By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke School Board learned this week that the district earned accreditation from the AdvancED Accreditation Commission.
The commission confers the North Central Association Com-mission on Accreditation and School Improvement accreditation seal, which means that all Lonoke schools are accredited and the district has been natio-nally recognized as a quality school system.
The process of gaining this five-year accreditation term involves meeting high quality standards, implementing a continuous process of improvement and engaging in quality assurance through internal and external review.
Superintendent Dr. John Tackett said in a release, “It demonstrates to our community our commitment to excellence, our openness to external review and feedback and our desire to be the best we can be on behalf of the students we serve.”
In other business, members voted to accept Delk Con-struction’s $2 million guaranteed maximum price to build the district’s Arkansas Department of Emergency Management- and FEMA-approved safe rooms.
Bids for the project were opened in August. Low bids were accepted and the total cost is less than what was set aside for the project.
Arkansas’ Emergency Ma- nagement Department gave the district $1 million to construct a safe room for Lonoke Elementary School and Lonoke Middle School and it gave the district $829,910 to build a safe room for Lonoke High School and Lonoke Primary School.
FEMA will pay 75 percent of the total project cost while the district will pay the remaining 25 percent.
The board accepted the first reading of a recommended policy change that will adjust the district’s attendance policy to adhere to the new state law that eliminates excused absences.
The law states that all absences are the same. But districts have the leeway to set how many absences are acceptable before a student could lose credit.
The policy read for the first time at Monday’s meeting was based on the district’s current policy, which says eight unexcused absences could cost a student credit if there are not extenuating circumstances.
The new policy, if passed after a third reading, will state that students may lose credit after eight absences unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Board members voted to increase the base certified salary schedule by $600 and the base for classified staff by two percent. The board agreed in August to submit a proposal to do so to the classified and certified personnel policies committees for comment.
Tackett said the raises were essential for the district to remain competitive through recruitment and retention of qualified personnel.
The board agreed to order shades for classrooms and more furniture for the new high school at a cost of $16,876, a quote submitted by InnerPlan.
The district had $546,677 in savings to furnish the new school and only $417,516 was spent before the board approved the change order on Monday. This means it will spend $112,285 less than was set aside for that project and the additional savings could be used for capital improvements.
Members voted to authorize Tackett to sign documents required by law and submit an Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan to the Arkansas Department of Education. This action by the board is required for the district to use funds to support school improvement initiatives in each school’s Arkansas Comprehensive School Improve-ment Plan.
The board’s November meeting was moved to Nov. 14 so that it would not conflict with the Thanksgiving holiday.
Before adjourning, the board listened as parents of a Lonoke High School student pleaded for them to take action concerning an Oct. 7 insulin-syringe stabbing incident that has frustrated the family and caused them to fear for their daughter’s safety.
David and Rebecca Neitch and Remona Moore, the girl’s mother, were told they needed to follow the rules and be placed on the board’s November meeting agenda. David Neitch said they had been through the chain of command and are upset that nothing has been done to protect their child. He was upset his daughter would remain in danger for another month.
Several members approached the family after the meeting and recently-elected board member Matthew Boyles responded to the parents’ concern that no one was sympathetic to their plight.
Boyles, the newest board member, said, “I know all the men sitting at this table. They’re all compassionate.” But he agreed that the board has to follow procedures.
The family said the boy poked their daughter with an insulin syringe needle twice. He asked her the first time if she was bleeding and, when she said she wasn’t, he stuck her again.
He was suspended for five days and returned to school Monday.
The handbook says a student who brings a weapon to school should be suspended for one year or attend alternative school.
Assault charges have been filed against the boy, the parents told the board.
The incident occurred at 7:30 a.m. School nurse Julie Miller said she treated the student’s injury as soon as she was notified, which was around 12:20 p.m.
Her parents were not notified of their daughter’s injury until 1:30 p.m.
Miller said the boy told her he took the needle from a grandparent and that it was unused. She said she cleaned the puncture wound and recommended that the girl get blood work done.
The parents said they took their daughter to Arkansas Chil-dren’s Hospital and the family will have to wait six months to get the final results of tests for diseases she could have been exposed to, including HIV.
Officials say the district is working to resolve the situation.
