Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone was able to enjoy time with family, rest, and reflection over the holiday break. As we begin the spring semester, I want to thank you for the professionalism, persistence, and care you bring to your work each day. I am grateful for the work happening across Mena Public Schools, and I am excited to begin this semester together with clarity of purpose and a renewed focus on what matters most—student learning, growth, and opportunity.

The spring semester is not simply a continuation of the fall. It is where momentum is...

Happy Friday!

As we close the final week of the fall semester and prepare for the Christmas and New Year break, I want to thank every member of our staff for the consistency, professionalism, and care you have shown our students over the past eighteen weeks. The fall semester is always the heaviest lift. It is when expectations are established, systems are built, relationships are formed, and momentum is created. That work matters, and it shows.

This Wrap-Up serves as a natural pause point. It allows us to reflect on where we stand at mid-year...

Happy Friday!

Good afternoon, and thank you for another strong week of work across Mena Public Schools. As we move deeper into the school year, I continue to appreciate the professionalism, persistence, and care shown by our staff every day. We remain focused on our performance targets, including student attendance, academic growth, and maintaining safe, supportive learning environments. The steady effort behind these goals does not always show itself immediately, but it matters, and it is noticed.

This week’s Wrap-Up focuses on the recent release of teacher VAM scores (Value-Added Measures) and what those re...

Happy Friday!

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break. I want to thank everyone for the steady work and professionalism shown as we returned to school this week. The weeks between now and Christmas can feel fast, but your focus and commitment continue to make an impact on our students. As always, our performance targets remain in full view: strong attendance, reduced discipline referrals, and continued academic growth across all grade levels. Thank you for the effort you bring to each of these goals.

This week’s Wrap-up highlights two important areas of focus for our district. Fi...

Happy Friday!

As we close out the week before Thanksgiving Break, I want to pause and express my appreciation for the people who give our district its strength. Throughout this semester, we have talked about purpose, preparation, day-to-day improvement, shared confidence, and the steady work that leads to real progress. Every one of those themes only matters because of the people who show up each day to carry them forward.

I am thankful for our staff, who continue to support students through the challenges and opportunities of this year. You have kept your focus on...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for your hard work this week and for your continued dedication to our mission. We have kept a steady focus on our district performance targets in attendance, discipline, and academic growth, and it is encouraging to see progress in all three areas. Each building has maintained strong attendance as we enter November, discipline referrals remain below last year’s levels, and teachers continue to work with precision and purpose toward improved student outcomes. Your consistency and care are the foundation for our students’ success, and I want to thank you for that commitment.

Happy Friday!

As we move deeper into the fall semester, I want to thank everyone for the steady, day-by-day effort that defines Mena Public Schools. Whether you are teaching, driving, feeding, cleaning, supporting, or leading, the work you do matters. It matters to the children who look forward to seeing you each day, to the families who trust us, and to the community that counts on us to help shape its future.

This has been a week of reflection and recognition, and there is much to celebrate. Our district’s progress is evident in both th...

Happy Halloween Friday!

Thank you for the continued effort and energy you bring to your work each day. The fall semester is moving quickly, and with just over a month until the holiday break, your commitment continues to move our district toward its performance targets—steady academic growth, attendance at or above 93.5 percent, and consistent improvement in school climate and behavior. Each week brings new signs of progress, and that progress is the result of your focus, consistency, and care.

This week’s Wrap-up connects several important themes. We will look at new insights into how...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for the consistency and professionalism you continue to demonstrate each week. There were no major events on the calendar. Still, the steady rhythm of teaching, learning, and leading has continued uninterrupted, and that is often where the most significant progress takes place. Every attendance reminder, every reteaching moment, and every calm response to a student’s frustration contributes to the stability our students depend on. Together, we are proving that slow, deliberate effort produces lasting results.

Our district continues to stay focused on the same three performance targets that define our mi...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for the energy, effort, and commitment you continue to bring each day. As we move beyond the first quarter of the school year, it is a meaningful time to pause, reflect, and align our work with the goals we set at the beginning of the year: academic growth, strong attendance, and a positive school culture.

Throughout this week and next, I have been meeting with each building’s leadership to review first-quarter progress and discuss strategies for continued growth. These conversations are centered on reflection and improvement—how we can apply what we...

Happy Friday!

Strong attendance, steady behavior, and meaningful engagement across our schools have made this a successful close to the first quarter. Thank you for the energy, effort, and commitment you continue to bring each day. The pace of the year reminds us how quickly progress builds when focus and consistency are shared. Together, we have reached this first milestone with clear evidence of growth across every building.

Our performance targets—academic growth, attendance at or above 93.5%, and steady improvement in behavior and climate—continue to guide our daily work and measure our collective progress. The...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for the energy, effort, and commitment you continue to bring each day. The year is moving quickly, and we are already approaching the end of the first quarter with 135 instructional days remaining. This is a good moment to pause, take stock, and align our daily work with our performance targets—strong academic growth, attendance at or above 93.5%, and steady improvement in behavior and climate.

I also want to recognize the way many of you are carefully monitoring your own professional growth goals. Just as our district targets are trending in a po...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for the energy, effort, and commitment you continue to bring each day. From the classroom to the bus routes, from the ballfields to the offices, the work being done across our district is making a difference. It has been another week of steady progress toward our goals, and I am grateful for the dedication you show to our students and community.

This week’s Wrap-up includes two important topics. First, we want to share an update on the progress we are making with our local Value-Added Measure (VAM) system. This work is...

Happy Friday!

Thank you all for the dedication you have shown as we move into the middle of September. This time of year, the days can begin to feel heavier, and both students and adults sometimes show the strain through shorter tempers, impatience, or discouragement. Yet in these moments, we continue to see patience, encouragement, and empathy shining through in classrooms and hallways. Those small daily choices are what keep our schools strong and our community moving forward.

This week, we also received our state letter grades, which closely relate to our performance targets for...

Happy Friday!

Thank you all for the steady work you have given as we move through September. This is the time of year when routines are set, expectations are clear, and we begin to see patterns in attendance, discipline, and student engagement. These patterns reveal a great deal about our performance, and they remind us that consistency is crucial. They also tie directly into the performance targets we have set as a district, keeping us focused on daily actions that lead to long-term growth.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I would like to highlight our pr...

Happy Friday!

This morning began with an unexpected challenge when three of our four campuses were without power. The first estimated restoration time was 7:00 a.m., then extended to 9:00 a.m., but thankfully, the lights came back on around 7:30, still thirty minutes before students arrived. While this caused some understandable concern, the crews from SWEPCO worked quickly to restore power, and I want to express my gratitude to them for their rapid response. I also want to thank our staff and parents for their adjustments, patience, and understanding in what was truly an uncontrollable situation.

...

Happy Friday!

As we close out another week, I want to thank each of you for the energy, creativity, and commitment you bring to our schools. Whether you are teaching in the classroom, supporting students in their daily needs, maintaining our facilities, or ensuring operations run smoothly, your work matters. Together, you create the environment where students can thrive, and that collective effort is what drives us toward meeting our district performance targets.

This week’s Wrap-up will focus on one of the most important measures of our progress: student growth. The ATLAS scores we re...

Happy Friday!

Thank you to every teacher, bus driver, custodian, food service worker, office staff member, paraprofessional, maintenance worker, administrator, tech team member, and volunteer for the dedication you showed throughout this first full week. Your steady effort and positive spirit ensured that our students were not only welcomed back but also engaged in meaningful learning from the very start.

This first full week of the school year gave us the chance to move beyond the introductions and routines of the opening days. Our classrooms are now alive with hands-on lessons, our athletic teams are...

Happy Friday!

The first Friday of the school year is here, and just like every August, it seems as though summer passed in a blink. I want to sincerely thank all of our teachers, bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, office staff, paraprofessionals, maintenance staff, administrators, tech team, volunteers, and all other school employees for the work you have done leading up to this week. Your preparation ensured that our year started on the right foot. Well done.

On the first day, Mrs. Buckley and I visited all of our campuses and were encouraged by...

Happy Friday!

As the final week of the 2024–2025 school year draws to a close, I want to thank each of you for the focus, care, and effort you have shown throughout this week. You have managed final exams, field days, farewells, and everything in between with poise and professionalism. This year’s performance targets data is now complete, and the results affirm the direction shared in the Week 35 Wrap-up. We did not hit the mark for attendance and discipline, but there was good progress through intentional work. Though our academic data collections are encouraging, we will not see...

Happy Final Friday of the School Year!

As we close out Week 36, I want to take a moment to thank each of you, not just for the work you have done this week, but for the work you have done across the years. The students who will walk across the stage this weekend have been shaped by hundreds of hands and hearts—by lessons taught, behaviors guided, and encouragement offered from Pre-K to 12th grade. Whether you were their first teacher or someone who simply smiled at them in the hallways, your presence mattered. And so, before we...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the incredible dedication, passion, and resilience of our staff. Throughout the year, you have gone above and beyond to create positive learning experiences for our students, and this week, it has been heartening to see so many businesses, families, and community members step up to show their appreciation. Your work matters, not just this week but every single day, and the impact you have on the lives of our students is both profound and lasting. Thank you for...

Happy Friday!

As we move into the final stretch of the school year, I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued focus, your commitment to our students, and the resilience you show each day. May is a time when we begin to see the full shape of the year’s work—lessons that have taken root, relationships that have grown, and outcomes that will carry forward into what comes next.

This week, I want to focus on exactly that: what comes next for our students, and how we can align our work...

Happy Friday!

As we approach the final weeks of the school year, I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your steady focus and hard work. This time of year always brings excitement, reflection, and anticipation. Whether it is preparing students for end-of-year assessments, planning celebrations of growth, or supporting the many daily needs of our students, your efforts continue to make a lasting impact. I am grateful for your professionalism, patience, and commitment to helping us finish strong. In this week’s Wrap-up, I will also share important updates about cybersecurity measures an...

Happy Friday on a Thursday!

As we head into a well-deserved long weekend, I want to thank each of you for another strong week at Mena Public Schools. We continue to see real progress toward our academic goals and performance targets, a reflection of your daily commitment and professional excellence. In this week’s update, I want to share exciting news about the launch of Rooms, our unified communication platform, and outline key legislative changes that will impact our schools in the months ahead. You will also find reminders about upcoming surveys and celebrations of student success in...

Happy Friday!

As we close another full and fast-paced week, I want to thank each of you for your continued focus, effort, and resilience. This time of year requires much from all of us, and I am grateful for how you continue to show up for our students and one another. Our district vision—preparing students, supporting staff, and building community confidence—is not just words on a page. It is seen daily in classrooms, hallways, and offices throughout Mena Public Schools. This week, we also have reason to celebrate. The Arkansas Department of Education released our scho...

Happy Friday!

Welcome back! I hope spring break provided you with time to rest, recharge, and reconnect with the people and things that matter most. As we return, we do so with renewed focus and purpose, knowing that the final weeks of the school year hold both opportunity and impact.

As we enter the final stretch of the school year, I want to begin by expressing my gratitude for your daily commitment to instruction, student relationships, and professional growth. All of this continues to affirm that our district's strength is found in the hearts and...

Happy Spring Break Friday!

As we close out the final week before Spring Break, I want to thank you for the energy, attention, and care you have given during these past few moths. It is not lost on me how fast and full the calendar has been—academically, athletically, and emotionally. You have shown up for students, for your colleagues, and for this community with consistency, grace, and a deep commitment to our mission.

Next week, I hope you will allow yourself some time to rest. Not just physical recovery, but the kind of rest th...

Happy Friday!

As we come to the end of another busy and productive week, I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for the dedication and hard work of our teachers, staff, and students. Every effort we make is in pursuit of our district performance targets, ensuring that we are providing the best possible education for our students while continuously striving for growth and improvement. One of the key elements of this process is learning from experience—especially from mistakes. All of the positive accomplishments noted at the end of this Wrap-up were precluded by a...

This Bearcat Wrap-up Deep Dive covers a variety of topics relevant to the Mena Public Schools community. It includes updates on the school calendar, such as closures due to winter weather. A significant focus is on the District Climate Survey, which gathers insights from students, parents, staff, and community members to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. The podcast also addresses areas needing improvement, like bullying prevention and communication. Legislative updates such as the Arkansas ACCESS Act, which aims to enhance postsecondary education and create a more seamless transition for students, are also covered. Additionally, the podcast...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for another week of dedication and hard work. The commitment and passion I see from our instructional staff each day are making a real impact, and it does not go unnoticed. Across classrooms, teachers are refining their lessons, fostering deeper engagement, and implementing strategies that are strengthening student learning. Your efforts are creating meaningful progress, and as we enter the final stretch of the school year, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible work being done to support both student success and professional growth.

The work you do...

Happy Friday!

As we close out another week, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for your dedication and commitment to our students. Every day, your efforts to engage, support, and challenge our learners reinforce our mission and move us closer to our performance targets. The work you do matters, and I appreciate the way you consistently rise to meet the challenges before us.

I also want to clarify an error in the week 24 discipline data. While reviewing the reports, I realized that I had mistakenly entered a number incorrectly, which caused...

Happy Friday on a Thursday!

Thank you all for your hard work and adaptability this week, particularly as we navigated the unexpected school closure due to winter weather. It certainly has been an unusual week, especially with the upcoming long weekend. Given the shortened week, our performance target data has not seen significant changes. It is reassuring to know that we still have two additional built-in days remaining on our calendar to accommodate any future weather-related closings, should they become necessary. Let us hope we do not have to use any more of those days or have...

Happy Valentine’s Friday!

First, I want to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication. Your commitment to our students and our shared mission continues to drive us forward. I also want to acknowledge your efforts in working toward our performance targets, which are essential markers of our progress and growth as a district.

I have updated our performance target page with the latest data from the ATLAS interim exams. The results show encouraging signs—especially in science and math—where we are seeing an increase in students scoring at levels 3 and 4, our hi...

Happy Friday!

As we close another week at Mena Public Schools, I want to take a moment to recognize the dedication each of you brings to ensuring that our students are learning, growing, and becoming more prepared for the future every day. Our work toward district performance targets continues, but it is important to remember that teaching is more than just meeting benchmarks—it is an art, a science, and an act of service. It demands creativity, precision, and an understanding of human nature, unlike any other profession. And yet, despite our deep understanding of the complexities of...

Happy Friday!

As we move through the second half of the school year, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the time, effort, and thoughtfulness you bring to our students every day. Whether in the classroom, in support roles, or behind the scenes, your commitment makes a difference. With only 70 instructional days left, every lesson, every intervention, and every moment of support matters as we work toward our performance targets. This week, much of our focus has been on digging into the recently released ATLAS test growth data. While looking at past performance, it is easy...

Happy Friday!

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication this week. Your tireless efforts to support our students, collaborate, and pursue excellence in your classrooms and beyond are the cornerstone of our district's success. Together, we continue to work toward meeting and exceeding our performance targets, a goal that drives our daily work and our long-term vision for student achievement and community confidence.

This week, we received a significant update: the state department has calculated and released our district's and state's growth scores based on the ATLAS test, finally providing us with a...

Happy Friday!

A huge thank you goes out to our dedicated transportation department and all of our bus drivers for their hard work and effort in getting our students to school safely during the aftermath of last week’s heavy snow. Many of our backroads were snow-covered, requiring special planning, skill, and maneuvering to complete routes as best as possible. Your efforts ensured that our students could get to school, and we are so grateful for your commitment. I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our maintenance department, who worked tirelessly—both early in the morn...

Happy Snowy Friday!

Well, there was not much to Week 19 at Mena Public Schools. We did get two days into the instructional semester and a day of planning and looking at data to inform our instructional needs to meet our performance targets for the year. Thank you for all the good work done on Monday and the good start on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This week’s Wrap-Up highlights several important topics, beginning with a special thanks to our dedicated school board members for their invaluable service. We will also take a brief look at the up...

Happy Thursday!

As we wrap up another productive week, the last week of the fall semester, I want to take a moment to thank you for your dedication and hard work. Your dedicated commitment to our students and achieving our performance goals is evident in every effort you make. This week, we celebrate another small but significant victory: our attendance rate increased by a tenth of a percent and remains above our target of 93.5. Additionally, we continue to see a decline in discipline referrals, reinforcing the positive environment we are building together.

As we approach...

Happy Friday!

The last Friday of the fall semester is here!

At Mena Public Schools, we continue to reflect on our mission to inspire and support every student and staff member as we close out a successful first semester. This week, we take a moment to share an important message about perspective—how it shapes our work, our impact, and the challenges we face together. As we update our performance targets for the year thus far, we remain committed to achieving excellence and fostering a culture of growth and collaboration. We also want to thank ev...

Happy Friday!

Welcome back, Bearcats! We hope your Thanksgiving break was restful and filled with joy. Now that we are recharged, it is time to focus on the final stretch of the fall semester. With just a few weeks left before winter break, this is a pivotal moment to reflect on our progress and lay the groundwork for a successful spring. I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication toward achieving our performance targets this year. Your efforts make a lasting difference for our students and our community.<...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up another productive week at Mena Public Schools, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your dedication and hard work. Each day, your efforts bring us closer to meeting our performance targets, ensuring that every student achieves their full potential. Whether in classrooms, on the athletic fields, or through our extracurricular programs, your commitment to excellence is evident and deeply appreciated.

This week’s Wrap-up highlights two key topics shaping the conversation in education: the concept of teacher merit pay and the potential impacts of President-elect Trump’s recently anno...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to supporting our students and each other this week. We have made significant strides, and it is inspiring to see your commitment reflected in everything from classroom engagement to our district’s performance targets. Your efforts contribute directly to our mission of ensuring that our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident. Each week brings us closer to our goals, and today I want to reflect on the importance of using the tools at our disposal to achieve excellence together.

To...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week, both in and out of the classroom, to take advantage of opportunities for growth and learning. Thank you all for the work that is being done to construct lesson plans and strategies to reach the academic goals our ATLAS scores have created for us. These goals will be included with our performance targets, which are updated for the week, but the visual format is yet to be determined. However, within our district’s strategic plan, which will be the bulk of this Wrap-up, we have established ou...

Happy Friday!

I want to begin by thanking everyone for their dedication and the hard work you put in this week to help us meet our performance targets. As we continue pushing forward, your commitment to ensuring our students reach their full potential is making a difference across the district. We are constantly setting the bar higher and working together to meet the expectations we have for our schools and our community. With that said, this week, I want to focus on a crucial element of our long-term success: the LEARNS Act's emphasis on early childhood education...

Happy Homecoming Friday!

I want to begin by thanking everyone for their hard work and dedication this week, especially those who have been deeply involved in the homecoming activities. Your commitment to making these events a success does not go unnoticed, and I truly appreciate all the time and effort that has gone into ensuring a memorable experience for our students and community. In addition, our district’s performance targets are currently being updated, reflecting our ongoing commitment to academic excellence and growth and now we have more data to help us with that.

The fi...

Happy Friday!

As we close the first quarter of the school year, I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your continued dedication and hard work. It is hard to believe how quickly the first nine weeks have flown by, and we have accomplished a great deal in that short time. From implementing new initiatives to fostering student growth in the classroom, our collective efforts have shaped a positive start to the year. This Week 9 Wrap-up will allow us to reflect on where we stand after the first quarter, review our progress, and...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up another productive week, I want to take a moment to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for the hard work and dedication you continue to demonstrate. Your commitment to our students and community remains unwavering, and it is reflected in the ongoing work toward meeting our discipline and attendance performance targets. While discipline referrals continue to present challenges, we are seeing improvement in our attendance rates, thanks to your continued efforts. Additionally, we were informed by DESE that we will be receiving our ATLAS results within the next two weeks. I...

Happy Friday!

As we close out another productive week at Mena Public Schools, I want to express my deep appreciation for the energy, commitment, and heart each of you brings to our school community. Your efforts continue to drive us forward, and it is through your hard work that we can make a meaningful impact on our students, staff, and families as we strive to reach our performance targets. Thank you for all that you do every day to support our shared mission and vision—we will keep pushing forward together!

A word about this ye...

Happy Friday!

Welcome to this week's Bearcat Wrap-up! As we move through another busy and productive week at Mena Public Schools, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the hard work and dedication of our students, staff, and families. I have started tracking progress of our current performance targets focus on discipline and attendance, once again, with the same target numbers as last year: 93.5 percent attendance and a ten percent decrease in discipline referrals. Our academic performance will not be tracked until we have our ATLAS results from the spring and the screeners. We know that...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up this week, I want to sincerely thank everyone for all of your hard work and the sacrifices you’ve made. Your dedication to our students and our school community does not go unnoticed, and it is because of each of you that we continue to make strides in all areas.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to take a moment to reflect on what drives us. Our motivations are the foundation of the commitment we bring to our roles each day. Also, I will highlight some of the chan...

Happy Friday!

Thank you to everyone for your continued dedication and hard work this week. Your efforts make all the difference in the success of our students. I would especially like to thank those who have been working tirelessly to deliver the preliminary ATLAS tests. Your commitment to providing high-quality assessments ensures we start the year with a strong understanding of our students' needs. But remember, it is not how we start that is most important but how we finish.

This Wrap-up is about our continual focus on excellence in Tier 1 instruction, maintaining our safety...

Happy Friday!

Thank you all for your continued hard work and dedication as we navigate the start of this school year. With new guidelines and rules from the department coming into play, your adaptability and commitment are more important than ever. September is a pivotal month, and having a strong start in our academic efforts will set the tone for the entire year. As we conduct our start-of-year screening assessments, the baseline performance data we gather will be critical in establishing our academic goals and ensuring we meet the needs of all our students. Your focus on...

Happy Friday!

I want to start this week's Wrap-up by thanking each of you for your hard work and dedication throughout the week. Your efforts make a difference as we kick off the school year. In this Wrap-up, I will share some reflections on the back-to-school process, discuss the growing cell phone-free school movement across the nation, and highlight some opportunities for additional pay. I will also emphasize the importance of engaging students in conversations about what they are reading and providing updates on our sick leave bank.

Thank you to everyone who took the...

Happy Friday!

The first Friday of the school year is here, and I feel like I just wrote about the last Friday of last year. Time does fly. I want to take a moment to sincerely thank all of our teachers, bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, office staff, paraprofessionals, maintenance staff, administrators, techs, volunteers, and all other school employees for the incredible work you have done throughout the summer leading up to our first day. Your dedication and preparation ensured that everything went smoothly, allowing us to start this year on the right foot. Good job!<...

Happy Last Day!

Although this is not the last day for several of you, it is for most. But, as we conclude another remarkable year at Mena Public Schools, it is with great pride that we reflect on our journey and accomplishments. This year, our focus was on achieving specific performance targets that would enhance the educational experience for our students and foster a culture of excellence within our community. Through the unwavering dedication of our staff, the enthusiasm of our students, and the supportive involvement of our parents and community members, we have made significant strides...

Happy Final Friday!

Welcome to this week's Bearcat Wrap-up! With only three school days remaining, we conclude another productive week at Mena Public Schools. I extend my deepest appreciation for everyone's hard work and commitment. This week, we celebrate the outstanding achievements of our students in the final days of the school year and recognize the unwavering support of our parents and community members. Each accomplishment this week reflects our district's performance targets and embodies our mission to prepare every student for success, supporting our vision of fostering a confident, capable community. Thank you for your relentless...

Happy Friday!

Welcome to this week's Bearcat Wrap-up! With only eight school days remaining, we conclude another productive week at Mena Public Schools, I extend my deepest appreciation for everyone's hard work and commitment. This week, we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our senior class and the dedication of our educators during Teacher Appreciation Week. Each milestone reached this week reflects our district's performance targets and embodies our mission to prepare every student for success, supporting our vision of fostering a confident, capable community. Thank you for your relentless effort and enthusiasm, which propel us toward these...

Happy Friday!

Welcome to this week's Bearcat Wrap-up! As we conclude another productive week at Mena Public Schools, I extend my deepest appreciation for everyone's hard work and commitment. This week, we celebrate our diligent Child Nutrition department on School Lunch Hero Day, reflect on the enriching experiences provided by early career exposure activities, and commend the strong finishes of our baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Each of these highlights aligns with our performance targets and supports our mission to prepare students and our vision of fostering a confident community. Thank you for helping us move closer...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up another productive week, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to each of you for your dedication and hard work. Your efforts continue to make a significant impact on our school’s performance targets and fulfill our mission and vision to impact our community. In this week's update, we delve into several key areas that are essential to our collective success. We will discuss the newly implemented roster verification procedures, provide insights into the Teacher Value-Added Growth Scores (TVAGS) module, and evaluate our efforts to apply these systems fairly and beneficially ac...

Happy Friday!

Welcome to the Week 32 Wrap-up! As we near the end of another enriching school year, our community continues to thrive, filled with vibrant events and significant achievements. Thank you for all you did this week! This week, we celebrated the arrival of our future Kindergartners with a big registration event, cheered on our students at the Special Olympics, and watched more of our students set the finality of our instruction in state ATLAS testing. Additionally, we finalized this year’s yearbook, selected our Choir Spotlight Singers, and continued to excel in our athletic programs. Each ev...

Happy Friday!

To the entire Bearcat Family, thank you for your dedication and hard work this week as we push forward to meet our performance targets and fulfill our mission and vision. With just 27 days left in the school year, it is crucial that we maintain our momentum and uphold our high standards to maximize the positive impact on our students.

As scholarship season is upon us, this week we turn our focus to an exciting and crucial time for many of our students. Scholarships open doors to new opportunities and are essential in supporting...

Happy Friday!

To the entire Bearcat Family, thank you for your efforts this week to draw us closer to our performance targets and accomplish our mission and vision! There are only 31 days left in the school year for us to do our greatest amount of good for our students so it is ever important that we continue our pace and keep expectations high.

This week, we are casting a well-deserved spotlight on the pillars of our educational community: our assistant principals, librarians, and paraprofessionals. These dedicated professionals go above and beyond to create an inclusive...

Happy Friday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break! This first week of the last quarter started very well with our professional development at the Ouachita Center on Monday. I want to start by extending my deepest gratitude to all staff members at Mena Public Schools for your unwavering dedication and hard work. Your commitment is the backbone of our progress toward our performance targets and instructional vision that was delivered to you all on Monday. As we navigate through this spring season, we are reminded of the importance of growth and adaptation, themes central...

Happy Friday!

As we approach the eagerly anticipated Spring Break at Mena Public Schools, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to every one of our staff members for their unwavering dedication and effort. Your hard work is vital in helping us advance toward our performance targets, mission, and vision. The rest and renewal we embrace this break is not just a pause but a preparation to maintain momentum towards our collective year-end success. In this week's Wrap-up, we reflect on the significance of balance—how taking time to recharge is essential for sustaining our drive and ef...

Happy Friday!

As we close another week at Mena Public Schools, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all our dedicated staff members for the incredible work done throughout the week to reach our performance targets, mission, and vision. Your commitment to fostering a supportive and enriching environment for our students did not go unnoticed, especially the Read Across America activity. This week, our Wrap-up focuses on crucial educational strategies that are essential for the success of our students and the efficiency of our teaching methods. We will delve into defining Tier I instruction, underscoring the...

Happy Friday!

As we reflect on the strides we have made in Week 26 and look forward to the remaining fifty instructional days, it is clear that our collective efforts are bearing fruit, bringing us closer to our performance targets, mission, and vision. We have fallen below the 93.5 percent target for attendance and I have shared in previous Wrap-ups why our discipline numbers will be higher this year. Our academics are improving, however, and this progress is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire school community.

There are still many days in...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up Week 25 of our academic year, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated staff at Mena Public Schools. Your continuing commitment and tireless efforts have been instrumental in steering our students toward our district performance targets. As we continue to foster a culture of excellence and learning, this week we turn our focus to a cornerstone of educational and personal development—reading practice. Emphasizing the importance of literacy, we encourage our Bearcats to immerse themselves in reading, a skill that not only enhances academic achievement but also opens do...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week! Week 24 encapsulates a week filled with remarkable achievements across our school community, from the collective pride in our Special Olympics heroes and the recognition of our innovative Alternative Education program to the joyous celebration of a dedicated volunteer's 90th birthday and the steadfast journey of our bus drivers ensuring every student’s safe passage. Also, we can now retrieve data from COGNOS again, so our performance targets have been updated.

Special Olympics

This week, our Special Olympics athletes showcased their incredible talents, de...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you did this week for our students and each other! I am sorry to inform you that our data system, COGNOS, is still down so updates to our performance are not completely available and we still await some assessment results for the academic portions of our performance targets. Nevertheless, our resolve to increase learning and attendance while decreasing discipline issues continues. Thank you!

In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to emphasize the need for personal reflection and growth by highlighting the broader scope of research in education and ou...

Happy Friday!

I want to express my deepest appreciation for all of your hard work and dedication this week. COGNOS, the state data reporting system, has been down since last Friday and there are still academic assessments to finish, so there are no updates but your efforts to reach our performance targets have not gone unnoticed. We are still collecting walkthrough observation data of our own and from the Bailey Group and continue to be encouraged by the level of effort being put forth in our classrooms. Your resilience and commitment to excellence ensure that our students...

Before getting the the Wrap-up, it is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that we share the news of the unexpected passing of Sonja Stueart, our esteemed School Resource Officer at Holly Harshman Elementary. Sonja was not just a guardian of safety; she was a cherished member of our school family, beloved by staff and students alike. Her dedication to our school went beyond her role, touching many lives with her kindness and commitment. Her absence leaves a void in our hearts and our halls. We extend our deepest sympathies to her family, friends, and all who knew...

Happy Friday!

This week at Mena Public Schools, we have experienced a whirlwind of events, quite literally! Our week was as brief as a snowflake's journey, starting and ending on Friday due to a picturesque yet pesky blanket of ice and snow that chilled our town from Sunday through Thursday. It is not every week that our calendar looks like a sandwich with the bread missing, but we made the most of our one-day week with enthusiasm and warmth, melting away any icy blues!

Please be aware that more winter weather is predicted for this...

Happy First Friday of 2024!

Welcome back! I hope you all had a festive yet restful Christmas Break and are ready to continue our progress for this school year. The Spring Semester is an intense time bringing a heightened sense of intensity compared to the fall. This period is marked by a rapid acceleration in academic rigor, as students delve deeper into their curricula, building upon the foundational knowledge established in the previous months. Academically, it's a crucial time for ATLAS testing preparations, where we determine what level of impact we had on our students. The semester is...

Happy Wednesday!

I am proud to congratulate each of you for the academic achievements our students have gained this semester. Your dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment to our students' education have yielded exceptional academic results, as detailed in our latest update.

In our K-5 grades, the growth in reading skills has been phenomenal. Every student showed progress, with an average growth ranging from 51 to 83 points, surpassing the 60-point benchmark that signifies advancement to the next level. This is a testament to your effective teaching strategies, adherence to plans and curriculum, and the nurturing learning environment...

Happy Friday!

It is the last Friday of the fall semester and it has come upon us very quickly! Thank you for all you have done this week as we approach the end. I know that these closing days leading up to a break are busier as we wrap things up and I appreciate all of the effort that has been put forth to make learning happen.

Our performance targets have been updated but the academic data is not all in because of our assessment window still being open. That information will be reported to...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week to reach our performance targets for the year. Our trends in discipline and attendance continue on the same trajectories but we will have some academic updates by next week to see if our other efforts are paying off.

There is not much to write about this week; so, this Wrap-up will be all about the instructional data that has been collected in anticipation of our end-of-semester academic updates.

Data Update

Several more classroom walkthroughs have occurred since I last provided...

Happy Friday!

Thanks for all you did this week to model for our students the concept of lifelong learning! Working with Bailey Group, Solution Tree, and DESE consultants has caused much professional conversation about how to hone our abilities to make sure our students are getting what they need to be prepared and successful. It is a never-ending cycle of planning, doing, checking, and reflecting. As we continue our work, we will embrace these enriching experiences and collaborative efforts, ensuring that every step we take is a stride toward excellence in education and a brighter future for...

Happy Friday!

Fridays before long breaks are even better Fridays and I hope yours has been good. Thank you for all you have done this week. Our academic updates for our performance targets will be done next month but our other trends continue on the same trajectory, which is good for attendance but bad for discipline. The district PLC team has started looking deeper into the discipline data for insights in hopes of finding ways we might reverse the trend. But as we head into this well-deserved break, we will carry with us a sense of accomplishment...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for another week of teaching and learning! Our performance targets are continuing with the same trends as last week for attendance and behavior. Our academic reports’ hard data should be updated in December and January. That is the data that is gathered from across all students at all grade levels. Not all of the data is in yet but early indicators show that we are seeing growth coming from Tier 2 intervention data.

This Wrap-up is intended to update you all on the LEARNS workgroups’ progress for Early Learning, Career Readiness, and Acco...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for a successful Week 12! We are on day number 55 with 115 remaining. Our performance targets have been updated for the week and show that we are staying on track in attendance, but our discipline referrals were up again by 11 percent.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to focus on all of us being reflective practitioners who use data to guide instruction by comparing what we do to other professions.

Technicians and Engineers

To begin this week a team of K through 5 teachers and administrators met with a re...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for your efforts this week! It was a good week - a short week - and although not quite as eventful as last week we still have much to reflect on. It began with our Ladycat Volleyball team in the state tournament, a very successful Louise Durham Fall Carvinval, Red Ribbon Week activities, and the Middle School Fall Dance, and ended with day number 50 of the school year. A big thanks go out to all of you who made these things happen for our students!

Our performance targets for Attendance and...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week to balance the celebratory events with our regular work to educate students. As far as I know, there has never been a week like this at Mena Public Schools when we have an international film crew doing a documentary and our Governor establishes her administration here to tour and operate. It has been quite a memorable week.

Our performance targets are up-to-date and what is most notable is a 10.5 percent increase in discipline referrals in the last two weeks. That is really not a...

Happy Friday!

Thank you, again, for the hard work and effort in Week 9! As mentioned in the heading, our current state of progress is clearer and even though we have some data sets yet to be complete, our target dashboard is complete and useful for keeping track of our district’s overall progress. Our work is cut out for us as we strive to reach our performance targets.

This week’s Wrap-up has no overall theme but will be a hodgepodge of information.

The Right to Read

The Right to Read film...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week to help us reach our district targets and work toward your professional goals, as well. As we wrap up another exciting week of exploration and discovery, our journey through the world of data has been nothing short of enlightening. Week 8 and the weeks to follow will be all about peeling back the layers and looking beyond the surface to reveal the intricate narratives and valuable insights concealed within the data we have.

Making Sense of the Data

We recently received our building...

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up Week 7 and our first 31 days of the school year, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for everyone's tireless efforts in fulfilling our district's mission. Teachers, staff, and administrators are going above and beyond to meet our district’s performance targets and create an effective learning environment. This week, we have reached a significant milestone with the release of our state-issued school report card, a valuable tool for assessing our strengths and areas for growth.

In addition to the state's evaluation, we have also gathered invaluable feedback from our co...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all the effort put into Week 6! It has been a productive week here at Mena Public Schools as our District Targets are beginning to come to light and building plans are being implemented. Our Walkthrough data is becoming very informative to us as to the teaching that is happening throughout the district. This information is helpful to all of us because if we know where we are going and we stay on the right path, we will reach our destination.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to emphasize the im...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have endured this week to accomplish the mission of our school district! We are already a month into this school year and our pace and rhythm are starting to set in. Across our school district, teachers, staff, and administrators are putting in tireless hours and immense effort to create a nurturing and effective learning environment for our students. Our community recognizes and deeply appreciates this dedication, understanding that it takes a collective effort to shape the future leaders of tomorrow.

Everyday Valor

At tonight’s football ga...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all that you did this week to further establish a good tone and high expectations for the new school year. The back-to-school issues of the past do not seem to be as prominent this year, but I do not want to take anything for granted so, please, take a little time to give us some feedback on the start of school. We will be asking our community the same question in a different Thought Exchange to compare your thoughts to theirs.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I will tell you ab...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all of your efforts this week. I hope that your routines are starting to be settled and that your students are getting back into the learning mode. We have had a good week at Mena Public Schools. Just as noted in last week’s Wrap-up, the district leadership PLC has met and is working toward establishing our district goals for the year. We are also planning this year’s budget.

In this Wrap-up, I will provide some insight and information related to both of these tasks and other tidbits of help...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you did this week to successfully complete the first full week of our new school year. Getting through the first full week is tough enough without the added heat wave but we have dealt with it patiently and will be getting some much-needed relief from the weather next week.

In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to share some insights gained from Mrs. Buckley’s first LEARNS workgroup meeting for school accountability and provide other tidbits that may be of interest to you.

A Shift in the Purp...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all of the hard work and effort in the days leading up to last Wednesday and our students’ first day of school for the 23-24 school year! These first three days have been rather smooth with only minor issues that were easily resolved or are being resolved. This speaks to the foresight each of you used to prepare to begin school with our students as your focus.

This Wrap-up will be short as I only have a few things to update you on.

Our Academic Goals

Th...

Happy Friday!

This is the last Friday of the school year and the last Wrap-up, too.

Tomorrow will be graduation day for the class of 2023 and our culminating event to put our product into the marketplaces of the world. Although much of the fanfare takes place at the high school, each one of you who taught these graduates from Pre-K to twelfth grade, had the academic and social influence that it took to get them to this stage of life. Not only the teachers but also the paraprofessionals, food service workers, bus drivers, maintenance, tech...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you did this week! In case you missed it in our District Updates done by Ms. Albin’s journalism students, here is a message to teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. Our Facebook has been full of posts about the appreciation shown to you all by our community partners and parents. It has been a really good week of appreciation, reflection, and planning to bring us to the final full week of school next week, along with the anticipation of summer and a new school year full of accomplishments!

Speaking of...

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week! All of the efforts we have put into our students have been recorded in the ACT Aspire testing portal. Testing our students satisfies what the state asks of us as far as our accountability to it, but we are still accountable to ourselves and this community for using our time and resources in the most effective ways to make sure our students (their children) are successful.

The trending of our District Goals is about the same; however, I can tell the end of the...

Happy Friday!

Besides the ending of April and the last full month of the 2022-2023 school year, this week also brought us closer to the end of our ACT Aspire testing window. The hay is nearly in the barn, as they say, and we will see how much impact we made on our students this year sometime in late June or early July. Thank you for all of the work you did leading up to this testing time and please continue to concentrate on this year’s District Goals using every bit of the time we have to...

Happy Friday!

This has been a very busy week for all of us with a lot of good news and results in all that has happened. Thank you for all of the progress you have made toward our district goals! I was happy to report to the School Board on Tuesday that 73 percent of our students are ‘on-level’ according to our methods of determination. This is a great testament to the work being done in all of the buildings and we should be proud of that feat. Yet, we still have work to do for those students who...

Happy Friday!

This is been a very busy week here at Mena Public Schools. Thank you all for all that you have done this week. Our goals are important, but to Wrap-up this week the primary thanks go out to everyone who is giving our students opportunities through numerous activities that took place.

In this Wrap-up I will rehash information from the meetings that took place at each building this week and follow up with all the things we are doing that make learning fun and meaningful.

Salaries

Thanks to all...

Happy Thursday!

We have a short week and a long weekend due to Good Friday. I hope you have had a good week despite the sadness that came from the loss of one of our students. Amanda Tolbert’s funeral was today. Despite the somber mood, it was very good to see many of our school staff attending to offer support and condolences to the family. Many staff members have poured their time, energy, and emotion into that situation, and the district thanks them for that effort. Even though we are suffering heartache over losing a student, it...