Thursday night’s meeting of the Prescott School District’s board of education adhered to this policy, even displaying a countdown of the three minutes for each speaker on a screen behind where Superintendent Angie Bryant sat.  

Prior to the meeting, speakers signed in on a separate sheet from the attendance sign-in and were given a set of rules for speaking along with the meeting’s agenda.  The board president also briefed the audience on these rules.

The speakers Thursday night all had differing concerns.  None were stopped from speaking and only one spoke less than her allotted three minutes. After all six speakers were heard, Prescott School Board President Michael Williams brought the time to an end and began the first agenda item.

The concerns raised by the speakers were as follows:

·       The need, due to a large enrollment of band students, to hire an assistant band director.

·       With the exit of five football coaches, the ratio of coach to players was said by the speaker to be 1:20, which could endanger player safety and make it more difficult to provide players with aspirations toward playing college football with the necessary teaching. Also, the U.S. History course the speaker’s son is in was teaching court procedure. The speaker said U.S> History should begin with the colonial era and proceed to the present day.

·       The speaker cited how much more in salary football coaches in Hope and Gurdon are making  so while not achieving the win-loss record Coach Brian Glass has accomplished in football in Prescott.  This was in answer to a school board member who she said characterized Coach Glass as overpaid.

·       The speaker said, in answer to those feeling athletics at Prescott School District are too emphasized, that many students are motivated to perform in the classroom because it is required by their athletic programs. As a leader of soldiers, the speaker said, he could tell that those who had participated in organized sports acted as better team members while serving. He also said as a member of the Prescott Rotary Club that the group is willing to help with tutoring or mentorship.

·       The speaker said he was disappointed not to have been placed by his university at Prescott as part of his training to become a teacher-coach.  He said the reason cited was a lack of mentorship, but that in the district where he was placed the staff were no more qualified than those he knew were still on staff in Prescott.   He said he felt the district’s leadership had a “hidden agenda” against the athletic program.

·       The speaker read a letter from his father, a long-time volunteer for Prescott School District and a graduate, accusing the new administration under Superintendent Bryant of driving away coaches and Bryan of possibly falsifying her qualifications on application materials.

Under the rules provided to attendees prior to the meeting, neither the superintendent nor board members could respond to the speakers except as the business of the meeting allowed for it.  No responses were made during the speeches or afterward. Nor were any made during the rest of the meeting’s business.

In the Superintendent’s Report, Bryant announced that the total enrollment number for this school year is 867, which includes 47 pre-K students.  Five more students are hoping to get their paperwork in order to enroll.

She also provided a financial report which revealed fiscal year 2025 ended with a $942,391.14 operating fund balance.  The building fund which began fiscal year 2025 at $3,374 is now at a balance of $254,726.66. 

Projected tax collections versus what was actually collected was also specified. “On tax revenue, since we're still working on the budget for this fiscal year, [and] it's not due until September 30th tax for the [fiscal] year 2025 which closed out June the 30th, we budgeted $2,689,769.22.  We actually collected $2,661,616.50, which was 98.95 percent of what was budgeted,” Bryant said.

She said the board now has copies of a proposal to change the district’s policy on public use of school buildings. The initial fee would be changed and a provision for additional hours added. Board president Williams opted to table a vote on it until the next meeting.

Mariela Garcia, School and Academic Improvement Supervisor & Curriculum/Federal programs Director, presented a chronology of the district’s work on the District’s Strategic Plan, which will soon be available on the district’s website under State Required Documentation.  The plan which is done using the AR app, Garcia said, represents an improvement on previous requirements for many more documents.

“The AR app requires districts to manage, collect and manage teams collaboratively, and this ensures that district leadership, which in turn will mean everyone who supports students, is operating from a single plan for student learning and for the 2025 2026 school year,” Garcia said.

The three priorities for the year will be, she said, “improving academic outcomes, safe and healthy Schools and quality educational workforce.” Eight Arkansas Department of Education staff members and consultants helped develop a workbook keeping the district’s focus on these while many counselors and teachers worked with Phoebe Bailey of Southwest Arkansas Educational Cooperative from February of this year to develop the district’s strategic plan for the 2025-6 school year.  The group met the deadline to submit by June 30th ten days early and now the plan has been posted to the district’s website. 

Viewers can see different sections of the plan by choosing items along the bottom of the page like Improving Academic Outcome, Quality Education Workforce or other items that can be seen by clicking the arrows at the bottom right.

Also during the meeting, Melanie McGuire requested the board approve using the school’s name for the clay targeting team, which will compete in the Arkansas High School USA Clay Target League.  President Williams said the question of approval would be settled in executive session.

The board also passed the proposed budget of expenditures with Tax Levy for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2026. 

It also approved the 2025 Election Resolution designating a qualified elector, that person being Elizabeth Lawrence, and requesting the 2025 election of board members be conducted. 

The board then went into executive session for a personnel matter and the decision regarding the clay targeting team.  If a decision was announced, we will post them here as the information is shared with us.

Correction: An earlier version of this story characterized the comments of one speaker as asking for a raise for Coach Brian Glass.  She made no specific request for this.  SWARK.Today regrets this error.