Parents address school board

A group of more than a dozen concerned parents attended Monday night's meeting of the Piggott School Board. The group had requested to appear on the agenda for the regular monthly meeting to discuss their reaction to last month's evacuation of both the high school and elementary campuses due to a threat found written on a restroom wall.

Latraca Moore served as spokesperson for the group and indicated in her opening remarks that she had been told her time would be limited. "I realize that I'm only allowed 10 minutes, so I have prepared this statement," she told the board. "First off, I would like to thank the board and Mr. (superintendent Ed) Winberry for allowing the taxpayers to speak with you about an issue that is of great concern to all of us. As you well know, the issue is the events surrounding the recent bomb threat and evacuation of the Piggott School System."

Moore's statement reviewed the events of Oct. 21 and questioned the report that the threat had been brought to the attention of administrators several days earlier, but was not acted upon at that time. In doing so she quoted the report in the Oct. 28 edition of The Piggott Times, which first brought to light the lapse in time in discovering the threat and taking action.

"I feel I speak for everyone here when I say the most disturbing portion of the entire situation was having to read the article in the paper and find out that there was some confusion as to when the threat was discovered and reported," she added. Moore was referring to a comment made by Winberry in a special board meeting held following the incident in which it was reported that apparently the message was found some days before and brought to the attention of the principal and assistant principal.

"Where was the break in communication? Why did everybody assume the other person had taken care of the situation?" she continued. "Why wasn't there follow up and why was the superintendent not informed until after the fact?

"This is not simply a mistake," Moore continued. "This is a very poor lapse in judgment and blatant disregard for the mindset and certain capability of people in the world today. We as parents have to know that when we drop our kids off and leave them in your hands they will be cared for and protected until they are returned at the end of the day. If the faculty of the Piggott School system feels this type of judgment is acceptable then I don't believe anyone will leave here tonight feeling that our kids are protected and watched over as they should be.

"The community as a whole has to be reassured that, going forward, this situation will not happen again. We need to know that all threats will be handled according to procedure," she added. "And the faculty must know that if you do not handle things according to procedures there will be consequences for your actions."

In summarizing, Moore noted "it seems that whenever a concern or complaint regarding a member of the faculty is brought to the attention of the board all we hear is what you can't do! It is always 'well you can't fire a teacher' or 'teachers are protected better than union workers.' But you know, I don't care where you work, I don't know of any professional career governed by a board where you can't lose your job or not have your contract renewed for not doing that job. Our board and superintendent need to start focusing on what can be done, instead of what can't.

"I support this board and administration. I know all of you and went to school with you," Moore concluded. "I know my child's best interest is first, as well as your own children. So don't make me doubt your decision making."

(Moore's complete statement to the board may be found on The Piggott Times website at www.piggotttimes.com)

Following the statement, board president Neil Morgan thanked Moore and the other parents for attending the meeting. "We appreciate you coming, and everybody here," he noted. "Many of the things you brought up are currently being addressed by Mr. Winberry and the faculty, the police department and everyone that was involved that day are working together."

Morgan said that there were errors was evident. "We know there were errors made and we know there were holes in the system and sometimes it takes something like this to bring it out," he said. "Hopefully this will never happen again, but if it does hopefully we'll be better prepared," he said.

Moore also inquired about how the board would address the fact that "someone dropped the ball," prompting Morgan to add, "we're not going to get into discussing personnel matters tonight."

Other Business

During the meeting the board also voted to allow the purchase of a variety of items with Title 1 stimulus funding. The shopping list includes 16 sound field systems, which provides a microphone for teachers and headphones for students; 30 new computers; four new listening centers for the first grade; novel sets and books for classroom libraries; science consumables and microscopes; a new cabinet, furnishings, copy machine and Variquest poster printer for the parent center at PES and $3,000 to pay for educational speaker Mark McCloud to conduct a professional development program for elementary staff. An additional $10,000 is earmarked to pay the salary for a full time paraprofessional for the second semester.

The total amount for the requested items was $120,000 while the district's total allocation for this portion of the stimulus funding is $139,655. Approval of the effort was okayed by a vote of 5-0.

Board members also voted to allow the hardship transfer of two students to the Rector district. Winberry told board members the two children of Brandon and Thrista Chase would be accepted by the Rector district if the matter was approved. It passed without dissent.

Following a 45-minute executive session, the board reconvened and voted to accept the resignations of Beverly Scott and Toby McGuire. Scott, a paraprofessional at the elementary school has reportedly taken a job at Magnolia Manor, while no reason was given for the resignation of McGuire, who served as a maintenance worker for the district.