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Gravette board approves a slate of hires, accepts resignations and approves safety MOU with city
Summary
The board approved multiple personnel hires and accepted resignations, and approved a School Resource Officer (SRO) memorandum of understanding with the City of Gravette while directing staff to clean up time-allocation and accounting language before finalization.
During the meeting the board approved several personnel actions and moved to adopt an updated safety memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Gravette.
Board motions approved hiring Alyssa Blakesley as a front-desk administrative receptionist (presented as starting at step 16 on a classified salary schedule working a 240-day contract), Kayla Swinson as a special education bus aide ($15 per hour), Macy Echols as a special education paraprofessional (181-day contract, step 2, annual rate $22,161), Millie Bramwell as an evening custodian (245-day contract, annual salary $27,729), and Trey Tippling as a cashier/cook (step 11, $15.27 per hour). The board also accepted the resignation of Tom Hardy (bus aide effective Nov. 1, 2024) and Bobby Shields (school cook effective Nov. 15, 2024). All motions were moved, seconded, and carried by voice votes recorded in the transcript as 'aye'.
On the safety MOU, a board member moved to approve the district's School Safety MOU with the City of Gravette (including a stipend recommendation for the lead SRO). Several board members said the document needs language cleanup — especially clarifying the lead SRO's time allocation across the parties, overtime and special-event pay, and correcting accounting typos — before final implementation. Staff said they will send the MOU to the city and "true up" the suggested edits with the city before final execution.
A board member asked that the language be clarified around summer responsibilities and the calculation of time percentages; another member noted some health insurance calculations in the draft appeared overstated and would be corrected. The motion to approve the MOU carried in open session, with staff directed to reconcile the edits with the city.
No contested votes were recorded in the transcript; the board took multiple personnel votes successively during the action-items portion of the meeting.
