Rising food costs affect everyone, and those increases will be reflected in higher prices for meals at school.
At Monday night’s meeting, the Eureka Springs school board approved a new price schedule. Student breakfasts, currently at $1.35, will cost $1.50 in the coming school year. Lunch for elementary and middle schoolers will cost an additional 25 cents, to $2.75. High school students will also see the 25-cent hike, to three dollars.
The school district’s prices remain relatively low compared to other districts. During discussion, Supt. Bryan Pruitt mentioned the problem of parents not paying for lunches. The school must still provide lunches to students in arrears. Pruitt noted that many of the families with deficits in their lunch accounts could qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and that would help the district financially.
Elementary Principal Clare Haozous described a new plan for summer school. Many students benefit from summer school because of learning loss they would otherwise encounter during the long break. She said staff “didn’t see the results we expected from our summer programs.” This year’s summer school will be offered remotely.
The school will issue Chromebooks to summer school students, with guided lessons. Teachers would be available at school for help with assignments, or with more intensive tutoring. Haozous said the school has experience with remote learning from the Covid crisis. “We’ll see if this works better for us and for families,” she said. Some hotspots are available for those without Internet access, although these hotspots only work with education sites.
Josh Siebert, with Modus Studios, reported on efforts to cut costs on a planned new cafeteria to serve the elementary and middle schools. He said the architects and construction managers did not “compromise the integrity of the building or the aesthetics,” but they found ways to economize. As an example, he mentioned eliminating a non-structural partition wall, at a savings of $60,000. The wall could be added at a later date.
Siebert said the process had yielded a final estimate of $4.35 million, and he did not think a lower price would be available. He asked if the board would want to commit at that price, so the construction manager could begin locking in subcontractors. The board did not take action at this meeting and will either call a special meeting or wait until the June board meeting to decide.
In other business:
- High School Principal David Gilmore said all 55 seniors will graduate this Saturday. He said the shooting sports team has qualified for state. The soccer team will begin state competition in Harrison on Thursday, with potential games the following two days. Gilmore said making the Saturday finals might conflict with graduation ceremonies.
- The board heard an overview of coming changes to standardized testing and math and language curricula.
- A new law required the board to pass a resolution appointing a representative to the OUR educational co-op, and Pruitt was named to that position.
- The state requires annual board approval of special education assurances and agreements, to show compliance with federal laws, and the board gave that approval.