BIC employees get bonus for being vaccinated

Buffalo Island Central School Board passed a resolution Thursday evening to give a $200 one-time compensation payment to all full-time and part-time employees who volunteer to receive full Covid-19 vaccinations before Sept. 15.

“We want to offer this as an incentive for them to get vaccinated early in the school year, so we can safely reopen our school district,” said BIC Superintendent Gaylon Taylor.

Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) Fund will pay for vaccines. Earlier this year a local provider made Covid-19 vaccines available to staff on campus, with state funding.

The resolution stated that the attendance of teachers and staff is essential for the safe and effective continued operation of schools. In May Governor Asa Hutchinson announced the availability of the $200 payment for state employees that opted-in to providing Covid-19 vaccination.

A resolution regulation days missed because of Covid-19 was tabled until more information could be obtained.

The regular August school board meeting will be moved from the 19th to the 12th so decisions can be made before the fall school semester begins.

Five new employees include Amy Harmon-Sharps, chemistry; Shana Cupp, 10th and 11th grade English; Alesha Morgan, high school special education; Brienne Patrom, 6th grade math; and Holly Corter, high school secretary. Tyler Herring will be the new athletic director. The resignation of Marti Peel was accepted, who has served as high school secretary. She has accepted a Marked Tree District position.

New students approved for transferring to BIC included: Arjaney Rodriquez, from Riverside; Cade Crosskno, of Gosnell; and Samuel Garrison, of Manila.

A summer Professional Development stipend of $250 per day (for 10 days) was approved for five employees. These included Brandon Jones, Stephanie Decker, Matt Sills, Scott Petznick and Melinda Wells.

Other board decisions included:

* moving $233,683.50 from the school operating fund to the building fund. The current building fund includes $209,093.46. Superintendent Taylor reported that $750,000 is needed to pay for the solar farm.

* board approval to increase maximum cost of wireless MAC gymnasium clocks to $56,615.30. Clocks are due to be in place before fall term begins.

* the board approved Supt. Taylor to sign the Arkansas Department of Education statement of assurances for programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. There are no private schools in BIC’s district.

* Supt. Taylor reviewed the recent ACT Aspire scores for the district and requested suggestions from the board as to how the school could improve test scores, work in groups, introduce programs, focus on the Tier 3 students, maximize use of Fridays, recognize students needing help, review curriculum for fall, find solutions to improve reading in K-12 and personal roles to make improvements.

“We have several variables at work here with on site VS virtual learning,” Taylor said. “We need to develop a professional growth plan.”

* two water fountains replaced with ESSER funding, to refill water bottles, were donated to the Big Lake Country Club, as BIC students use their facility.