FAYETTEVILLE -- A temporary wooden wall will be put up over Thanksgiving break because of issues with the stone veneer on high school buildings, according to a report given by Superintendent Matthew Wendt at Thursday's School Board meeting.
School staff have noted since the completion of Phase II in 2015 stones from the veneer have fallen off the building in several locations. Nabholz Construction, the general contractor for the construction and renovation of Fayetteville High School, is investigating the cause of the issue, Wendt said.
Open position
Fayetteville High School’s principal opening will be posted around Dec. 15. A recommended candidate may be presented to the board for approve at the February meeting, Superintendent Matthew Wendt said.
— Staff Report
School calendar
All Fayetteville schools will once again begin on the same date and go a full first week, according to the school calendar pending board approval.
The district received a state waiver to begin the 2018-19 school year on Monday, Aug. 13. State law requires school start on the week of Aug. 14 or after. The waiver to begin on Aug 13 is good for five years.
The 2018-19 calendar will be up for a vote at the December school board meeting.
Source: Staff report
While solutions to the stone veneer issue and its repair are being sought, Nabholz will implement protective measures to eliminate any safety risks until the repairs are in place.
The temporary wall will go up on the front of the high school building along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard so anything falling from the 12-foot stone veneer wall will fall between the two walls, Wendt said. There will still be adequate room for students to walk along the sidewalk in that area.
Similar tactics may be used in other areas if needed, he said.
"There's enough rock that has either fallen or in some way become loose, it has become a potential safety concern," he said. "We will construct whatever needs to be constructed to keep people safe."
An update to the board will be presented at the board's Dec. 14 meeting.
A research guidelines policy was presented to the board to standardized the district's approach to third-party projects.
The school has never had a policy of how to manage research done using district data, which led to some inconsistent responses to requests.
The majority of what's being recommended in the policy came from collaboration with the University of Arkansas, Wendt said.
"We are a university community. It's not uncommon for us to have a number of graduate students who want to do research in Fayetteville Public Schools," he said.
Kelli Dougan, director of assessment and accountability, said they want to keep everything confidential when it comes individual students and give parents and teachers the right to refuse participation.
Research involving students younger than 18 will require a letter to parents explaining the purpose of the research and what data concerning their child will be collected, according to proposed policy.
"This is just an extra level to make sure our students are protected and parents are informed," Dougan said.
Much of Thursday's meeting was taken up by questions and discussion surrounding college credit.
Fayetteville schools have required students to pay for an concurrent credit courses.
A law that went into effect in August states students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches will not be required to pay any of the costs up to a maximum of six credit hours of endorsed concurrent enrollment courses taught on the grounds of the student's public school district and by a teacher employed by that district.
The board looked at a policy bringing Fayetteville up to speed with the law, but some members had issues with the wording and wondered if it went far enough to help lower-income students.
Board member Megan Hurley said if they want to support students who want to move up, they shouldn't limit it to six district-paid credits. However, Wendt brought up it was a budgetary issue as to how much the district could pay.
The board detoured from the specific policy, talking about how to increase the number of concurrent classes offered -- of which they currently offer four -- and about the possibility of managing students' course loads.
"Let's face it, we are behind in this area," Wendt said.
He said increasing the number offered is a priority and they are working with the Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville to build the course portfolio.
Board president Justin Eichmann said there needs to be more discussion about the policy. The board will review several variations at the December board meeting.
The board approved seven new or revised policies discussed at the October meeting.
These included residence requirements, entrance requirements, student transfers, home schools, equal access to student organizations, contact with students while in school and use of cellphones.
They also briefly revisited the recent demographics report and discussed short-term fixes, such as hiring more support staff for Holcomb Elementary School, which is full, for example, Wendt said.
NW News on 11/17/2017