Gravette School District schedules working session to refine high-school expansion and course pathways

Gravette School District board members agreed to a working session to refine curriculum priorities and plan a proposed high-school expansion, with staff asked to provide updated enrollment and demographic data to support financial projections.

Board members, led in discussion by Speaker 2, said they need the district’s third-quarter average daily membership figure before finalizing financial projections for rehiring and any new positions. "We still need that third quarter average daily membership number to really know," Speaker 2 said, urging staff to prepare a packet of demographic enrollment trends used in prior years for the board’s preread.

The board revisited program proposals discussed in earlier presentations, including a greenhouse and middle-school agriculture program that had informed related bond planning. Speaker 2 said extra bond funds are available in some accounts but that the high-school expansion budget appears constrained: "the extra money now that's in the bond, we seem like we're under on the high school expansion," Speaker 2 said. The board discussed aligning the district’s high-school course catalog with recently solidified state guidance on "high-yield pathways" and noted some course changes might take a year or two to implement.

Board members flagged partnerships and research needs. Speaker 3 described outreach to external partners and the state: attempts to find a research contact at the Department of Education produced several handoffs and, ultimately, no clear point of contact. "That's my main question is, like, who's doing the research?" Speaker 3 asked, and Speaker 2 said the district will study concurrent partners such as NWACC and other technical and state organizations to determine next steps.

The board set a timeline for review: a targeted preread ahead of the working session and further discussion in February and March to decide whether to approve program changes for the following school year. Principals will meet beforehand to shape priorities that the board can act on in the coming months.

Next steps: staff will prepare enrollment and demographic trend packets and a proposed agenda for the working session so the board can assess financial implications and program priorities before any formal approvals.