By Joseph Fondren
NEA Town Courier Contributor
GOSNELL— The Gosnell School Board held a brief meeting Tuesday night where they welcomed the 3A State Baseball Champions, the Gosnell Pirates.
Gosnell Superintendent Len Whitehead, whose son Conner is a member of the 3A State Champion Pirates, explained how proud he was of the team and the way the students represented the city of Gosnell and the school district.
“As you know everyone in this community is proud of y’all and what y’all have done to represent the school and all of the hard work,” said Whitehead. “ (The members of the school board) have supported y’all the whole way through with finances as well as just cheering you on. Y’all don’t even realize we sat here watching the game on GameChanger during a board meeting one night.”
School board president Donnie Wright, along with the other four board members in attendance, congratulated the Pirates, as well.
“We are just awfully proud of y’all. That is an accomplishment. It’s been 34 years. It just don’t happen very often,” explained Wright. “You gave a lot of people a lot of memories and we are proud of you.”
Whitehead then made an announcement that Pirates light blue jerseys which the team wore a majority of the season will be retired.
Whitehead stated, “I noticed you didn’t wear the dark blue jersey through the tournament. Didn’t wear them hardly all year. Bad luck jersey, I guess. Didn’t wear the white ones. Quit wearing the gold ones and wore these the whole way through the tournament. I think it’s time to retire this jersey. What do y’all think? I say we retire this jersey and y’all just put it in the trophy case.”
Whitehead added the Pirates will host an autograph session Thursday at the baseball field and will be signing items and taking a team picture.
The school board then heard from parent Beth Gentry concerning the Gosnell High School cheer program.
Wright informed Gentry she had five minutes to speak and the board would hear what she had to say but would not respond during the meeting.
Gentry stated she is concerned with the “Gosnell High School cheer program and the policies and procedures that are in place. As well as, the general direction of the program under the current leadership.”
Gentry added, “ I am concerned about how this program is being managed and the leadership that is over this program. This cheer team has tremendous potential to achieve great success with effective and organized guidance.”
According to Gentry, the coach of the cheer program should be a “strong leader”, as well as, representing themselves and the school in a “professional manner” at all school events and competitions. Gentry added the members of the cheer team should “dress and carry themselves in a professional manner as they are representatives of the Gosnell School District.”
Gentry stated the school should have outside judges observe the potential cheerleaders to create a “level playing field for all students”.
Other issues Gentry noted were parents/ guardians knowing a breakdown of how much cheerleading will cost by the beginning of the school year and the coach accepting support of parents concerning raising money for the team or helping at events.
“My whole family has always been a big supporter of Gosnell. We love Gosnell. I love the school. I just feel like the program needs to have some changes. We have some great parents that are willing to help. It needs to be more organized,” explained Gentry.
Gentry ended by explaining parents and staff members who complain about the program are “afraid to step up and say anything,” and she felt “it was time”.
In other business, the board unanimously approved an additional 17 students through school choice who applied after the April School Board meeting and the May 1 deadline. Whitehead noted Gosnell accepted 135 students this school year.
The board unanimously approved the $3,500 membership for Arkansas Public School Recourse Center (APSRC) for the 2024-2025 school year.
The APSRC offers technical support, resources, and training to school districts in the form of legal services, financial analysis and management, teaching and learning, technology and communications.
The board accepted the resignations of fourth grade teacher Trina Johnson, para-professionals and bus driver Rageina Bridges and fifth grade math teacher Karma Blount.
Two staff members, Henry Brown and Janice Jones, retirement was accepted by the board, as well.
In further personnel business, the board hired Eldra Brown as a bus driver, Emily Onnen for secondary teacher, and Jesica Floyd as elementary teacher pending certification.
(See Photo On Page 10)