MT. JUDEA — New Deer/Mt. Judea School District superintendent Joshua Blain Lawrence met with the district's board of directors delivering voluminous copies of documents needing approval prior to the start of the new school year which is only a month away.
Lawrence was hired June 19 and his first tasks were to review and update the school district's Personnel Handbook and the Student Handbook. The board met in regular session on Monday, July 6, a week earlier than its usual meeting time.
Both handbooks contain new and revised policies either mandated by new state laws, or revisions recommended by the Arkansas School Board Association.
One of the first policies needing updated calls for changing of length of terms for school board members. Act 503 of 2025 mandates school board terms in Arkansas be either 4 or 6 years in length and staggered to ensure an approximately equal number of positions are filled at each school board election, which will now only occur in even years. The school district has always had 5-year terms for board members. Under new legislation, districts have the option of changing to either 4-year or 6-year terms.
Arkansas school board members in a district with 4-year terms will have their terms adjusted to expire in either 2026 or 2028, while those in districts with 6-year terms will have theirs expire in either 2026, 2028, or 2030. The board members decided to go to 6-year terms just so they would not have to run so often, they said.
Public participation in board meetings is also addressed in new legislation. Hearing of public comments will be part of each meeting agenda provided individuals sign up to speak prior to the start of the meeting. The board voted in favor of having a sign up sheet available at the meeting site 30 minutes before the meeting starts. Only those on the sheet or already on the agenda will be permitted to address the board.
Lawrence went over a few of the highlights of the new student policies.
He noted that under discipline, students cannot have recess withheld as punishment.
He reviewed the Bell to Bell policies prohibiting cell phone use in the classroom during the school day. Students will turn over their cell phones or other personal electronic devices for secure storage at the start of the day and have them returned at the end of the school day.
After approving all of the updates, the board approved one student transfer into the district and then retired into executive session from 7:49-8:45 p.m.
After returning to regular session the board approved hiring Violet Mefford to the Deer High School science instructor position that had been vacated by Nathan Windel.
The board also hired Ben West as Mt. Judea physical education/health and special education instructor and as a coach.
The meeting adjured at 8:48 p.m.
