Monticello Live

The following Monticello High School students auditioned for and have been selected to the Senior Southeast Arkansas All-Region Choir:

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The Monticello Forensics Team opened their competitive year at Little Rock Central’s Tiger Tournament with a 3rd place win in the student congress event and two students qualifying for the state Tournament of Champions.

Individual honors included:
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Four teachers from around the state were named finalists for the 2012 Teacher of the Year Award, by the state Department of Education, including a Monticello High School teacher.

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Mike Beebe today announced the appointment of Monticello High School Principal Kenny Pennington to the Arkansas Pygmalion Commission on Nontraditional Education.

Pennington will serve until June 30, 2015.

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Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, while making other stops in Monticello, today, visited MIS, and answered several questions asked by 4th graders, about a wide variety of topics.

The students were interested in Darr’s job, office, family, pets, and cars, among other things, but didn’t seem concerned about any political issues.

The entire 4th grade then had a group photo made, for the classes to keep as a souvenir.

Principal Kenny Pennington (MHS) presented information about becoming a STEM school to the board during Tuesday night’s regular meeting.

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Principal Tish Thomas (MES) addressed the Monticello School Board Tuesday night to ask for approval on a new grading system. In conjunction with the Common Core State Standards being used in Monticello schools, this “standards based grading” will do away with long-used percentage and letter grades.

Standards based reporting aligns with district, state, and national standards, and is presented as a more accurate portrayal of how each student is learning. Instead of traditional letter grades (A,B,C,D,F) students at MES will be given numbers 1-3 to show where they stand in progression.

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Monticello Middle School is pleased to announce our 2011 Teacher of the Year, Sherry Knight, and 2011 Master Educator, Monica Sims.

Congratulations to both of these outstanding teachers for all their hard work and dedication to the education of the students in the Monticello School District! (Pictured on the left, Mrs. Sims and on the right, Mrs. Knight)

Dear Parents of the Monticello School District,

The Monticello School District prides itself in providing a safe, secure and healthy environment for its students and patrons. At the recent Blue and White Game, there were several incidents where students were not dressed appropriately for a school activity and many were running excessively up and down bleachers, under the bleachers and the main walkway. This provides an unsafe environment for all but especially our elderly patrons.

The Monticello School District administrative staff and faculty respectfully request that parents of students in our district help us remind them to dress appropriately and conduct themselves in a way that conforms to the laws of the State of Arkansas and our district handbooks. It is especially important that our students reflect the values and standards of this community, not only at school, but at all school activities.

We appreciate your continued support of the Monticello School District and thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Respectfully,
Bob R. Harper
Superintendent

Tuesday night’s Monticello School Board meeting began with Superintendent Bobby Harper saying, “We’ve had a really good start to the year,” and thanking the Monticello Police Department for helping with traffic. He said he will ask them to assist again when UAM begins classes.

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http://www.monticellolive.com/mes-kindergarten-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/mes-1st-grade-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/mes-2nd-grade-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/mis-3rd-grade-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/mis-4th-grade-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/mis-5th-grade-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-school-supplies-kindergarten/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-school-supplies-1st-grade/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-school-supplies-2nd-grade/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-school-supplies-3rd-grade/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-school-supplies-4th-grade/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-5th-grade-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-6th-grade-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-7th-grade-school-supply-list/

http://www.monticellolive.com/dc-8th-grade-school-supply-list/

Former Monticello Schools choir director, Michael Binns. Sr, passed away Sunday, at 4:38 pm.

Binns was convicted  by a Drew County Circuit Court jury on July 14 on 2 counts of 2nd degree sexual assault,  Binns was hospitalized at Baptist Health Center in Little Rock on Wednesday, July 20, before returning to the Drew County Detention Facility on Thursday, July 21, and being transferred to the Arkansas Dept. of Corrections on Friday, July 22.

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The deadline to file for the upcoming school board election came to an end last week, with one change taking place in on the Monticello school board, and no change in store for Drew Central.

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The Arkansas Dept. of Education has released the statewide benchmark results for Arkansas school.

This link to Arkansas Dept. of Health’s website will take you to their links to the 2005-2011 Benchmark Comparisons and Annual Measurable Objectives.

Under the “Grades Results within a District, ” you can view specific results from Monticello and Drew Central districts.

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Monticello Schood Distrtict’s assistant superintendant John Hoy has accepted the possiton of assistante commissioner of the Arkansas Education Commission, effective July 1.

Hoy told MonticelloLive, this morning, “Monticello is a great place to live, with many opportunities.  People don’t realize how good Monticello is, without all of the drama and the crime, compared to many other places.”

Hoy was the feature of our One Monticello Life, last August.

He added, “This is an opportunity to have a stronger impact on education statewide, and touching more students in a psoitive way has always been my goal.”

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The student council of Monticello Middle School organized an entire week of appreciation for all the teachers at MMS.

Parents gave goodies and treats, volunteered to help serve and help with clean-up during the week for the teachers. The students wanted to show how much they appreciate their teachers for their hard work and dedication.

Also the students and teachers would like to give a big thanks to all the parents that helped made that week as special and thoughtful as possible. Thanks very much!

MonticelloLive on Vimeo.

The program for the event is attached below, including the list of graduates, speakers, and schloarships that have been awarded. (more…)

During the 2011-12 school year the Monticello School District will begin the process of implementing a new curriculum for all English and math classes. The District will join all other public schools in the state of Arkansas in teaching the “Common Core State Standards”.

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MMS EAST is very excited to have our electronic LED sign. We show important dates and it helps us get information out about our school to students and their guardians more efficiently.

“It’s really cool! I have had parents and teachers compliment on the sign and how they know what’s happening with the school,”-Mr. Martens. Some EAST students helped set the sign up and download the software. The students update the sign at least twice a week for everyone to see.

Monticello Elementary School held and Earth Day Assembly on April 22nd, to recognize the 41st annual Earth Day. Monticello Tree Board Chair Hope Bragg spoke to the children about recycling, and caring for the planet by tending to the trees in the community.

The children were visited by Smokey Bear, courtesy of the Arkansas Forestry Commission. All children from MES were provided loblolly pine trees to recognize earth day and to help green Monticello, courtesy of Potlatch and treat bags with Smokey Bear rulers, pencils and magnets. Over 500 trees were distributed this week to students in MES, Monticello Pre-K and First United Methodist Church’s Pre-K.

The students were also thanked by Mrs. Bragg for their help in the city of Monticello getting Tree City USA status for the 3rd year in a row. To be a Tree City USA, cities must spend at least $2/capita on tree care related issues, have an established tree board and tree ordinance and recognize Arbor Day every year. (more…)

Several Monticello High School students recently competed in the Regional ACTM Math Contest held at UAM. The following students took home honors:

Natalie Skinner – 1st Calculus
Ann Carol Farmer – Merit Achievement Calculus
John Bonfanti – 1st Trig/PreCal
Kristiana Tenoria – 2nd Geometry
Cody Pigott – Merit Achievement Geometry
Brittany Taylor – 2nd Algebra I

The sidewalk reaching from the Monticello High School, along Old Warren Road, to HWY 425, is nearing completion.  Portions of it have already been used.

T and T Construction has been working on the sidewalk in sections, as shown here.

The project, which provides sidewalks from the main highway to the Monticello School complex, is funded by a state highway dept. grant.

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Spring break is over, and this is worth a re-post for the MMS students, who are returning to school today.

MonticelloLive on Vimeo.

Monticello 6th grade students raised $4,773 for World Vision, to provide a water well in an undeveloped country.

Principal Jerry Martens is shown in the video swimming across the school pond, like he agreed to, if the students reached $3,100.

Also, 4 teachers agreed to spend Thursday night at school if $3,000 was reached, including Blake Abbott, who spent the night in a tent on top of the roof.

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Raya Clay a senior at Monticello High School was honored on May10, 2011 at the Sam Walton College of Business in Fayetteville, Arkansas for her achievement in East Lab and she gives special thanks to her past East Lab teacher Keturah Rush for aspiring her in computing. During her 9th grade year Raya created a video on bus safety and loves working with MAC computers.

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The National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA), a department of ACT, Inc., recognized Monticello Middle School as a 2010 NCEA Higher Performing School Monticello Middle School received Higher Performing (HP) recognition in the following areas:

• Performance Measure in Mathematics Growth

• Performance Measure in Mathematics Advanced

The Higher Performing Schools (formerly known as Just for the Kids Schools) are identified by two measures: consistent improvement in student achievement from previous years (growth) and/or absolute student achievement using the school’s advanced performance results on the spring 2010 Arkansas ABE (Augmented Benchmark Examinations). NCEA’s higher performing methodology controls for school and student demographics to allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of school achievement and to demonstrate that with the commitment of educators, all schools can have success no matter the zip code. NCEA provided award certificates to each Higher Performing School and the district.

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According to Monticello School Superintendent Bobby Harper, the district will operate with normal student interaction days on six days, to replace the six recent days lost to severe weather.

Those days are:
Monday, February 21, which was listed as President’s Day.
Monday, April 25, which was to be observed as an Easter holiday.
June 1-4, which are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Drew Central will announce their make-up schedule later.

The Gamma Beta chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a women educators’ society, has awarded a grant of $400 to Crystal Grimes a teacher at Monticello Intermediate School and Jennifer Knowles a teacher at Drew Central Elementary School. Each teacher will use the funds to purchase items for their classroom.

Shown are Joy Graham Gamma Beta President, Crystal Grimes MIS teacher, Jennifer Knowles Drew Central Elem. Teacher, Eva Arrington grant committee chair.