GUY — Guy-Perkins Interim Superintendent Robert Stewart of Damascus said when he was hired that he’d help the fiscally distressed school district out for just a year, and he meant it.
Applications for a head of the Guy-Perkins School District likely will be taken in January, Stewart said, because that’s when superintendent evaluations are typically done.
The school board will meet at 7:30 p.m. today at the high school and will discuss taking applications, he said.
Stewart, a former superintendent of the Quitman School District, came out of retirement to serve after former Superintendent Brian Cossey took the principal’s position at Wonderview Elementary School in Hattieville.
“I’m going back into retirement,” Stewart said. “But they’re real good people; the community’s great. You couldn’t ask for better people. They’ve never turned a millage down; they’re set on keeping their school. All the people have been so helpful and willing to work and volunteer. The school board’s been very cooperative; they want the same thing.”
The 362-student district was placed on fiscal distress in June 2015 by the Arkansas Department of Education as a result of the district’s declining balances. Patrons approved a 2.5-mill property-tax increase in last year’s September school election to help boost the district’s finances.
“The numbers are looking better,” Stewart said. He said Monday that the district has $1.2 million in its checking account.
Cindy Smith, the Education Department’s fiscal and support-services coordinator, said the Guy-Perkins School District is improving.
“We’re very pleased with their progress,” she said. “The big concern is the decline in students. With the declining student count, they have made the adjustments necessary to absorb that financial issue, and they have made good progress to this point. We’ll look in January and see how they’re progressing with the current budget.”
Smith said that in July, after the fiscal year ends, she will review the district to see if it “has done everything required to consider them for release” from the fiscal-distress list.
By law, school districts can only be in fiscal distress for five years, she said.
“The average for most districts is two to three years [to get off the list],” she said.
Stewart said the Guy-
Perkins School District cut $400,000 from the budget by various means.
“We’ve had some resignations, didn’t replace some positions. We had some janitorial staff resign and didn’t replace that. We dropped some [business] contracts that we had — if we don’t have to have them, we don’t. Vendors have reduced prices for us, on maybe some software and our copying contract. They’re willing to work with us. Every little bit helps.
“We’re still in the process of looking for ways to save money. Petit Jean Electric Co-op — they’re going to do an energy audit for us, just things like that. We’re looking at every area,” Stewart said.
What isn’t improving is enrollment. Stewart said the district has had four years of decline in the number of students.
Last year, the district received state funding based on 403 students; enrollment is now down to 362.
Stewart said he knows of six children who are attending the wrong school district, and each student represents $6,400 in state funding.
“We’re trying to get those kids back where they belong. I’m working on that right now with the other schools. [The students] could always file for freedom of choice in the spring, but right now, they belong in our district,” he said.
He cited lack of jobs and housing for the enrollment decline.
“A lot of that is probably because of Southwestern Energy [layoffs]. Plus, we don’t have a lot of housing for rent,” Stewart said. “We have a lot of farmland in our community, and the farmers, that’s where they make their living, so it’s hard for them to turn it loose. We need some rental property and some property to open for improvement, maybe some housing — that would be great.”
Stewart said he recently had a real estate agent in his office, a man who had a family with three children. The man wanted to move into the Guy-Perkins
School District, but he told Stewart he couldn’t find a place to rent.
Stewart said he hopes the district will be removed from the fiscal-distress list by
December.
“Our main focus is to get out of fiscal distress, and one of the reasons for that, while you’re in fiscal distress, supposedly they won’t get you a waiver [for fiscal distress] if you fall below [an enrollment of] 350,” he said.
Board President Chris Acre said that despite the district’s financial situation, “I think there will be some good applicants out there.”
The district has had back-to-back superintendent controversies.
Cossey, who was hired unanimously in 2013 as superintendent, was suspended June 2. A week later, the board took two votes — one to suspend Cossey with pay and one to recommend that his contract be terminated, both of which passed unanimously.
Cossey said he had no idea why the board took the action it did; the board and Stewart declined to discuss the reason. Cossey decided not to appeal the decision and took the job of Wonderview Elementary School principal.
Cossey was the Guy-Perkins School District’s K-12 principal
for four years before being named interim superintendent in January 2013, when former Superintendent David Westenhover resigned, effective at the end of the school year, and was placed on paid administrative leave.
Westenhover was arrested and charged in Faulkner County Circuit Court with two felonies, including theft by receiving for allegedly having a stolen weapon on campus, as well as a misdemeanor charge. Those charges were dropped, according to the online database Arkansas CourtConnect. His son, Joshua, was charged with by theft by receiving, a felony, and pleaded guilty, according to CourtConnect. He was sentenced to probation, fined $500 and ordered to pay court costs.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.