You may have seen our report Saturday that eight schools in the Cabot School District and two schools in the Pulaski County Special School District have received $408,859 from the state Department of Education’s Arkansas School Recognition and Reward program for academic excellence.
Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman announced the good news to his school board last week. “I am very proud. It’s a very good day,” Thurman said.
According to the article by our reporter Jeffrey Smith, the program provides financial rewards of up to $100 per student to public schools and charter schools in the top 10 percent of the state and up to $50 per student to schools in the top 11 to 20 percent.
The rewards are based on student performance, academic growth and graduation rates. The district will purchase 900 to 1,000 Chromebooks laptop computer with the funds.
Junior High North received $111,833, the highest amount in the state out of 215 schools. Middle School North received $77,073; Middle School South received $69,535; Junior High South was awarded $52,293; Eastside Elementary received $19,503; Mountain Springs Elementary received $20,863; North-side Elementary was awarded $16,377, and Southside Elementary received $20,863.
But Cabot was not the only school district in in The Leader coverage area to win this prestigious award. Other schools in our area receiving reward funding were Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force Base with $11,597 and LISA Academy North charter school in Sherwood with $9,544. Good for them, good for everyone.
Parents, teachers and administrators should take a bow. For kids’ sakes, we hope other districts in our area will win similar prizes in the future.
