In order to make up for instructional days lost due to last week’s ice and snow, classes will be held at Gentry Public Schools on Monday, Jan. 18, previously scheduled as a holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Other calendar changes are anticipated to make up additional days. Those changes, approved by a majority of the school’s teaching staff, are on the agenda for Monday night’s school board meeting.
Due to weather, the Stop Smoking Breathe Free class at the Total Life Community Center south of Gentry on Hwy.59 has been rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. Please call 479-233-9119 for information.
The Courier-Journal received word from school superintendent Dr. Randy Barrett that the Gentry Public School District will be closed Friday, Jan. 8. There will be no weekend ball games or activities.
A warming center was opened today at the Gentry’s First Baptist Church, located at 232 West Main Street in Gentry. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The church opened its facilities to provide a place for area residents to warm up and enjoy a hot drink – coffee or hot chocolate. The warming station is being operated by the American Red Cross in conjunction with the church.
A special meeting of the Gentry School Board has been tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) to consider signing and submitting to the Arkansas Department of Education a “Memorandum of Understanding” which the ADE would use in applying for American Recovery and Reinvestment Race to the Top Fund grants.
Should Arkansas be one of the few states to receive the grant funds, it could receive a large amount of money to improve the education system in the state. The ADE is seeking full participation from all districts and charter schools within the state.
The federal grant money is being offered, but not without strings attached. The Memorandum of Understanding local school districts are being asked to sign and return yet this week requires agreement to a state education plan which includes yet unwritten (or at least unseen by the district) evaluation plans for school, teacher and administrator performance. It also includes school intervention models defined by the U.S. Department of education which, in a worst-case scenario, could evaluate and replace school staff, close schools or convert schools within the district to charter schools.
The MOU was sent out by the ADA on Jan. 4 and is to be returned signed by the school district superintendent, a representative of the district’s board of education and a representative of the local teachers’ union by Jan. 8, giving district administrators, staff and board members little time to consider the matter.
The full text of the MOU has been reproduced and posted as a page on this Web log for our readers. It can be found at http://www2.nwanews.com/blogs/lifeingentry/arkansas-race-to-the-top-application.
Beginning with this week’s print issue, online-access to the full content of the Gentry Courier-Journal and the Decatur Herald requires a subscription.
A good portion of online readers are already subscribed to the print edition and have a log-in for the Web site to comment on stories. These users will have access if their mailing addresses and print delivery addresses are identical. They’ll already be noted as a subscriber in the newspaper circulation’s database.
Users who would just like to register for online-only access will have to pay $2.99 a month. Subscribers to any one weekly will be able to access any other weekly edition’s content. However, they will not be able to access daily newspaper content online without subscribing to a daily paper or the online daily edition.
The Life in Gentry Web log, a companion to the Gentry Courier-Journal, will continue to be available free, without a subscription.
Subscription rates for the print edition of the Gentry Courier-Journal or the Decatur Herald — including online access — is $25 per year in the Gentry and Decatur area and $31 if out of the area. Mail-in subscription forms are also available at the Subscription Forms Page on this site.
Readers can register online at http://www.nwaonline.com/register. Customer assistance is also available by calling 800-482-1121.
Gentry Public School District will be closed Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010, due to snow-covered country bus routes.
Word of the closing was received from Gentry School District superintendent Dr. Randy Barrett just before 4 p.m. on Monday
Classes were also canceled on Monday due to snow- and ice-covered roads.
An eagle perched in a dead tree over the water at the Eagle Watch Nature Area last week. The eagles are beginning to return to the area for the winter months and viewing is possible at SWEPCO Lake in Gentry.
The Highfill Town Hall will be closed Nov. 26 and 27 for Thanksgiving.
City-wide clean up will be the week of Dec. 9, with curbside pickup only.
The Highfill Community Christmas Potluck Dinner, sponsored by the Highfill Hay Daze Committee will be at 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11, in the Highfill Community Building. Meat and Drinks will be furnished. Items will be collected for the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter. Pajamas, underwear and socks for children, ages newborn to 17, are needed.
The Town of Highfill will be closed Dec. 24 and 25 so that city employees may celebrate Christmas with their families. The Town of Highfill will also be closed Jan. 1, 2010 in observance of New Year’s Day.