Episode Details

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 effort and enthusiasm, which propel us toward these important goals with each passing day.

Before we begin the Wrap-up, there is some good news about our attendance. Although we did not reach our goal of 93.5 percent, the Mena School District has demonstrated an overall improvement in attendance rates from the previous year. The overall district attendance rate improved from 92.51 percent in 2023 to 92.82 percent in 2024. While some schools and grades saw a slight decrease, the overall district performance has improved, particularly in the middle school grades, which showed notable gains. The Middle School surpassed our district goal.

Also, I wrote last week that I would be sharing the final academic numbers for the year but those will not be ready until next week. I will share those in a later Wrap-up. Note that ATLAS scores will not be released until October; so, I will only be able to share on performance targets that we have other assessments for.

Merit Pay Determination under the LEARNS Act

As part of the Governor's new LEARNS Act, the state is implementing a merit pay system for teachers. This system is designed to reward educators based on their performance and contributions to student success. As for now, only teachers who are primary teachers of record for courses linked to tested subjects are eligible. To be further eligible for merit pay, teachers must meet specific criteria:

1. Value Added Measure (VAM) Score:

- Teachers must fall into the primary category of "high impact" under the VAM, determined by the state department.

- This is based on their students' scores on the ACT Aspire, averaging the scores from 2020-2021 to 2022-2023.

- The cut score for 2022-2023 is 86.74 or higher to be considered "high impact."

2. Principal's Evaluation:

- Teachers must be rated as "effective" or "highly effective" by their principal according to the TESS standards and recorded in the Educators Effectiveness System (EES).

3. Additional Criteria:

- Teachers must also meet at least one of the following three criteria:

1. Subject Shortage: Teach a subject with a

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