After the monthly meeting of the Eureka Springs School Board, some members wanted an updated tour of the new cafeteria building set to serve students in the elementary and middle school.
One question was the priority: Would it be ready for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 13?
“About half the board went with me and we went up to look at the cafeteria,” superintendent Bryan Pruitt said of the post-meeting tour held Monday, Aug. 11. “They wanted to see it, and they were anxious to know if it was going to be ready. I was like: ‘Well, we’re going to have breakfast there [Wednesday] morning whether it’s ready or not.’ ” The cafeteria, which includes a shared kitchen and separate eating space for the two schools, has been under construction for several months.
“There’s a few things that we know that will pop up that we haven’t thought about, and there’s things that we’re tidying up to get it ready, but we’re going to give it a shot [Wednesday] and see how it goes,” Pruitt said. “Then, from there, we’ll monitor and adjust and get things fixed.”
BOARD MEETING
The board meeting included approval of a stipend schedule for teachers who participate in extra-curricular activities.
The system used will change next school year, Pruitt said.
“I’ve talked to our teachers and we’re going to change it over to an index system rather than a dollar amount for stipends,” the superintendent said. “Everybody has a different dollar amount for whatever activity that we pay them for, and they get hung up because it’s not the right amount of money or they don’t get paid enough or whatever.
“So, this year I’m going to give them the opportunity to come up with an index, and it will be based on their salary. So, they’ll get their salary times the index and then that pays for their stipend. So, then as we add money to the base, then that means the (stipend) goes up every time. So, I’m hoping this will remedy the fact that they’re always displeased and want to change stipends. That way, they get a raise every time we add money on base.”
Pruitt said some larger schools in the area have been using the system for those who sponsor extracurriculars.
“Some of the big schools are doing it,” he said. “Another thing that they’ve done that I like is that there’s an incentive for doing like an additional sport or something like that. Like, you know, we may have a coach that’s got one sport. Well, so if they’ve got another index there, it might entice them to do another sport, and it saves us trying to hire another person. I think it’s gonna be good to change.”
Pruitt said the change will go before the board before the next school year if it’s approved by the district’s personnel policy committee.
The board also OK’d the salary schedule for the district’s after- school program. Since COVID-19, the program had been run through a partnership with Eureka Springs Community Center, but will return to a completely district-run program this year, Pruitt said.
“We have been doing our after-school program through the community center,” he said. “Back during COVID, we started offering that through the community center, and we ran it through there and it helped us on overtime and stuff like that with employees.”
The COVID money has “dried up,” Pruitt said, returning the after- school program completely to the district.
“So, we had to change that and approve some salaries for the program,” Pruitt said.
READY FOR NEW YEAR
Pruitt said Tuesday, Aug. 12, that he was excited for the new school year, which began on Wednesday.
“We’re looking forward to a great day, ready to see smiling faces and eager kids to come into the learning mode,” he said. “We want to help them grow and achieve and I think we’ve got a good plan for that. We’ve focused on a lot of good things to help our kids, and I think we’re ready for them and ready for the new challenge.”
