By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
On a split vote, the Forrest City School Board on Monday passed a new policy that will take away corporal punishment as an option throughout the district.
The corporal punishment measure was one of several changes made in the new student handbook for next year.
Board member Mallory Nimocks said he had been contacted by several teachers and administrators throughout the district, who wanted to keep corporal punishment as an option.
During the discussion, Betty Beazley, principal at Forrest Hills, said paddling is ineffective in many cases.
It was also mentioned that often it is the same kids being paddled, over and over, and this was also presented as an argument that paddling is ineffective.
Board member Henry Peacock said he believed teachers need the option.
It was also pointed out that corporal punishment has not been used at the high school since Abby Robinson became principal.
"I can't vote against what I believe helped me," Peacock said about paddling in school
Attorney Brad Beavers said corporal punishment is coming more and more under fire, and ending up in courtrooms.
"When we were kids, if you got a paddling at school, you went home and your parents gave you another one," Beavers said. "Now, what we're seeing is, kids get in trouble at school, and whether there is paddling or anything else, you have parents who come and say, 'I don't want to hear the teacher's side of it, my kid is right. The teacher must be lying. Therefore, let's file a lawsuit. Or worse, let's charge them with a crime.'"
Beavers said furthermore, that while the district will defend a teacher in a civil suit alleging abuse, the district cannot defend a teacher charged with an actual crime. That is because if the teacher is convicted, the district then has to take action against the teacher.
Peacock "It's a crying shame that that's the way it is."
On the vote, Nimocks and Peacock voted no. Members Sandra Taylor, Wayne Jones, Aubrey Jayroe and Ronald Williams voted yes.
Also, after a lengthy executive session, the board approved several hirings and accepted several resignations.
However, the board failed to approve the appointment of Sandra Nicks Mills as principal at Lincoln Middle School. Nimocks, Jones and Jayroe voted yes, while Peacock, Taylor and Williams voted no. After the vote, Superintendent Lee Vent declared the position open.
On another matter, Vent said he "cannot recommend" a proposed salary schedule "at this time."
In other action, the board voted on some items which need to be approved yearly, such as appointing principals as co-custodians of their school activity accounts, and authorizing Vent to sign and file applications and disburse funds for several programs.
The board also passed a policy for use of cell phones provided by the district to people who are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This includes critical central office administrators and staff, principals and assistant principals, deans of students, maintenance and transportation personnel. Vent said the district has no policy and needs one.
The board also approved the following new certified positions:
Forrest City High School -- Tina Broyles, Special Ed, (and Madison);Rosia Davis, guidance counselor.
Forrest City Junior High -- Barry Wilkes, Spanish.
Central Elementary -- Milena Hylie, third grade; Melissa Sutherland, fourth frade; Chap Wiliams, third grade.
Forrest Hills Elementary -- Ronna Edge, fourth grade; Maura Lawrence, guidance counselor.
Lincoln Middle School -- Phillip Ballard,geography 7; Robert Blackwell, math 6/7; Julee George, English 7; Chris Houser, geography 7, coach; Jennifer King, math 6; Judy Locke, math 7; Lavonne Watson, Special Ed, Self-contained.
Stewart Elementary -- Wallace Carter, Special Ed, Resource 4-5; Naysa Crumley, fourth grade; Katherine Jones-Flanagin, first grade.
Several new classified positions were also approved, including the following:
Child Nutrition Department -- Connie Jean Dye, Barbara Ann Hall, Gloria Hamberry, Mary Hastings, Faith Stanford, Sarah Robinson and McKinley Watson II.
Maintenance Department -- Dexter Freeman, Curtis Motley, Yolanda Motley and Melvin Smith.
Transportation -- Stanley Ware, mechanic helper.
The board also accepted the following resignations of certified employees: Barbara Haven, librarian, Stewart Elementary; Ann Morocco, third grade, Central Elementary.
Retiring is Debbie Montgomery, reading facilitator, Forrest Hills elementary.
Also among classified employees, Calvin Smith is retiring from the Maintenance Department.
The board also appoved numerous employee assignment or building transfers.
On another matter, Tracy Jones, president of the PTO of Caldwell
Elementary, presented a petition which she said contained 500
names of people asking the board to reconsider its decision to
close the Caldwell school. No action was taken.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A move by the St. Francis County Election Commission could result in the resignation of the commission's chairman.
According to a letter from St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco to Election Commission Chairman Joe Young, effective Monday, June 14, the election commission was to be moved from its current location near the breezeway in the courthouse to a designated and secure area within the St. Francis County Clerk's vault in the courthouse.
According to Cisco, the move is being made to allow St. Francis County Assessor Craig Jones full access to the space he has been sharing with the commission.
"What we're doing is just moving the equipment and paperwork to a place in the vault that will be secure. Now that the primary election is complete, there isn't really a reason for that office to not be in use for day-to-day activities, which is what Craig will use it for. He needs the area for the mapping that his office is doing, and they just don't have enough space right now. Plus, by state law, once the election is complete, all of that is supposed to be in the possession of the county clerk," Cisco said.
News of the move has caused Election Commission Chairman Joe Young to consider resigning from his position.
"We didn't move anything yesterday, but I carried the keys down to the judge's office and turned them over. That is space that the commission needs for storage and to provide us with a place to work. We're very upset about the decision to move us out, and I'm probably going to hand in my resignation if the move takes place," Young said.
"We desperately need that space for storing our election supplies and ballot boxes and such. We're going to be moved into someone else's office where we'll be expected to work, and I wouldn't want anyone working in our space like that, and I'm not going to work in anyone else's space like that," Young said.
Officials at the courthouse began the move this morning and expect to have the space cleared by this afternoon, allowing Jones to move his employee tomorrow. The move took place under the watchful eye of a member of the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department to ensure the security of the ballot boxes.
"We had a deputy down there to watch as everything was packed up and transferred down to the vault as a safety precaution," Cisco said.
The election commission also received a letter last week requesting more information from the State Board of Election Commissioners. The letter, dated June 10 from State Director Susie Stormes, requested several items from the commission including: the May 18, precinct report for Republican ballots; the proof of publication for the published public notice of the election and the published list of appointed election officials; copies of minutes from the May 27, meeting of the St. Francis County Election Commission; copies of notices on preparation of the voting machine and several other items surrounding the May 18, primary.
The letter was the second request from the State over election irregularities surrounding the May 18, preferential primary election. According to the most recent letter several items requested from the commission have been received but the state is sill waiting for a published public notice of the election or the published list of appointed election officials.
Young said that efforts would be made to comply with the state
requests. "We did the first part that they asked us for and
we'll try to do the rest. Other than that I can't comment,"
Young said.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Democratic Central Committee increased by six members Monday after several individuals, including one member of the St. Francis County Quorum Court, were appointed to at-large positions on the committee.
At the request of DCC chairperson Bettye Proctor, members of the committee voted to approve the appointment of Lorene Walls, Rev. Booker T. Cooper, QC Justice Sam Armstrong, Bobby May, JoAnn Mitchell and Teresa Sain to the committee. According to Proctor, the appointments were necessary to fill positions for which no one filed for election during the May 18 primary.
Also on Monday, the committee voted to have district lines redrawn. Proctor told committee members that the new lines are necessary to keep the committee in compliance and they are necessary to ensure current committee members live within the correct districts.
"This is something that we've needed to do for a while because we had some confusion over the districts after the county did their redistricting. We're going to have a man from Fayetteville come over, and he should be able to redraw our lines so that we're close to our county district lines, but will still keeping our committee members from overlapping," Proctor said.
Proctor also praised committee members for their work during a rally held at the Forrest City Civic Center in April.
"I really want to thank all of you for the work that you did in making the rally a success. We had more people out than I can remember us having in awhile. We had to fight a little while we were out there, but overall everything went really well. We had a number of candidates out and they were all given time to speak and they seemed to enjoy themselves," Proctor said.
Following the DCC meeting, members of the committee met in the county convention where they elected officers for the new term. Committee members voted to re-elect Proctor as chairman of the committee and voted to re-elect Frederick Freeman as vice-chair. Ed Chauvin will serve as secretary/treasurer.
Committee members also received an update on the upcoming statewide
convention. According to Proctor, 11 delegates will attend the
convention from St. Francis County.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Efforts to build a halfway house in Madison for federal and state inmates was once again tabled by the Madison City Council Monday.
Council members voted unanimously to again table the matter, saying that they want to receive more input from the citizens before they make a decision. The vote to table the matter came after council members heard from Rev. Leon Wade Pettus, of Milwaukee, Wisc., who is seeking to place the center in Madison.
Members of the council and the community questioned Pettus on several issues involving the center, including why he chose Madison as the possible location for the facility.
"I was traveling in the area and thought that this county could benefit from this type of facility. You have the federal prison in Forrest City, and then you have a state prison also in the county (it's actually in Lee County), but you don't have anywhere for these people to go when they're released. I went to city hall in Forrest City and tried to talk to the mayor over there, and he wasn't in his office, so that's when I came over here and I was able to talk to Mayor (James) Brooks, and he told me that I would have to present the idea to the council," Pettus said.
Pettus also answered questions regarding the type of inmates that would be housed in the facility.
"We're not looking for the murderers or the rapists or the hardened criminals. We're looking for those men and women who made a mistake and have paid their debt to society and are looking to make the transition from prison life back into society. Those people that don't want to work or don't want to do anything will remain in prison," he said.
Council members also asked Pettus about the number of jobs that would be created in Madison by the facility. According to Pettus, a staff of about 12 people would originally join him with local hiring possibly following that as the facility increases in size.
"To start, we'd probably have about 15 individuals in the facility. I would bring my staff, which is about 12 people, with me when we start the program up. We would then look to hire individuals from the community once we've started to expand our services. We will be looking to fill several positions because we'll need counselors, security personnel, cooks, maintenance people, the works," Pettus said.
Council members asked that a public hearing be held on the proposal before any more discussion takes place.
In other business, Brooks updated council members on the purchase of a severe weather early warning system. Last month, council members were told that the city might pursue an option of installing one system in the Scott Bond Cemetery, which would provide coverage to citizens in the Crow Creek area as well as the rest of Madison, eliminating the need for two separate systems. Brooks presented two bids to council members last night, one for $18,294 from Apex Communications and one from Storm Sirens Inc., for $25,900. Brooks told council members that he had accepted the low bid from Apex.
Council members also voted to spend $1,800 from the city's
municipal court fund to help pay stipends for five teens assisting
with the Summer Enrichment Camp. According to city recorder Ennie
Hardrick, who also heads up the Summer Enrichment Camp, the funding
will pay teens who assist certified teachers throughout the five-week
camp which focuses on educational training as well as fun for
area children
The Forrest City Civic Center Commission failed to meet for the second straight month after a quorum could not be established when only two members of the group attended Monday's monthly meeting.
Commissioners Shirley Harvell and Lois Walker were the only two commissioners present for the meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Commission member Marcus Freeman arrived at just after 5:15 p.m., after the meeting had been canceled. Commission chairman Deloris Morelon and commissioners Willie Ann Ford and Ted Parker were absent.
Those in attendance did receive a request from alderman Steve Hollowell for a monthly list consisting of who rents a room at the civic center; how much rent is paid to rent a room in the facility, and if an outside caterer is used, who that caterer is. Currently, the facility does not have an in-house caterer.
A St. Francis County Jail inmate enjoyed a brief taste of freedom this morning after he ran through a door that had been opened for another inmate about 8 a.m.
The St. Francis County Sheriff's Department reported Sampson Cunningham, who was being held on various misdemeanor charges, walked about three blocks before he was captured.
SFCSD Chief Deputy H.N. Green said officers never lost sight of Cunningham, who was caught about five minutes after fleeing the jail. He was taken into custody by local police near the Social Security office on North Forrest Street.
Cunningham, 24, 2117 Crawford, Forrest City, now faces an additional charge of third-degree escape.
Village Creek State Park will hold three day camps this summer for children interested in learning about pioneers, Native Americans and the natural world.
The camps will be offered, June 23, through June 25; July 28, through July 30, for children ages 10 to 12 and July 7, through July 9, for children ages 7 to 9. The programs will consist of educational programs, crafts, games, storytelling, horseback riding and other recreational activities. Parents should drop children off at the Visitor Center at 8 a.m. and pick them up at 4 p.m. on each day of the program. There is a $65 fee for the three-day programs, and that fee includes all meals, snacks, instructors, materials and use of equipment.
Pre-registration is required seven days in advance of each camp. For more information call (870)238-9406.