District reports CASS paid off

The Siloam Springs School District passed its 2015 audit with "flying colors," according to Terry Raskiewicz, chief financial officer for the district.

Raskiewicz presented the Arkansas Legislative Audit report at Thursday's school board meeting. Auditors did not find any deficiencies or weaknesses over accounting methods or internal controls, according to the 24 page report. They also found all of the district's major federal funds to be in compliance with requirements, the report states.

The report was completed in June and released last week. School board members voted to accept the findings on Thursday.

Raskiewicz said she would like to applaud everyone in the district for their hard work on preparing for the audit.

Superintendent Ken Ramey said the school takes pride in being transparent and fiscally responsible. A positive audit report took diligence from many people across the district, he said.

"I really appreciate our team," Ramey said. "We are very blessed."

In other business, Raskiewicz reported that the new industrial technology building for Career Academy of Siloam Springs is 100 percent paid for.

The new charter high school will allow students to study industrial technology and maintenance to better prepare them for the workforce and college.

Raskiewicz said the district made the final payment on the facility last month. The total cost for the building, furniture and equipment was $2.025 million, she said. The school district received $662,000 in contributions from community partners for the facility and $757,000 in grants. The school district's portion of the cost was only $606,000, she said.

"It's time to really recognize our partners," Raskiewicz said. "We have such a great community."

School board members voted during the meeting to approve a district calender for the 2016-2017 school year. The calender was reviewed and approved by the school's Personnel Policy Committee, reported Kelly Svebek, director of assessment and accountability for the district.

Teachers will return to school on Aug. 5 for professional development and the first day of classes will be held on Aug. 15. The first semester will end on Dec. 20, and the school year will end on May 25, unless additional inclement weather makeup days are required.

The calender includes 178 student days, two parent teacher conference days, eight professional development days and two curriculum days. It also includes six mandatory inclement weather makeup days and four additional Saturdays that may be used for inclement weather makeup days. Days may also be made up by adding 60 minutes to regular school days as needed in April or May, the calender states.

The calender has 10 snow days built in, as required by state law, Svebek said. A few Saturday's are already specified as extra snow days and included in the fine print are suggestions that time can be added to the school day if necessary.

The school board took the following additional actions:

• Approved the low bid of $91,300 to purchase an International Bus from Summit Bus Sales.

• Approved the low bid of $85,650 by S&S Enterprises to have the high school parking lot asphalt resealed and restriped.

• Approved a resolution to explore the possibility of researching and implementing a purchase card system for the school district to be used by coaches and sponsors during school trips.