Butler, Baker Appointed To MV School Board

Mountain View School Board appointed two new members last week to fill the positions vacated by the Rural Special and Timbo representatives.

Matt Butler and Andrew Baker were appointed to complete the remaining terms in these seats, with Butler’s being a four-year term and Baker’s two-year.
When their terms are complete, these two positions will be open for regular elections and will be “at-large,” meaning they are open to anyone living in the district. The other five positions will continue to be zoned and will come up for election on their regular schedule, with terms being staggered.

Candidates for the two positions submitted their applications to the board, and were each allowed a few minutes to speak during a special meeting Aug. 13.
Assistant Supt. Brent Howard stated that candidates had been asked which position they were seeking, the four-year term or the two-year. Only one candidate, Butler, chose the four-year.

Butler has served two stints on the board previously and is a Mountain View graduate along with his parents, wife, and children.

“If I bleed, I bleed blue and gold,” he told the board, adding that he is willing to take a stand even if it’s not the most popular, and he would love the opportunity to serve again.

The board submitted votes by ballot, with four in favor of Butler and one abstaining.
Baker has family ties to Stone County, has lived in Mountain View 16 years, and has children in elementary, middle, and high school this year. He said he would view his responsibility to the board similarly to parenting. He feels the board needs to think longterm, about the generations to come.

“I think I can help provide that by being willing to make hard decisions, realizing in my business career that money is a finite resource, that saying yes to something exciting means having to say no to something else.”

In addition to Baker, candidates for the two-year term were Gail Jason, Norma Burdette, Khaki Minick and James Barnes, who withdrew himself from consideration just before the vote. After making his presentation, Barnes said he believed, for transparency, that each candidate should have the ability to explicitly request which position they want.

Other candidates indicated that they had been contacted and asked which position they wanted. Barnes then said he wanted to be removed from consideration because he wants to be more involved as a parent, and he commended the board for everything that has happened.

The board again submitted ballots, with four votes going to Baker and one to Khaki Minick.

Howard said the Arkansas School Boards Association had advised him that the board could choose to vote by show of hands or on paper ballots, and they chose to do ballots.

“I appreciate everyone who has put in for this position and shown interest. We’re starting to see a lot of positive interest in the school, and that’s what we’ve needed for a long time,” he said.

Board member Lori Dobbins also thanked the candidates, adding that they often don’t see any interest until there’s a conflict.

“We like to see interest. We’ve been through a lot in the last year, to say the least,” she said.

The board also conducted its regular August meeting on Monday, during which they discussed preparations for the school year and the current enrollment report.
Howard said he was pleased with the start-of-school enrollment of 1,094 in K-12.

This includes 411 in elementary, 347 in middle school, and 336 in high school.
“We’re pretty pleased with that number. We think we’re right where we need to be,” he said.

Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Howard said the teachers attended professional development meetings at the Ozark Folk Center the week before school started, and it was a great success.

Brent Howard added that the school open house was the largest since COVID. He commented on some of the preparations taking place, including plans for dealing with the hot weather that is continuing this week. He said he had met with staff about being extra vigilant to make sure no child gets left outdoors, double and triple checking buses, and staying inside as much as possible.

In other business, the board:

• accepted the resignation of Tonya Howard as elementary aide and added color guard duties to Kathi Henley’s contract.

• approved a bonus of $750 for returning staff members and $500 for new employees, to be included with the August paycheck. Howard said the total cost would be around $158,000.

• discussed an inquiry submitted to Board President Roxanne Davis about another school district requesting math materials from Mountain View School. Melissa Howard explained that Mountain View is switching math curricula this year, but she could not recommend releasing any of the previous books because they are still waiting on some of the new materials to arrive. She also noted that many of the books are not traditional hardcover books but workbooks that are consumable and partly used up.

• approved payments to the teachers who conducted the summer KinderBoost program, part of the Save the Children budget.

• approved the annual statement of assurances, a document submitted to the state every year certifying that the district is complying with all laws and requirements. They also must certify in writing that no policy prevents or denies participation in constitutionally protected prayer at school, in order to receive certain federal funding.