The Hope School Board voted in favor of accepting a $750,000 no-interest loan from Farmers Bank & Trust late Monday morning at a special meeting to finance the replacement of the turf at Hammons Stadium. The vote was unanimous by show of hands. 

After Hope School Board President Alvis Hamilton called the meeting to order at about 11:10 a.m., Superintendent Jonathan Crossley said there was no question about the need to replace the turf at Hope High’s football field. “This would be the 15th year of the turf. It's about a ten- to twelve-year shelf life for turf,” Crossley said. 

Crossley said that since a millage placed on the ballot in 2023 did not pass, the district had placed the turf project lower in priority to other efforts to improve the district’s facilities. “We stowed money away and put money away for building projects like the Agri facility, the Yerger gym facility, Jones Field House, a few other things. This is what's considered a like-to-have, not a need-to-have,” he said, but pointed out that the state of the turf at present posed injury dangers to athletes using it. 

He explained that the district had worked with Jacob Jones, Market President of Farmers Bank and Trust in Hope.  Jones is a Hope native himself. The loan will be payable over ten years with the district paying Farmers $75,000 and could be approved by the school board under state rules allowing for unbonded debt, Crossley said.  

He also told the board the expense could be handled as the district saves about the same amount per year to cover the next turf replacement when it becomes necessary after a decade. 

“So this is a great day, I think, for our programs, for our kids. Also, we'll be looking in the future, to put back about that amount of money over the course of each year or 14 years, to be able to pay for this when replacement time comes. We didn't necessarily do that the first time around. We'll be very vigilant … about how we do this going forward, to earmark the money, so to speak, knowing that turf replacements will come up in about ten to twelve-year cycles.” 

Crossley introduced Jones to answer any questions board members might have. Board member Bill Hoglund asked what Farmers Bank would prefer with regard to naming rights. Jones said the bank would be flexible about how its logo will be displayed as long as it would be granted exclusivity. 

Crossley, after noting that Lewis Elliot & Studer Architects of Little Rock has been charged with creating a workup of a plan and that the goal is to complete the full project in time for soccer season, asked Transportation and Maintenance Director Maurice Henry to bring the board up to date about the process of replacing Hammons Stadium’s turf.  

Henry said Elliot was still working on the plan and once it is complete it will be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education, not for approval but to make sure its requirements are met.  Board member Hoglund asked whether the district would use the same company as laid in the turf last time. Henry said the project would be bid out and then the board would see these bids and make its choice among them. 

Hope Head Football Coach Phil Turner, who has been involved in the project’s planning, said that GeoServices would be placing a bid. They provided the turf the last time. United Turf will be visiting next week and Hellas Construction is also in discussion to schedule a visit. 

Turner also said that when he had received the news that Farmers Bank had decided to extend the district a no-interest loan, he was with his coaches. “That’s as happy as I’ve seen these guys. We said, ‘Wow.’” He said his biggest concern was with the safety of the playing surface.  While it currently looks good, he said, he compared using it to walking on ice.  He thanked Jones and said that the new turf would benefit a variety of activities at the school, from pee wee sports to soccer to the band. 

Hope High Principal Kimberly Dunham, addressing Jones said, “Thank you for being a great supporter to our school and to our campus.” 

Hoglund made the motion to approve Crossley accepting the loan with Board Vice President Jimmy Courtney seconding.  The vote was a unanimous show of hands. All board members were in attendance. 

After the vote, Jones was jokingly asked whether he wanted to suit-up for the football team.  "I could go for about 30 seconds," he said.

Next, the board also voted unanimously to approve a three-day training program and follow-up services for Capturing Kids’ Hearts. The course will be provided for faculty, administrators and staff in the days prior to the start of the 2025-2026 school year.  Crossley described it as “social, emotional and culture training [that] also provides some skills and strategies for the classroom as well.” He said the cost will be covered from the $15 million in federal funds the district was granted in 2022. 

Carol Duke, Principal of Hope Academy of Public Service, was one of the Hope principals who went through the training. She said this summer “all the district leaders will be participate” in Capturing Kids’ Hearts sessions prior to it being offered to teachers and staff. 

“I talked to several districts in Arkansas that have been on the implementation of this about a year ahead of us,” Duke said. “And they are seeing relationships and rapport just skyrocket through the roof. And so when Dr. Crossley said to me, ‘Do you really think this is what we should do?’ [I said] I think this is the missing piece.” 

As a result of the course, Duke said, “everyone in the district will be speaking the same language so that everyone from our pre-K kids to our graduating seniors will have the same sort of conversations and the same sort of supportive relationships being built.” 

The motion to approve bringing the program to the Hope School District was made by Board Secretary Kathryn Dickinson with Board Member Margaret Moss seconding.  The affirmative vote on the motion was unanimous by raising of hands. 

Crossley informed the board that he was approving the spending of $24,000 on equipment for use in the Agriculture shop. He has the discretion to approve that amount of spending on his own but thought the board would like to hear of the matter. Board member Hoglund asked Maurice Henry if issues in the new Agricultural building had been addressed.  Henry affirmed they had been. 

The board then voted to go into executive session to hear three issues involving students.