Smith described a transition period focused heavily on stabilizing finances, preparing for staffing changes and navigating the always-busy spring stretch.
“Actually, we’re just trying to get a handle on the budget right now,” Smith said. He explained that one of the key pieces of information still pending is updated assessment data from the county assessor’s office. “I'm waiting on some information from the [Nevada County tax] assessor’s office about how much the assessment has changed, because that’s kind of a key number so you can deal with things,” he said.
That figure, he indicated, will directly affect how the district plans for the coming fiscal year.
“We should get that pretty quick,” Smith added, noting that the assessment numbers will drive many of the budget decisions to follow .
With budget planning underway, the district is also entering hiring season — a reality that begins long before students leave for summer break.
“That’s going to be the biggest thing next,” Smith said . He acknowledged that Prescott has already seen staffing changes. “We’ve already had a couple of retirements, and so we'll get those folks replaced and schedules done and lined up in getting ready to go for next year,” he said .
Though next school year may seem distant, Smith emphasized that the groundwork must be laid now.
“You think you do all that next year, but you've got to do all that now,” he said.
Spring in a school district brings more than budgeting and staffing. It also brings athletics, testing and calendar adjustments — all of which demand administrative coordination.
“Spring’s always busy, because you've got all the sports, baseball and softball and track, all that going on, a lot of on the go, trying to get that part of it done,” Smith said . At the same time, standardized testing season is approaching. “Testing is coming up. A lot of concentration,” he said .
To address instructional time lost earlier in the year after Winter Storm Fern, the district has adjusted its calendar. Rather than lengthening each school day, Prescott added days back into the schedule.
Because students are normally out on Fridays, the district opted to use those days to recoup time. “We’re out on Fridays, so we actually added three Fridays to make it work, including tomorrow,” Smith said .
Additional adjustments were made around spring break and professional development.
“The week before spring break, we had parent teacher conferences scheduled for Wednesday morning and so we were going to be out Thursday and Friday,” Smith said. Instead, the district reorganized that schedule. “So we’re going to switch that and move parent teacher conferences to that Thursday and go ahead and make one of those days up before spring break,” he said.
The goal is to minimize remaining make-up days, weather willing.
“So we have three of them before spring break taken care of, and we’ll just have one left,” Smith said.
"We'll cross our fingers we don’t get anymore snow or tornadoes," Smith said. "Arkansas in the spring is always an adventure."
Despite the challenges, Smith conveyed an overall sense of forward motion.
“That’s a little bit of what we’re dealing with,” he said, summing up the district’s current priorities as administrators work to align finances, staffing, academics and activities heading into the final months of the school year. “We're trying to tie everything together,” he said.
Served at the event was a scrumptious vegetable plate with dip, fruit plate with syrup, mini-donuts, orange juice and hot coffee.
