Gentry requests to be taken off distress list

GENTRY — The Gentry School District took another major step forward in the fight to be removed from the state's fiscaldistress list.

In February 2008, the district was placed on the fiscal-distress list because of several cash-flow loans and a projected negative ending balance for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008. The district was required to develop a plan to come out offiscal distress, and the entire district worked to follow that plan, Superintendent Randy Barrett said.

"It was through a lot of hard work and collaboration (that this was accomplished)," he said.

State law requires that once a district is in fiscal distress, state auditors must certify that the district has indeed met all the requirements of its improvement plan. Once that certification is received, the district canthen apply to the Arkansas State Board of Education to seek removal from the list. The letter certifying Gentry as compliant to the requirements came Friday, and on that day, Barrett had a letter ready to send to the state seeking the district's removal from the fiscal-distress list.

Barrett's letter contained the following specific actions taken that helped the school district become compliant:

◊The passage, by the district's parents and patrons, of three dedicated maintenance and operations mills in September 2007;

◊The conclusion of amajor building program, Gentry Primary School, which had been 'cash intensive';

◊The joint creation of a stringent, fiscal-distress improvement plan created by district staff, school board members and Arkansas Department of Education officials;

◊The implementation of that plan;

◊The willingness of district staff to follow the plan, even if doing so required personal sacrifice;

◊The implementation of a process of continuous fiscal monitoring by district staff;

◊The encouragement, support and expertise of ADE officials; and

◊The continual encouragement and support of the Gentry community.

District officials will go before the state board Oct. 12, when the board will vote on whether to remove Gentry from fiscal-distress status.