don't score high enough you don't go to (the German equivalent of) high school. You go the vocational route.
"So their scores, which we're comparing to America, is only of a group that was selected to go on. Our scores reflect everyone -- every breathing student."
She said it is unfair to make a comparison. "I mean, if we're so bad, how come we're doing so well?"
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
With turnback funding from the state decreasing, county governments statewide are facing budget cuts, layoffs and hiring freezes, according to a survey of counties from the Association of Arkansas Counties.
According to the survey, to which 42 of the state's 75 counties responded, 40-percent of the counties are making adjustments due to budget crunches. Of the counties responding, nine counties have laid off employees, 15 are currently under hiring freezes, two counties have cut their work weeks back to four days, and 13 counties are making budget cuts.
St. Francis County was one of the 42 which responded, but according to County Judge Carl Cisco, SFC is not one of the counties to report adjustments.
"We told them that we were not under an official hiring freeze, but that we are just running the ship as tightly as we can. We've worked over the past couple of years to get our budget together, and the work that we did in those years really prepared us for what was coming. Hopefully, this year we won't face any problems, and overall we're doing pretty good," said Cisco.
The SFC Quorum Court meets tonight, and the topic of raises for all county employees is expected to be addressed.
According to Cisco, the annual winter meeting served as a learning experience for the judges in attendance. The forum provided information on county legal issues, emergency management and several other issues pertinent to county government. Cisco said the school issue was one of the major topics discussed.
"We picked up a lot of new information on a lot of issues. The biggest thing of course was the situation with the schools. Everyone is trying to find out how the changes will effect us. We know that there will be a sales tax increase, and we could also be facing a property tax increase that will be voted on in November. But, all-in-all, the meeting was very helpful and gave us a lot of information that we need," Cisco said.
Last week, the U.S. Senate approved a six-year, $381 billion highway bill which earmarks $3 billion for Arkansas. Officials with the transportation mall project have been working to acquire funding through the bill.
"We don't know anything yet, but we'll be fighting to see what we can get for the project," Cisco said.
According to Frederick Freeman, consultant coordinator for the St. Francis County Transportation Commission, contact has been made with the three Congressional delegates seeking funding for the project.
"We've been working with all three of our delegates (Sen. Mark Pryor, Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Rep. Marion Berry) to see what might be done. I've been told that they're monitoring the situation and they will do what they can. What that is if anything, we don't know. We've received a positive response from them, but as far as a line-item allocation is concerned we haven't heard anything," Freeman said.
If approved, the highway bill might mean more improvements to rural roads statewide.
"There's been an emphasis on improving the interstate
system over the past few years, and now that the state has that
behind them, I'm hoping that the counties can get more funding
to work on our rural roads," Cisco said.
Four projects impacting St. Francis County residents are currently under review for funding through the East Arkansas Planning and Development District.
According to a press release from the EAPD, applications have been accepted for a 25-unit multi-family apartment complex in Hughes. Hughes Meadows Apartments, LTD recently submitted an application for estimated funds of $1,324,942 for the development of the complex which will be funded by Rural Development and HOME funds.
Plans for the complex call for 12 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom apartments and a manger's unit. The facility will also have a community room, office, laundry room and playground.
The EAPD is also reviewing three applications from the Crowley's Ridge Development Council. St. Francis County is one of seven counties which could receive funding from the Housing and Human Services Department Head Start Bureau, for the continuation of the Head Start Child Development Program. The CRDC is seeking over $9 million in funding for Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee, Poinsett and St. Francis counties.
The CRDC also has an application for $98,200 in funding for a Prevention Resource Center which will impact St. Francis County along with Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Monroe and Phillips counties. The funding is for the continuation of the CRDC's substance abuse education program. The third CRDC application will also assist in continuing the substance abuse education program. The CRDC is seeking $15,000 from federal agencies to help with youth leadership development projects statewide.
St. Francis County had an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent for December 2003, up from 8.6 percent in November and also up from the 8.2 percent recorded in December of the previous year.
According to figures from the State of Arkansas, St. Francis County had the ninth highest unemployment rate out of the state's 75 counties.
During December, St. Francis County had a civilian labor force of 12,800, with 11,600 working and 1,200 not working.
The state's highest unemployment during December was 13.4 percent, recorded in Woodruff County. There were five other counties with unemployment at 10 percent or higher (Lee, 11.9 percent; Mississippi, 11.3 percent; Phillips, 10.4 percent; Ashley, 10.2 percent; Chicot, 10 percent).
The lowest unemployment was in Benton County, at 2.6 percent. Washington County was also under 3 percent, at 2.8 percent. There were nine counties with unemployment at 4 percent or lower.
Unemployment rates in surrounding counties during December were as follows: Cross, 8.6 percent; Crittenden, 6.7 percent; Lee, 11.9 percent; Phillips, 10.4 percent; Monroe, 9 percent; and Woodruff, 13.4 percent.
The statewide average during December was 5.5 percent, down from 6 percent in November.
The St. Francis County Sheriff's Department is having a tough time trying to solve a weekend robbery after the owner of the business refused to let deputies secure a surveillance tape that recorded the alleged event.
Deputies responded to an armed robbery about 5:30 a.m. Sunday at the Phillips 66 truckstop in Wheatley. An employee told police a black male wearing a hooded sweatshirt and mask pointed a pistol at him and demanded money from the cash register. The employee reportedly gave the suspect $500 cash before he was told to go into the office and close the door while the suspect fled the business.
According to the police report, the robbery was caught on videotape by the surveillance cameras inside the store, and deputies confiscated that tape for evidence. However, before deputies left, the owner of the business reportedly telephoned the store to tell deputies the tape could not be taken from the store and ordered them to give it back to the clerk.
"It's a strange situation," said Sheriff Dave Parkman. "He refused to give them the videotape. He let them look at it, but he refused to let them take it and study it or copy it. He was very uncooperative."
Two Georgia men transporting 15 pounds of marijuana inside their vehicle were arrested on drug charges Monday afternoon during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 40 near Forrest City.
The Monday traffic stop was the second time the vehicle had been stopped for speeding within a 36-hour period. The first stop occurred just after midnight Sunday morning in Van Buren when they were issued a warning.
Arkansas State Police Troop D in Forrest City reported the vehicle, driven by Matthew Howard Sweat, 25, of Dalton, Ga., was stopped for speeding near the 245 eastbound mile marker about 4:45 p.m.
The trooper reported Sweat, who appeared nervous, told him he and a passenger, Isaac William Gentry, 22, also of Dalton, had been to Oklahoma to visit a girlfriend. Gentry was driving the vehicle when it was stopped in Van Buren.
After issuing Sweat a warning for speeding, the trooper noticed an odor of burnt marijuana and obtained consent to search the vehicle where he found eight bundles of marijuana hidden under a rear seat. The drugs weighed about 15 pounds.
Sweat is charged with suspended driver's license, criminal impersonation and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Gentry is charged with criminal impersonation and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
The two are being held in the St. Francis County Jail on $50,000 bonds each, and are scheduled to appear in St. Francis County District Court on Wednesday.