By Jamie Miller
The Bryant School Board met for their regular monthly meeting Monday, May 16. The night began with[more] Jessica Bollen, Director of Communications, recognizing the BHS Journalism department for the whopping 125 awards that they received at the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association Convention in Rogers.
Ten BHS students were also recognized for their achievement of being selected to attend Arkansas Governor’s School. The selection for this school is based “on a combination of ability and interest and is highly competitive,” Bollen said. Students selected were Austin Nickols, Grace Oxley, Uyen Phan, Christian Potts, Dylan Rogers, Madeleine Rutland, Darcy Smith, CamRyn Stillman, Bria Taylor, Amberly Watkins, Lauren Magneson and Aaron Moulton.
Five male and five female students were also recently selected to attend the American Legion Auxiliary Boys and Girls State summer leadership and education program. According to Bollen, the students were chosen “based on their high moral character, strong leadership abilities, excellent scholastic standing, and overall interest in government and current events.” Students chosen were, Joseph Blissett, Jace Denker, Matthew McCabe, Christian Potts, Alec Salminen, Callie Akers, Grace Oxley, Lauren Reed, Darcy Smith and Autumn Rouse.
In spite of all of the wet weather that has been taking place in Saline County, the new Bryant High School building is still on schedule or slightly ahead of schedule to be finished, according to Brooks Jackson of JBK Architects.
Mark McDougal and Tait Shrum of the BHS Technology Department gave the board an update on their vision behind “Classlink” as a desktop solution for students and faculty. Shrum then addressed the district’s phone system and gave information regarding the phone pilot program that is being run currently at Springhill Elementary.
The board approved a new position for the district Business Office for next year, Supervisor of Accounting and Internal Audit.
An accreditation report was given for all of schools in the district by Don McGohan, Assistant Superintendent, all but Bryant Middle School, Bethel Middle School and Bryant High School being fully accredited. The listed schools are Accredited-Cited, which means that there are teachers at those campuses that are on Additional Licensure Plans and are not finished with the program yet. The teachers are fully approved as long as they complete their ALP within the three-year period that is allowed.
