DOLLARWAY WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBER, REPORTS PROGRESS ON TUTORING, SMART BOARDS

By Ezra Mann/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The Dollarway School District Board of Directors welcomed their newest board member, Efram Elliot, at its regular board meeting Tuesday. Elliot is filling the vacated Zone 7 position formerly held by Martin Golden.

Elliot will be filling the position until September 2009 when he will be eligible to run for re-election for the remaining term.

The board also heard academic reports from Donna Hobbs, director of special programs, who said that there has been a significant involvement by students, both primary and secondary, in the after school tutoring program that began Oct. 6. She noted that 490 students, 110 of those in high school, have participated in tutoring so far, which was above expectations. The high number was due to heavy promotion from instructors during normal school hours, she said.

“We have a larger than normal involvement from our high school kids, and it is impressive given that it is football season,” added Hobbs. “We have six supplemental educational service providers that are spread out on campus to help any who need the help.”

Hobbs and Thomas Gathen, Dollarway superintendent, also addressed concerns by board member George Stepps that all of the district’s smart boards, the sophisticated projector/computer learning program used by the district, were not online. Hobbs and Gathen said they expected the offline systems to be online in a matter of weeks. The problems have arisen from when the systems were moved by teachers and then not recalibrated or used. Stepps said the equipment’s lack of operation was not a good use of the district’s funds.

The district also tabled the consideration of involvement in the Arkansas Department of Education’s Teacher Opportunity Program until at least the next meeting. The program would allow a teacher to seek additional certification in an area that is seen as a teaching shortage in the district. Such teachers would receive up to $1,000 in reimbursement of the education costs.

The discussion was tabled because of the concern that a teacher could leave the district if a position was not available. Gathen said a clause could be added to a contract to require a teacher to repay if they did not teach within the district for three years. Stepps and board member Cathy Hunt did not feel they were ready to approve the program because of the lack of a way to hold a teacher to the contract.

In other business, the board approved the employment of Brandon Murphy as secondary mathematics instructor.