Mineral Springs School District Holds Annual Public Meeting

The Mineral Springs School District held its’ annual Public Meeting last week. Superintendent Curtis Turner welcomed the group, and gave a brief overview of how the district was doing. He stated the district was in the process of completing the budget and would comment further on the finances once that was completed.

Turner also went over the Title I Report for the district. Title I funds at the district level will be used to employ a Director of Federal Programs and a part time bookkeeper.

Principal Stacy Gauldin gave the campus report for elementary. Enrollment for grades K-6th is 235, and she gave a brief overview of what the elementary is working on for the year. Improvements and or activities include: new Ipads for everyone to use, the campus adopted a new math program in an attempt to align curriculum, improve reading achievement, added a STEM/Robotics class for 5th and 6th graders that will be taught by Mrs. Katie Jones, added a Jr. E.A.S.T. Program under the direction of Mr. Rob Plant, and she highlighted the after school choir program the Melody Makers which won several competitions last year. Principal Gauldin ended her segment by saying how proud the staff and students were to be in the new building.

High School Principal, Clint Jones, gave an overview of the high school campus. The enrollment is at 176. Teachers all have goals to help integrate reading into their content area. Academic Reading Classes are being offered to help bring up test scores. The class is being taught by Mrs. Aide Soto. Mr. Jones added that W.I.N. has been added to the master schedule on Tuesday and Thursday each week. W.I.N. stands for What I Need. It offers kids a chance to get tutoring and help during the school day. Teachers can also request a student to come during W.I.N. time on certain days to get caught up or remediated. Teachers not in core class offer enrichment activities as a way to keep kids going. The district has also added Archery and Trap Shooting as extra-curricular activities.

Mrs. Jeanette Lampkins, High School Counselor, shared an update on the counseling department. Mr. Grover Hill will be on campus to meet with parents and students on October 1st to help them fill out FAFSA paperwork. Seniors will travel to Hope on Oct. 4th to attend a transitioning program presented by the U of A at Hope. On October 24th Mr. Jones and Mrs. Lampkins will take the seniors to Texarkana College to attend the College & Career Day. The counselor’s office is also gearing up for Red Ribbon Week at the end of October.