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Carlisle Library holds March fun days. (See page 6.)
Volume 121 Number 11 - USPS 225-680
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Community Calendar of Events Thursday March 17 St Patrick’s Day Thursday March 17 Hazen City Council Meeting 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. City Hall Hornet Baseball vs White Hall Hazen Field 4:30 p.m. V/JV Sunday March 20 Spring Begins Monday March 21-25 Spring Break for Hazen School District Wednesday March 23 Spring Break Candy Hunt Hazen Public Library Ages 0 - Pre-K 11:00 a.m. Kindergarten to 2nd - 2:00 a.m. Pre-register by calling 870-255-3570 Thursday March 24 Food Distribution Hazen Methodist Church Drive Through 10:00 a.m.12:00 p.m. Community events brought to you by Hazen Chamber of Commerce
and the Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.
Hazen School District Superintendent Donnie Boothe gave a presentation about the proposed four-day school week to public stakeholders. Along with him to help answer questions was a panel composed of CFO Sarah Snider, Elementary Principal Tiffany Glover, Elementary Counselor Amber Edge, High School Principal Mark Price, and High School Counselor Janan Sickel.
Hazen School District holds public meeting Holloway receives ASU Honor College scholarship
The Hazen School District held a public meeting on Thursday, March 10, at 6:00 p.m. in the high school gymnasium to discuss the possibility of going to a four-day school week beginning with the 2022-23 school year. School board members were present, along with parents. The meeting was led by Superintendent Donnie Boothe and a panel composed of the two principals Tiffany Glover and Mark Price, High School Counselor Janan Sickel, and Chief Financial Officer Sarah Snider. A PowerPoint presentation was given by Boothe explaining the idea, stating that the Personnel Policies Committee had researched the four day week and was interested in seeing if a four-day week would benefit the students, staff, and the district. Arkansas law requires that “each local district will conduct community forums to determine local support and provide continual community input into the success and continuation of four-day school weeks.” Boothe stated that the district had lost 124 students over the past 10 years at a cost to the district of $870,000 annually. The actual decline began in 2017 according to the chart presented, and a second chart projected enrollment to continue to decline through 2029. The current enrollment in the district is 532 students. Boothe said that going to a four-day week might help draw more students to the district. So far, the district has sent surveys out to faculty and staff, parents and guardians, and all of the high school students (grades 7-12). The school board was informed of the possible change at its February meeting, and school administrators have visited other schools of comparable size within Arkansas that have implemented the fourday week. Survey results showed a majority of those surveyed in favor of the plan, but some parents told the panel that after voting positively for the change, they were now against it. Research shows that the idea was widely implemented in 1973 to conserve energy
and reduce operation costs. Little is known about the effects of a four-day week on student outcomes, however. Boothe said that though most research is mixed, it was concluded that there was little change on academic performance of the students either positively or negatively. Some districts have found “an improvement in attendance, both for students and staff, reduced student discipline problems, and an increased student participation in extracurricular activities”. Arkansas schools that have implemented the four-day have reported substantial savings in transportation and substitute costs. Principals and Superintendents from those schools also reported an increase in positive culture and school climate, student enrollment, and the number of highly qualified teacher applications for vacant positions. The four-day format has also been popular among students, parents, and staff members in those schools. The district would save on utilities, fuel, transportation, wear and tear on buses, food, substitute teachers, required salary increases, and minimum wage increases. Other anticipated positive impacts on the district are the recruitment of school choice students, job opportunities for older students, flexibility for students and staff to schedule appointments on the off day, and more family time. Some concerns about the change include the creation of attention problems for younger students, later arrival times from bus routes in the afternoon, child care concerns on off days for working families, and less meals for students in homes of need. The pre-K hours would also be different from the regular K-12 hours. Some solutions to these problems included restructuring recess breaks in the elementary school to spread them throughout the day, increasing the backpack program to provide additional food for the day that students are out of school, and providing afternoon snacks for all students free of charge. (Continued on pg. 3.)
Zackery Holloway received the A State Scholar Scholarship recently. This scholarship is worth $14,000 per year for a total of
$56,000 Only receive to be College State
over four years. 32 applicants this scholarship in the Honors at Arkansas University.
Zackery plans to use the Honors College to help him to help him in his studies in Agriculture Business.
Davenport named Prairie County Officer of the Year LITTLE ROCK, AR – Special Agent Rodney Davenport was honored as Prairie County’s County Officer of the Year at a luncheon hosted by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. The 19th annual Officer of the Year awards and recognition luncheon was held at the Benton Event Center. “The dedication of Special Agent Rodney Davenport to protect and serve keeps Arkansans safe,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Arkansas is lucky to have men and women in blue who put their lives on the line to protect, often sacrificing so much for our communities.” Every year, Attorney General Rutledge hon-
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ors Officers of the Year from all 75 Arkansas counties, in addition to statewide and regional winners. She also recog-
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nizes law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty with Valor Tributes.
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