Mountain Home School Board approves cell phone policy to follow new state laws

The Mountain Home School Board had a busy June session Thursday night with a several action items, a large number of personnel recommendations approved and several new policies were voted in, one of which will be a big change for students this fall that is mandated by the Arkansas State Legislature.

One of those policies is no personal electronic devices will be allowed at school, which comprises a long list of devices including cell phones, smart watches, tablets, notebooks, computers and any device that can connect and transmit data through Bluetooth technology. This is a new state law, Act 122, approved in February which is called the “Bell to Bell No Cell Act”. From the time students are required to be at school until the final bell, they are not allowed to have any of the electronic devices at school except under certain circumstances.

One of the other policies that was approved provides a free breakfast to every student, regardless of their eligibility for a federally funded free or reduced-price meal. This is also mandated by new legislation, Act 123 that was passed in February.

The board approved several purchases including $665,000 for a new roof for the Guy Berry School, just under $150,000 for math instructional materials for grades kindergarten through seventh and just over $43,000 for three years for software to protect the district against ransomware and malware.

Director of Operations Chris Knight updated the board on some of the summer projects going on which include the remodel of the bathrooms at Pinkston Middle School, replacing the partitions in the C Hall bathrooms at the Junior High, replacing the carpet in the office at Nelson Wilks Herron, resealing the parking lot at the Junior High, replacing the locks and door knobs district wide and replacing the outside sign at the Kindergarten.

Superintendent Allyson Dewey says right now, the enrollment for this fall at the Kindergarten is significantly behind. They finished last school year with 247 students, but as of this week, they only have 200 students enrolled at the kindergarten. She says if you have a student going into the kindergarten this fall and have not registered them, you need to get that done with less than two months before school starts Aug. 12.

A large number of personnel recommendations were approved by the school board. 

The June board meeting is when school boards reorganize. The Mountain Home board voted Jason Schmeski as their president, Scott Booth is the new vice president and the new secretary is Molly Morgan.

The board has a special facilities work session Wednesday evening at 5:30. Their next regular meeting is July 17.

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