Hardrick: FC’s GT students show growth on test scores

The Forrest City School District had the “highest value added growth” among gifted and talented students of all medium sized school districts in the state, according to superintendent Dr. Tiffany Hardrick. Hardrick told board members during their meeting Thursday that she had received an email from the Office of Education Policy showing the district’s growth among school districts where between 1,000 to 3,000 students are enrolled. She noted the assessment is for gifted and talented students in third through eighth grades. “Can you put that on Money Train?” asked board member Larry Devasier. “I’ll put it out there,” said Hardrick. Hardrick referred to the designation as “huge.” “I think this is huge because there are four levels and we often work through remediation on levels one and two,” she said. “We work with partners and they identify 15 or 20 GT students at each grade level. We did acceleration with those students. They’re not behind but we pushed them to be their better self.” She noted that in 2015, Forrest City was in the second percentile for ELA growth in gifted and talented but is now in the 97th percentile. “Because of all of the interventions happening around them with Saturday school, boot camp, teachers in the classroom, we went to 86% passing,” said Hardrick. “And, in math on GT, we went from the fifth percentile to 97th in the state over a 10-year period. Great job to the GT students and teachers.” Board member Evetta Whitby asked if the district is doing anything specifically for seniors who may need extra work in order to graduate. “I see that 48% are failing and that’s a high number to me,” said Whitby. “The challenge we have with seniors is coming to school, or senioritis,” Hardrick responded. “I’m glad you called that out because in about 40 days you’re going to start getting phone calls about students not graduating.” FCHS Principal Aundra Bohanon said that after the grades were posted, he began trying to contact the seniors who are failing. “About half of them were not at school, which is why they’re not passing,” said Bohanon. “Is there not a procedure we can follow when they’re missing?” asked board member Annie Norman. Hardrick said there are several processes the district can follow from contacting parents to filing paperwork on the students. “My whole deal on that is there comes a time when those students gotta take responsibility and don’t be laying it off on somebody else,” said board member Larry Devasier. “To the school’s credit, the principal came in and started meeting with them and having one-on-one conversations about not coming to school, not doing their work and how they’re not going to graduate if they didn’t make changes. We need to get those kids to understand the urgency of coming to school,” said Hardrick. “It’s going to be well documented,” she continued. “The policy says that you may be retained for attendance even if you get a B or a C, but that affects our graduation rate and we don’t want to do that, but at spoke point, you’ve got to come to school.” District officials also noted that some students have taken “real, adult jobs” which they work overnight before coming to school. “They’re struggling in the mornings. They’re 18 and they’re struggling,” said Hardrick. As for facilities, Hardrick said roofing projects in the district are nearing completion and that the new wellness center at the junior high is also nearing completion. “We had the fire marshal come in and we’re near the end with that. We have to do some cleanup and stuff and hopefully get it signed off on and signed over to us,” said Hardrick. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to schedule a walk-through soon.” She also noted the conversion of the ABC School area to the Ryan Complex is progressing with bids expected to be received soon. “We’re hoping we can do a dedication and ribbon cutting on the ABC site well before the end of the school year,” said Hardrick. In other business, she asked the board to again pass a recommendation to ask Legislative Audit to perform the district’s audit for the 2024-25 school year. “I want to get that recommendation back into the minutes so I can send that tomorrow (Friday) and show the board approved legislative audit for the 24-25 school year,” said Hardrick. Before adjourning, the board agreed to purchase $33,670.62 in medical equipment and supplies for the wellness center at the junior high from McKesson. The board also approved purchasing a new indoor/outdoor stage at a cost of $13,930.62, to be paid for with district funds. The board is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, April 17.

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