The Siloam Springs School District is able to provide gifted and talented services to 17 percent of students -- including about 10 percent more students in the program than the state average, according to program coordinator Valerie King.
King gave a report about the district's Discovery Program for gifted and talented students during the June 15 school board meeting.
The Siloam Springs School District has identified about 7 percent of its student population, or 302 students, as gifted and talented. The percentage aligns with the state average of 7 to 10 percent, King said. However, Siloam Springs is in the unique position to provide additional services to another 10 percent of students.
The state requires students to show they have strong or exceptional ability, creativity and motivation in order to be included in the program. Siloam Springs Schools recognize there is another segment of the population that may not be identified as gifted, but are still very bright and need enrichment services, King said.
The Discovery Program encourages academic achievement and provides enrichment and accelerated courses in language arts, math, science, social studies and fine arts, she said. Students are encourage to develop their higher order thinking skills, independent study skills and their ability to work in groups.
At the high school level, the Discovery Program offers 14 advanced placement classes and serves a total of 161 students. Discovery students of all levels also participate in academic competitions such as Quiz Bowl, Academic Competition for Excellence, the Stock Market Game and Science Olympiad. New this year was a Kangaroo Math competition for the district's youngest students in first and second grade, King said.
Intermediate school students recently did a series of community service projects involving organizations such as Tailwaggers, the Siloam Springs Public Library and the Garden in Siloam Springs to help them learn to think outside themselves, King said. They also made their own TED talks and were able to participate in Make Space activities.
One-hundred percent of first- and second-grade students receive gifted and talented services, and the Discovery Program was also able to partner with Northside Elementary School to create a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math classroom, King said. The program was so successful that the district is planning to expand it to first grade next year, she said.
Another new program next year will be the addition of accelerated science classes for Discovery students in grades six through eight. Because the classes will be very rigorous, each classroom will have two teachers to help students keep up, King said. The accelerated science classes will lead into a Pre Advanced Placement physical science class in eighth grade, she said.
"We're really excited that we are able to reach out and touch that many students through our program," King said.
In other business, school board members approved an agreement with the City of Siloam Springs for the school resource officer program.
The memorandum of understanding has the same contents as the previous two years with a few adjustments for staffing changes, according to assistant superintendent Jody Wiggins.
Chris Salley, sergeant over the SRO program, retired in May leaving one of the five SRO positions open, Wiggins said. Police Chief Jim Wilmeth said it may take some time for the department to fill the fifth spot because the department has a number of officers with less than two years of experience with a total of 10 new officers coming on over the next few months.
Wilmeth explained that the officers who are working on the street need a certain level of proficiency and experience before they serve in the school district. He said his department wanted to maintain the same level of service to both the school and the community. He said he expected to fill the fifth open spot by the end of the first semester.
"This is one of the most important missions we have," Wilmeth said. "We are very, very careful who we put into the schools because it is a very unique skill set. We don't want to give you somebody that is not fully prepared to do that yet. The other concern we have is we want to continue to provide the same level of service to the remaining community that we have a responsibility to do."
The SRO program is a first line, front line approach to keeping crime down in the rest of the community, and the relationships that officers build in the schools are invaluable, Wilmeth said.
Wilmeth said he did not foresee any staffing changes for the other four SRO officers. Jeff Bland will take Salley's position as leader of the program. He will serve as a corporal instead of a sergeant so that he can spend more time working directly with the schools and less time on administrative duties, Wilmeth said.
The school board took the following additional actions:
• Approved a low bid of $149,950 from Alliant Insurance through Moss Insurance Group for property and content insurance.
• Approved a tuition agreement with Northwest Technical Institute for the 2017-2018 school year.
• Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Northwest Arkansas Community College for concurrent college credit classes.
• Approved three agreements with Ozark Guidance, including a lease, a transportation services contract and a tuition agreement.
• Approved school board policy changes for the 2017-2018 school year.
• Approved bids for physical therapy services and occupational therapy for the upcoming school year from Vanessa McNair, Delinda Floyd, Kyle Sarratt and Alliance Ventures, LLC.
• Approved a preliminary financial statement for the 2018-2019 school year.
• Approved holding school board meetings at 5:30 p.m. in the school board room at the middle school on the second Thursday of the month.
• Approved the resignations of Ashton Villines, high school English teacher; Kendra Meredith, high school family consumer science teacher; Brittni George, intermediate school language arts/social studies teacher; Lukas Shoemaker, high school business teacher and soccer coach; and Tasha Duckworth, Allen Elementary School first-grade teacher.
• Approved hiring 12 new certified teachers.
General News on 06/21/2017