Students, staff return to Decatur
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Daily Record photograph by Charles Fowler Junior Dylana Tilley, left, and eighth-grader Shanda Harmon waited outside Decatur High School during lunch on the first day of school Monday.
DECATUR - After a summer filled with uncertainty, Decatur schools got back to business as usual on Monday, according to high school principal Bobby King.
King strode down the halls on the first day of school, stopping to banter with students. He said he's glad to have the kids back and is ready to hit the ground running after spending much of the summer fighting as interim superintendent to keep the district open.
Students and staff returned to school this year with a new sense of gratitude for their familiar settings. Much has happened since school let out for the summer on June 2. The district has been declared in fiscal distress and faced possible annexation.
Just two weeks before school started, the Arkansas Board of Education voted to allow the district to stay open, but under state control without its local school board and with a state-appointed superintendent.
"I'm so thankful and pleased that we're open," said Beth Keith, a maintenance worker and the mother of two high-school students. She said spending the summer without knowing if she would have a job this fall has been very stressful for her family.
"We need to recognize the kids that pitched in (with the fundraisers ); that's how they showed us that they care," she said. Both of her sons, who have attended Decatur schools since kindergarten, worked at the school's fundraisers, and one of them volunteered for the FFA hired-hand auction.
Junior Kaomar Vang said she was exited and happy to be back to school, even though she had to get up early.
"I think everybody wants Decatur open," she said, motioning to a nearby classroom filled with students. "A lot of students came to the fundraisers, … more than I expected," she said.
Vang has attended Decatur schools for three years since she moved from Minnesota. She said she likes the small school better because she gets to speak out more, gets more attention from the teachers and isn't afraid to ask questions.
October Vangas, who teaches foreign languages at the high school, said she has a bit of a luxury position because she gets to teach the same students year after year as they progress.
"I'm very glad to be back. I don't mind the pay cut to work here and have my exclusive position. That's probably how all the teachers feel," she said with a laugh.
The halls at Northside Elementary School were crowded with parents dropping off their pre-kindergartners for the first day of school. Principal Leslie Sharp said everything went smoothly - much better than last year when the building was new to parents and teachers.
"Every parent was elated and exited to be here," she said. "You could see it on the parents' and kids' faces; they were truly thankful and happy to be here."
After a quick informal head count, it appears the district's enrollment is down about 55 students - around 20 students in the high school, 15 students in the middle school and 20 students in the elementary school.
The district won't have a clear picture of how many students will be enrolled this year until after Labor Day because there are usually several last-minute enrollments after the school begins, King said.
Funding for the 2009-2010 school year will be determined from this year's October enrollment. Each student brings the school about $ 5, 800 in government funding, and at this point, the district can't afford any loss. The district is in fiscal distress, and the latest numbers from the Arkansas Department of Education project it will be $ 510, 000 in the red by the end of this school year.
Middle school principal Tommy Baker said the three students who transferred out of his school in the past week moved out of state with their families.
He speculated their parents probably left Decatur looking for work after the Black & Decker plant closed.
Sharp said at least 12 students who transferred out of her school left for economic reasons. She said several students moved because their homes were foreclosed on, and several others moved because with the high gas prices, their parents couldn't afford to drive from Decatur to their jobs in Bentonville or Siloam Springs.
Sharp said most of the kids who remain are the steady students who return year after year. Like King, Sharp and Baker agreed it's very early to judge the enrollment numbers. They all expect to see more students show up before September.
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