An overabundance of first-grade students led school board members to approve the creation of a new teaching position at Allen Elementary School.
During the Sept. 11 meeting, the board also voted to add a part-time art teaching position to meet the needs of first grade.
As of Thursday there are 327 first-grade students -- two students over the limit of 325. Teachers can only have a maximum of 25 students in each class.
Adding a teacher will meet the needs of the students and create room for growth, according to superintendent Ken Ramey.
"Actually in serving kids you never want your classes to be fully maxed out because kids come and go," he said.
Veteran teacher Lynn Carmack will be transferred from second to first grade to fill the created position. Amy Newby was hired to fill the second-grade position Carmack left.
The board also voted to add two full-time bus drivers and one aide. The drivers will be used to add one regular bus route and one special needs bus route. The aide will serve the additional special needs route.
The bus drivers will not be added right away, Ramey said. Transportation department director Steve Avery plans to wait until numbers stabilize before adding the routes if needed. The number of bus riders fluctuates even more than enrollment numbers, changing from morning to afternoon. Under no circumstances do buses go out overloaded. Routes are shifted to accommodate any additional children, Avery said.
The need for more teachers and possibly more bus routes does seem to reflect an upward trend in enrollment, Ramey said. There were 4,134 students enrolled on Tuesday compared to last year's three quarter average of 4,030.
Enrollment numbers fluctuate from day to day, Ramey said. By Thursday, the enrollment count had changed to 4,130. An official count will be taken on Oct. 1 and can be compared to last year's official Oct. 1 enrollment count to create a more accurate picture of growth, Ramey said.
• Approved state required resolutions to contracts with three local businesses whose owners or managers have relatives employed by the school district. The resolutions fully disclose the relationship between the school, business and employee and explain the reason for the contract.
• Approved to pay ag teacher Rodney Ellis additional minutes for travel and prep time. Ellis teaches at both the middle school and the high school.
• Accepted the resignation of a teacher.
• Approved seven student transfers from the Siloam Springs School District to the Gentry School District.
• Approved five student transfers from the Gentry School District to the Siloam Springs School District.
• Approved two student transfers from the Lincoln School District to the Siloam Springs School District.
The school board will hold a special meeting to approve the district's budget at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the school board room located inside the Middle School.
General News on 09/21/2014