King resigns from GF board

The Zone 1 seat on the Green Forest School Board is vacant for the first time in 15 years.

Jerry King, who has held the seat for three terms, announced at the board’s regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 12, that he is stepping down so he can focus on his role as the recently elected District 10 justice of the peace on the Carroll County Quorum Court.

King’s seat on the school board was scheduled to come up for re-election in May, but he stepped down since the quorum court meets at the same time as the school board.

“The county meetings are the same night as the school board meeting, so he’s resigned his board position,” Green Forest Superintendent Matt Summers said.

Summers said the board will appoint a certified voter from Zone 1 to the vacant seat to fill the remainder of King’s term.

“Which would be the February, March, and April meetings, and then of course, May will be when the new person is elected,” Summers said. “So, it’ll just be a short-term fill-in spot.”

Summers said King will be recognized for his years of service to the school district at the next board meeting, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 16.

The other school board seat up for re-election in the May 9 election will be the At-Large, Position 2 seat held by Bud Phillips.

“Potential candidates need to acquire 20 or more verified signatures of registered voters, and then the candidate filing period is Feb. 22 through March 1,” Summers said. “Early voting begins April 24.”

C4 UPDATE

The board also got an update about the Connect 4 program that serves students in Green Forest along with other Carroll County schools.

The program teaches career and technical education.

“James Knight, the director of C4, came over and did a presentation for our board and focused on what C4 was doing and what our kids were doing and how many have been placed in industry,” Summers said. “We have an 89 percent placement of our kids, which is an outstanding number … and we’re growing.”

Summers said Green Forest started participating in the C4 program during the 2018-2019 school year and had 10 students participating. This year, Green Forest has 30 students involved in the program.

“That should tell you about word of mouth and how much we’re growing,” he said. “We’re looking at kids being placed at Carroll Electric, Johnson Manufacturing, Butterball, Barrows, Tyson. We’ve had two graduates from Arkansas Elite Welding, we’ve got two more that are headed that way, and had two more that have graduated from Lincoln Tech in welding after being through this program.

“So, I can go on and on and on about the accomplishments.”

Summers said the goal of the program is for students to develop into industry workers in the area.

“Our long-term goals are these students all will buy their homes, build their homes, live in Carroll County, support local economies,” he said. “Maybe we’ll see some more home builders, maybe we’ll see some more plumbers, maybe we’ll see some more HVAC workers. So, not only do we support business in our area and the workforce, but we also support the local needs for the folks here in Carroll County.”

Many times, Summers said, students who enter trade programs can do better or just as well financially as those who opt for college.

“We as educators and we as the state had the false narrative that everybody needs a college degree,” he said. “And that’s just so far from the truth. Define success — what’s success for you and your family? If you pay your bills, live the lifestyle you want, do the things you want to do.

“Many of these types of careers are going to pay more than, say, a first-year teacher. Do the math and it adds up and that’s why the program is growing so much.”

OTHER BUSINESS

The board also approved the purchase of 14 new cafeteria tables that will feature the Green Forest Tigers logo at a cost of $26,101.49, Summers said.

The board also approved spending $8,600 for an annual subscription to Go Guardian Admin, a program that will allow the district to monitor what students are accessing on school computers when they are not on campus.

“We had Go Guardian Teacher already in use, which means the classroom teacher can pull up and see what every screen in the room is on, but when go home, we didn’t have the ability to oversee that.

“So, the program will be used by our technology program to continually update and block and make sure that our devices are being used appropriately, not only when they’re here at school, but also at home. Things are out there that kids really don’t need to be accessing and we don’t want to give them a loophole. … This will help safeguard that.”

Summers said the board approved one student transfer into the district from Eureka Springs and 10 students transferring out, “mostly to Alpena.”

The board also approved the resignations of custodian Todd Richard and paraprofessional Mathew Rigg.