NLR administrator to assume new role
Beth Stewart, who was hired as an assistant superintendent for the North Little Rock School District last year, will become the district’s deputy superintendent in July at a salary of $143,311.87.
The district’s School Board acknowledged in the form of a resolution that Stewart’s current salary of $101,989.40 will be going up in excess of 5 percent when she moves into the newly created position.
Act 1120 of 2013 requires a school board to review and approve any pay raises of 5 percent or more to a district employee.
NLR board OKs sale of Belwood campus
The North Little Rock School Board last week approved the sale of the Belwood Elementary School campus at 3902 Virginia Drive for $495,000 to Ghan Commercial Properties.
The building is no longer used as a traditional school. Instead, it’s been a temporary home to some of North Little Rock High School’s athletic programs while the high school is under construction. The sale agreement includes an addendum stating the athletic program will continue to use the site for another year or more.
The purchase price for the property is less than the appraised value of $600,000.
Minority-awarded jobs found lacking
North Little Rock School Board member Dorothy Williams said last week that about 7 percent of the contractors and subcontractors awarded jobs in the district’s $265.5 million capital improvement program are businesses owned by minority groups. She said she was disheartened by the figure and hoped it can be increased.
Bobby Gosser Jr., president of Baldwin & Shell Construction Co.’s Central Arkansas Division - which is the district’s building partner in the improvement program - said there are nine minority-group-owned contractors working in the district.
Gosser said he also has wondered about the lack of participation by the minority-group business owners despite steps taken from the beginning to attract and assist those contractors in bidding and winning jobs.
Gosser said he would report to the board on the matter in March. He asked board members to refer any interested minority-group-owned businesses to him, he said.
Jonesboro to host town-hall meeting
A Northeast Arkansas Education town-hall meeting, focusing on preschool education through college, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Cooper Alumni Center at Arkansas State University, 2600 Alumni Blvd. in Jonesboro.
Representatives of area school districts, colleges, universities, vocational centers, businesses and government organizations are among those invited to participate in conversations on improving the transitions of pre-kindergarten through postgraduate students in the northeast part of the state.
Topics are likely to include the new Common Core State Standards in math and English, as well as teacher-training needs and the challenges facing education at all levels.
NLR arts program secures new leader
Melanie Landrum is the new executive director of the Arkansas A+ Schools, a program of the Thea Foundation of North Little Rock to nurture creativity and academic achievement in students through the arts.
Landrum was principal of North Little Rock’s Pike View Elementary School for 2½ years. She previously worked for America’s Choice, a school-improvement company, and in the Memphis school system.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/23/2014