Gosnell dissolves mask mandate

During Tuesday night’s meeting, the Gosnell School Board dissolved the Aug. 26 mask mandate, though school leaders continue to strongly recommend students and staff wear masks.

Under the resolution adopted on Oct. 26, the mask mandate will stay dissolved unless student absences related to Covid reach 5 percent or greater of the student population for five consecutive student days. Weekends do not count towards the five days.

If that threshold is reached, superintendent Bonard Mace is authorized to reinstate the mask mandate.

The rate peaked on Aug. 27 and Sept. 1 at 8.90 percent, as there were 101 students absent each those two days.

The rate dropped to 0.88 percent on Oct. 18 with 10 absent and stayed within 1.76 percent until Oct. 25, when 30 were in quarantine for a 2.64 percent rate.

On Oct. 26, the percentage of students in quarantine was 3.26.

“The last two and half weeks have been wonderful here,” Mace said. “I’ll be honest with you, yesterday and today weren’t so good.”

The percentage has not exceeded 5 percent since Oct. 1. The last time there were five consecutive student days with more than 5 percent in quarantine was Sept. 27.

Mace did express concern of enforcing a mask mandate at basketball games, which begin next month, as several school districts do not have a mask mandate policy.

Mace told the board that school leaders would continue to be vigilant with recommended social distancing measures and would not let their guard down.

Meanwhile, in her report to the board, Gosnell Elementary School principal Tiffany Kennemore applauded students, staff, and administration for the school’s success on the recent Every School Succeeds Act (ESSA) Index report, which looked at schools’ performance in testing and a variety of other areas during the 2020-21 school year.

Gosnell Elementary recorded the top ESSA score in Mississippi County with a 74.84, crushing the state average of 66.93.

“I’m very proud of our teachers and students,” Kennemore said.

She credited superintendent Mace and the school board’s dedication to keeping students in school as much as possible, as well as assistant superintendent Len Whitehead for his efforts in taking on contact tracing.

Kennemore also thanked curriculum coordinator Anita McKinney for her work in assisting teachers in becoming better teachers and using data to drive instruction.

She added her assistant principals ensured GES followed Covid guidelines, and director of special services Elizabeth Bryce made sure special needs students had everything they needed.

“Our teachers stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park,” Kennemore said. “Our students learned in the midst of the pandemic…Learning never stopped at Gosnell Elementary.”

“I’m very proud to be their principal and just very proud to be a Pirate,” she added.

Gosnell High School also beat the state average (63.25) with a 66.99.

Gosnell High School principal Steven Milligan noted GHS had the top scores in its conference, was third in the county and fourth in northeast Arkansas, behind only Valley View (71.48), Manila (68.53), and Armorel (67.98).

“I guess our county is really doing a good job as far as educating kids,” he said, as three of the top four high schools in northeast Arkansas are in Mississippi County.

Milligan noted Gosnell juniors did really well last year on the ACT, as they were ranked sixth of 260 districts in math; 22nd in composite; 26th in science; 28th in English; and 56th in reading.

“We have really good teachers here,” Milligan said. “I’m blessed to have a good staff...I’m proud to be a Pirate.”

McKinney said she was particularly proud of the district’s growth, as it ranked 6th in math and 12th in literacy for growth among the 260 districts.

“Those two numbers, I was the most proud of,” McKinney said, “because growth is hard, considering all the kids we had in quarantine (last year), and we had kids who were learning virtually. We had teachers who went into quarantine and had to teach from home. When you put those factors in there, it makes the learning process a lot more difficult, but our teachers battled through and made sure that our kids got what they needed. I really attribute the success to everything the teachers did everyday but also to Mr. Mace and the board and all the administration that made sure we were in school and we never shut down. Other districts didn’t see the amount of success that we did because they weren’t as diligent about keeping kids in school.”

In other news, the board approved rezoning maps created by GeoTechnologies. Because of the new Census data, Gosnell moved 49 from Zone 2 to Zone 3.

The Gosnell School Board has representatives from five zones and two at-large members.

Zone 1 now has a population of 904; Zone 2, 961; Zone 3, 919; Zone 4, 909; and Zone 5, 952.

In May, Gosnell voters will go to the polls to elect representatives from Zone 2 and Zone 3, as well as 4 and 5, which both were scheduled to be on the ballot in May 2022 already.

The at-large board members will not have to seek re-election until their respective terms end.

Also Tuesday night, the board approved:

— Camera systems for 14 buses at a cost of $33,500, using Covid relief funds;

— The Equity and Cycle II report;

— The resignation of Judy Smith as special education paraprofessional and the hiring of Ashley Robbins to that position.

Because of the Thanksgiving break, the board will meet Tuesday, Nov. 30. The December meeting will be on Dec. 13; both meetings start at 6:30 p.m.