Mount Vernon students reflect ‘strong community’

MOUNT VERNON — With 505 students, the Mount Vernon-Enola School District is continuing to grow at a steady and comfortable rate, according to Superintendent Jason Clark.

“Small and steady growth is good,” Clark said during a year-end review concerning the school district.

There’s not a lot of rental property, he said, homes for sale or big industry in the district. The school district, he said, is the largest employer in the area with about 75 total employees — 45 certified and 30 or so support staff. His students, he said, are  reflective of a strong community base with deep roots. Clark referenced on several occasions the strong support of that community base including the board of education. Those two factors, along with long-term staff retention rates, he said, are the district’s greatest strengths.

School officials, he said, are acquainted with students’ parents as well as their extended families. 

“If something is going on with one of our kids, we can not only call the parents but also call the grandparents or aunts and uncles,” he said. “And, no one would think anything about us doing it. We have huge turnouts for everything from parent conferences to programs. Our teachers not only teach but they take care of boo-boos.”

Facilities wise, Clark said, the district has been undergoing building projects for at least the past five years. During the past four years, he said, 10 new classrooms have been constructed as well as a new consumer science building. Also, a new three-field sports complex with a price tag of about $350,000 is anticipated to be completed in February. He talked a little about a recently passed millage and the benefits.

Also, in reference to the sports complex, he said, “We have had a lot of donations there. We self-constructed there.”

On that note, he shared that school officials are excited to host the Faulkner County Junior High tournament to be held in January.

Technology wise, Clark said the school is strong thanks to the federal stimulus money. He referenced a distance learning lab as well as an East Lab.

“We have two computer labs at the high school and one at the elementary and they are all updated,” he said.  

The graduation rate is 92.32 percent, and the dropout rate in the district, Clark said, is one-percent.

“We’ve been able to keep our kids in school,” he said.

The college remediation rate is 46.2 percent. That concerns him a bit but, he said, many of the graduates choose a trade rather than attending college.

“We are striving to get more kids to attend college though,” he added. “Quite a few come back here and are bi-vocational.”

The ones who attend college, he said, generally choose a college within Arkansas. Providing additional insight, he said 21 students are taking AP courses, 31 AP exams have been taken with five scoring 3,4 or 5.

Last but not least, Clark referenced the district’s test scores.

“They are pretty good,” he said.

The district, he said, has never had a campus on the “needs school improvement” list as designated by the state Department of Education. The school is also working toward total instructional alignment “aligning our curriculum with surrounding districts,” he explained.

“I think this will benefit the students who come to our school as well as the ones who leave,” Clark said.

However, according to Clark, the educators in the district have one main goal which probably lies along the same lines as other schools.

“Our main goal is to make sure our students are proficient,” he said.

Overall, he said, about 88 percent are proficient or advanced in math and 75 percent are proficient or advanced in literature above the state level of 64 percent.

As provided by the Mount Vernon-Enola School District, the 2008-09 test results compared with the state results include the following:

Third grade

Math, MVE, 89; state 81

Literature, MVE 87, state 67

Fourth grade

Math, MVE, 84; state 78

Literature, MVE 87, state 70

Fifth grade

Math, MVE 70; state 70

Literature, MVE 76; state 68

Sixth grade

Math, MVE 82; state 79

Literature, MVE 83; state 67

Seventh grade

Math, MVE 76; state 68

Literature, MVE 80; state 63

Eighth grade

Math, MVE 66; state 61

Literature, MVE, 81; state 71

End of Course Algebra

MVE 74; state 70

End of Course Geometry

MVE 58; state 66

End of Course Literacy

MVE 52; state 57

ACT scores

MVE 21.1; state 20.6