Week 9: Checking Our Progress

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all that you have done this week as we come close to the end of the first quarter. Nine weeks ago, we set out with three performance targets: continued academic growth, attendance at or above 93.5 percent, and improvement in behavior and school climate. A full quarter is long enough to show patterns, so this week I want to look closely at two of those targets and compare where we are with the same weeks last year.

Like any good Level-Up check-in, this one comes with real progress and real work still to do. Both deserve our attention.

Attendance Through the First Quarter

Through the first quarter, our district attendance rate is 94.7 percent, above our 93.5 percent goal. At the same point last year, we were at 94.9 percent, so we are running just a little behind last year’s pace.

There is a lot to celebrate. Holly Harshman Elementary improved in every grade, and our fifth graders are now above 95 percent, a full point higher than last year. Our first, seventh, and ninth graders are also ahead of last year, and our tenth graders have the highest attendance rate in the district. Every grade but one is above our goal.

That one grade is kindergarten, and it is our biggest concern. Kindergarten attendance has dropped from 94.8 percent last year to 91.5 percent. Second grade has dipped as well, and together they pulled Louise Durham Elementary down about 1.4 points overall. Mena Middle School and Mena High School are each slightly behind last year. Within those buildings, we are watching sixth grade, the first year at the middle school, and twelfth grade, which is down almost a full point and has the lowest rate at the high school.

Kindergarten is when families build school habits, and those habits tend to last. A five-year-old cannot get himself to school. When a kindergarten student starts missing days, the most helpful thing we can do is reach the family early, with a friendly call rather than a warning letter.

The first quarter is usually our strongest stretch of the year. Last year, attendance slipped through the colder months before we finished above our goal, and starting a little behind leaves us less room to spare. If you notice a pattern, such as a student who keeps missing Mondays, call the family now to determine what the barriers to attendance may be, and we will try to help.

Behavior Through the First Quarter

Through the first quarter, we recorded 342 discipline actions, compared with 358 for the same weeks last year. That is a decrease of about 4.5 percent. It is movement in the right direction, but our goal is a 10 percent reduction, which means about 20 fewer actions than we have now. The total also hides two very different stories.

The first story is real improvement. Bus incidents dropped from 144 to 84, a 42 percent decrease and the biggest gain in the report. Thank you to our drivers, our transportation staff, and every administrator who has worked on bus behavior. Disorderly conduct dropped by more than 40 percent, from 88 to 50. Tardy-related actions fell from 15 to 2, and fights went down from 8 to 5. Parent conferences nearly tripled, bringing more families into the solution, and out-of-school suspensions stayed low, which means we are still keeping students in school whenever we can. Phone-related incidents also held level in the second year of the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act.

The second story is a concern. Outside of buses and disorderly conduct, discipline actions rose from 126 to 208, an increase of about 65 percent, and much of that growth happened in classrooms. Class disruption more than doubled, and insubordination quadrupled. Incidents of physical harm to another student rose from 2 to 25, the most serious change in the report, and vaping incidents rose from 3 to 17. In-school suspension climbed about 7 percent. That keeps students in the building, but it still keeps them out of class.

Some of this may reflect more consistent reporting, and accurate records are a good thing because they help us respond. Our building principals are looking closely at the physical harm reports to understand what is behind them. Whatever the cause, every student deserves a classroom and a playground where they feel safe and can learn.

What the Numbers Ask of Us

The bus numbers prove that focused effort works. Last year, buses were our biggest discipline challenge. This year, clear expectations and steady follow-through made a real difference, and we can bring that same approach into our classrooms.

Here are three places to start this week. First, reteach classroom expectations as if it were the first week of school. After nine weeks, routines start to slip, and a short reset now prevents a lot of problems later. Second, invest in relationships with the students who are struggling most. They usually need a trusted adult more than a harsher consequence. Third, keep thinking “45 minutes out” with families. Call home about attendance and behavior early, before small problems become referrals, and call about the good news, too. Parent Square is also a very valuable communication tool we can use to share concerns and report information to families. In fact, next week we will add automatic attendance alerts to Parent Square. This will notify families of their students’ absences on a daily basis and offer a two-way sharing of excuse notes with the offices.

A full quarter of data gives us a clear starting point. Leveling-Up means using what we learn and what to do to make the second quarter better than the first.

Blue & You Mini Grants for Student Health

If you have an idea that could help with some of these needs, there is money available. The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas offers mini grants of $1,000 to $5,000 for health initiatives in public schools. The current window is open now and closes November 30, 2026, with awards announced in December.

The School Health Initiatives category includes calming rooms, food pantry supplies, hygiene products, school supplies, financial literacy, and preventative programs. Several of these fit our first-quarter numbers. A calming room gives a struggling student a place to reset before a problem becomes a referral, and hygiene products and pantry supplies remove some of the quiet reasons students stay home. Each application covers one category; the foundation does not award partial amounts, and projects must be in place within six months. The grant cannot pay for salaries, conferences, athletic teams, or tobacco-related projects. The Mini Grant Submission Guidelines have the full details.

If you have a project in mind, please talk with your building principal first so we can coordinate applications across the district.

Closing Celebrations

Congratulations to one of our Louise Durham Elementary teachers, Robin Castor, who was nominated for the 2026–2027 SHAPE Arkansas Teacher of the Year. That honor recognizes excellence in health and physical education.

Our youngest readers are off to a great start. Through the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, fifteen of our preschool students have already read at least 100 books with their families this year, and preschool classes have begun regular visits to the Louise Durham Library. Habits like these, built at home before kindergarten even begins, carry into strong attendance and strong reading later on.

Thank you to the Mena Fire Department for visiting Louise Durham Elementary to teach fire safety ahead of Fire Prevention Week. Thank you also to the Arkansas Sheriffs Association for their Red Ribbon Week donation. Those partnerships connect what students learn in our classrooms to real careers in public service right here at home.

It was a busy week for our Bearcats and Ladycats. Bearcat Golf finished fifth at the 4A State Golf Championship, and one of our Bearcats placed third individually to earn All-State honors and a spot in the Overall Tournament on October 22. On Saturday, the senior volleyball Ladycats finished as runner-up at the Paris Tournament, and the junior Ladycats placed third in their pool at the River Valley Tournament in Greenwood before falling to Rogers in the silver bracket. The senior Ladycats went on to beat Clarksville Tuesday, 3–1, and led a clean sweep at Ozark on Thursday as all four Ladycat teams won. Please come out this Tuesday as the Ladycats host Waldron for Senior Night at the Union Bank Center. Our football Bearcats travel to Lamar tonight for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff after our seventh-grade and junior Bearcats beat Lamar last night. Mena Esports added two more wins and has a team ranked 68th in a league of more than 200. Finally, in honor of National Coaches Day, thank you to every coach who gives our student-athletes their time and leadership.

We celebrate our student singers as four Mena High School choir students earned places in the All-Region Choir and will take part in the All-Region clinic and concert in November.

Nominations are still open for the Mena Public Schools Hall of Honor, which recognizes people whose achievements, service, and character have brought lasting honor to our schools and community. If you know someone who belongs there, please nominate them.

This week in Mena Morphology Matters, our students studied sign, meaning mark. Next week’s root is log, meaning word, reason, or study. Our youngest students will meet it through think and logic, our third through fifth graders in logic, our middle school students in dialogue, and our high school students in logical, with biology, geology, and psychology available across every grade band. The Bearcat Word Detective Challenge asks students why logical thinking is important. It is a fitting root as we close the quarter. Studying our own numbers and reasoning carefully about what they mean is how we decide where to go next.

It was a good week of taking stock at Mena Public Schools.

At Mena Public Schools, our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Keep Leveling-Up, and have a great weekend!