School district marks end of academic year

Summer break is officially underway in Eureka Springs.

The final day for students in the Eureka Springs School District was Tuesday, May 19, and now the district is putting a bow on the school year and beginning its list of projects that need to be completed before the new school year in August.

“It was a good year, a successful year, and we anticipate some good test scores.” Superintendent Bryan Pruitt said of the state-mandated testing that many students completed in April. “We worked hard. We prepared the kids and the kids worked hard taking those tests, so we anticipate some good scores.”

Good testing has become a common feat for Eureka Springs students in recent years, setting the bar high, Pruitt said.

“It’s nice to have good test scores, but it’s even harder to keep them and maintain them,” he said. “So, we really have to tighten up the belt and work hard every year. It’s kind of like Alabama and their football team. They work hard to be No. 1 all the time, and we take the test scores very seriously.”

Pruitt said he attended an alumni banquet on Saturday, May 23, something that has been celebrated for 153 years.

“I was told it was one of the longest [running] reunions,” Pruitt said. “Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but they said it’s the longest surviving alumni reunion west of the Mississippi.”

SUMMER PROJECTS

A priority for the summer is renovating the old elementary kitchen and turning those spaces into needed offices, Pruitt said.

“We’re also doing a special education classroom,” he said.

Other annual projects include cleaning of flooring and painting, Pruitt said.

SPECIAL MEETING ON HIRES

The school board held a special meeting Thursday, May 21, to approve a handful of hires.

“The meeting only took seven minutes, so that was nice,” Pruitt said.

The hires included Derek Shaw as the new girls basketball coach. Shaw, who comes to Eureka Springs after serving as the girls basketball coach at Omaha,  will also coach volleyball.

“We had about 14 applicants, and [Shaw] was the strongest applicant,” Pruitt said. “I liked him and think he’s a good foundation coach. We need somebody that’s strong with foundation skills, working with younger kids and helping them build that skill set so they can be competitive and ready for games.

“I think we have the same philosophy with what we want for our students in Eureka.”

Other approvals at the special meeting included the resignation of kindergarten teacher Molly Murray, who is moving to Springdale, and the hires of elementary teacher Lily Hillier-Green, Rachel Holt as a seventh- and eighth-grade English teacher, Austin Wader as a fifth- and sixth-grade math teacher and Chloe Farley and Sharron Gould as paraprofessionals.

“We just needed to get those done so they could get started in their summer professional development,” Pruitt said. “For [Shaw], the girls basketball team has some camps coming up, and I wanted to make that official before they took the kids off on a trip to a basketball camp. It was coming up pretty quick and he needed to start working with them.”