Monday night Blytheville school board met to discuss some ongoing issues in the district. Among these issues was the state vote to pause the Academic Distress label for any schools that could potentially be in academic distress.
The vote was to be held that very same evening by Governor Hutchison in Little Rock. As of Wednesday, there has not been any confirmation on what the outcome for the vote. However Mr. Atwill was present and stated that there was a pause on the pause for academic distress and that Blytheville is still currently in academic distress.
Along with the vote to pause the academic distress and its outcome, the following topics were brought up on the agenda and discussed.
- Area 13 Special Olympians were recognized for their achievements in both the State and National levels. They are Alyssa Davidson and Rodney Morgan of Blytheville. In addition to their achievements, the two were also congratulated for graduating from Blytheville New Tech High School's Class of 2016. While celebrating the achievements of the two Olympians, the school board heard from the Director of District 13 Janet Mason, about the Young Athlete's Movement to encourage parents to keep their children active.
- The School Board also took time to recognize some of their faculty and staff for their many years of service. After recognition of their employees was finished, they them moved on to the various volunteers that contribute their aid to Blytheville Public Schools. They are; Pat Smallwood of Blytheville Primary School, April White, Mr. McCustion of Blytheville Middle School, and Jackie Plunkett. After all of the volunteers were recognized, the board pulled them aside to award Jackie Plunkett as the District Volunteer.
- The conclusion of the testing for the year was brought to the table, and the upcoming events for teachers and staff. This summer, there will be training sessions for new incoming teachers and administration. To aid in this process of educating newly hired faculty, on July 25th Principal Krutai will be coming to Blytheville and be a national speaker. He will be speaking from 8:30 -- 10:00 a.m. In his speech, he will not only be conversing with the faculty and staff, but the community as well. On August 4th and 5th the new faculty will have been well educated and excited to begin teaching, and will be presented to the school board.
- The resignation of Teryn and Shane Spears from Blytheville Public Schools. Both have served either with the members of the administration faculty or at the education staff. Teryn serves in administration and Shane on the Blytheville High teaching staff.
- The introduction of Coach Mackenzie Pierce, who is the new head basketball coach at BHS. He listed off his expectations of the year, and years to come and stated that his training season for his players has already begun. He also stated that, "The outside world thinks highly of this school" while referring to Blytheville Public Schools.
- The partnership with DHS and Junior Officers in an attempt to lower the suspension of students in Blytheville Public School. The overall goal of this partnership is to make sure that students are in the classrooms learning and expanding their minds through education and not through violence.
- The last issues that arose at the meeting included the resurfacing of the Middle School Boys and Girls gyms due to issues with the flooring. These issues sprung up due to the long-term effects of waxing eroding surfaces in both gyms and the hazards that they present.
- Another issue was that of the garbage disposal, all throughout Blytheville Public Schools waste management has had difficulty relieving every school of its waste. As of right it is still being looked into.
- Lastly, there was the idea of replacing the current generator at the Admin building, which has been in use since 1965, with a new natural gas generator. The notion however will be discussed further in the future.