Faulk's Leaders as Readers event shines

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Thirty-eight local professionals got a chance to visit the campus of Faulk Elementary for its annual Leaders as Readers event.

The professionals shared to students about their jobs and how to approach their own adult professional careers.

"This event is one of our biggest of the year," said Faulk principal Janice Donald. "We always have tremendous response from the community to come in and speak to our students."

The list includes Ervie Jackson, Kevin Jordan, Eric Johnson, Lawrence Perkins, William Milliner, Safondra Thomas, Braxton Stokes, Goeffery Williams, Cameron King, Sierra Harris, Constance Brown, Natasha Williams, Natasha Jackson, Von Gretchen Robinson, Donnaire Granger, Lavona Hargrove, Anita Wilson, Darrell Anthony and D'James Rogers II.

Also, Dr. Chasity Dean-Anthony, Jonathan Lanes, Unika Mack, Jermaine Jackson, Tekela Coleman, Richard L. Crawford, Alfreda Page, Angie Weems, Bruce Peden, Richard McDonald, Stacy Allen, Katina Griffin, Angela Barber, Courtney Chatt, Tynesha Bohanon, Mollie Johnson, Viola Collins and Clemith Prackett.

GT program thrives under McClure

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis School District's Gifted and Talented program recently held its annual luncheon for administrators and parents.

Annette McClure, the GT coordinator, presented all the projects being worked on inside the program. The GT program is an all-inclusive program for identified gifted students in grades 3-12. The program provides enrichment beyond the classroom.

Also, K-2 classes receive whole-class enrichment that is designed to assist in the identification of potential GT students.

At the end of the second-grade year all students are given the NNAT, a non-verbal test of reasoning, and the Williams Test, also a non-verbal test of reasoning. In addition, scores from the ITBS (for second-graders) and ACT Aspire (for grades 3-12) along with core subject grades are used to determine if a student qualifies for the GT program.

GT programs are mandated by the Arkansas State Board of Education in Little Rock.

These programs are designed to enhance and enrich the learning experience for students who possess above average abilities, task commitment and creativity.

The WMSD staff also includes facilitators Marianne Cupples in K-2, Shelley Crosthwait in third grade, Kristen Bernard in fourth grade, Amy Holt in fifth grade and Sara Hays in sixth grade.

Richland cited for OEP Awards

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Richland Elementary has once again been singled out for its excellence in education on a state-wide level.

Richland won three awards at the annual Office for Education Policy ceremony at the University of Arkansas. The ceremony highlights the highest-performing schools in the state.

Richland won Northeast Region Overall High Achieving, Northeast Region ELA High Achieving and Northeast Region Science High Achieving. The awards were based on test scores such as ACT Aspire.

"My comment is always you surround yourself with great people, great things happen," said principal Gwen Looney. "Our instructional leaders are the heartbeat of our school as well as our assistant principal. If you have great teachers and great parents, you have a great school."

The awards are also based on the OEP-created "school GPA," calculated on the basis of the percentage of students that perform at each level on the 2016 ACT Aspire math, ELA and science.

At Richland, Margie McCollum is the K-2 literacy coach, Jennifer Smith is the K-6 math coach and Debbie Hoggard is the 3-6 literacy coach.

Looney said her staff has learned to adapt on the fly this year because of major construction at the school.

"Every day there is a new element," Looney said, referring to the construction challenges. "But we've handled it well, I think, and when the construction is done it is going to look so beautiful."

Hoggard said Richland has benefited greatly from Dr. Ken Stamatis, professor at Harding University. Stamatis is a consultant to the West Memphis School District in literacy. Also the school's PTO has committed to buying books for the classrooms and also the book rooms.

Blue Devils ousted by Pine Bluff in OT

By Billy Woods

WM School District

PEARCY --- As Chris Moore's last-second three-point attempt bounded off the rim at the buzzer, the West Memphis Blue Devil basketball season came to a disappointing end.

The Blue Devils suffered four overtime turnovers and it led to a 47-44 loss to Pine Bluff here Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state tournament.

Head coach Larry Bray didn't skirt the issues that plagued his team all night. The Blue Devils had 17 turnovers, including 10 in the second half. Pine Bluff had 7 miscues all night.

"This is very disappointing," said a dejected Bray. "We made some turnovers at crucial times. We can't blame anyone but ourselves."

West Memphis struggled out of the gate as Bray changed up his starting five for the state tournament. It put the Blue Devils in an early 6-0 hole four minutes into the game when the Blue Devil boss inserted regular starters Sidney Stinson, Zachary Byrd and Kelsey Hubbard.

"This was the group that we started with earlier in the year and we were successful with it, so it wasn't like it was a new group," Bray explained. "What we'd been trying to do during the year is get more players ready to play. We thought we'd have more fresher guys to finish the game."

West Memphis, which ends the season with a still dazzling 24-6 record, struggled all game to gain an offensive rhythm. Finally, with 2:0-8 left in regulation, ninth-grader Chris Moore, who led the Blue Devils with 15 points and 11 rebounds, hit a layup to give his team a two-possession lead (40-36).

But the key play of the game followed in which Pine Bluff junior Kendrick Thorn, who paced his team with 15 points, drove the lane for a basket while being fouled.

Thorn converted the three-point play and just like that the Blue Devil lead was in jeopardy.

Thorn followed that up with a steal near mid-court and hit a layup with 1:38 to play to give the Zebras a 41-40 lead.

"We were calling plays to run and it wasn't there, so we ended up forcing it," said Bray. "I've always told them if the play isn't there just to back out and reset. But we just wanted to force the issue."

Byrd split a pair of free throws with one minute left in regulation to tie the game at 43-43, which was the score at the end of regulation.

In overtime, Stinson, who pumped in 12 points, split a pair of free throws and gave the Blue Devils their last lead at 44-43.

That would be all the West Memphians would get the rest of the game.

West Memphis' fortunes took a big hit when Thorn again victimized the Blue Devils. His basket off a spin move with 27 seconds to play gave the Zebras a 45-44 lead. Then the Blue Devils misfired on the inbounds play and the Zebras stole the ball.

The Blue Devils then suffered their final turnover on the night with 7.1 seconds left.

Moore's final desperation heave from 30 feet bounded off the rim.
Hubbard added 5 points for the Blue Devils while sophomore Cavin Paige and Byrd each scored 4.

Sheridan ends Lady Devils' season

By Billy Woods

WM School District

PEARCY --- West Memphis girls coach Shelia Burns was steamed here Thursday after watching her team eliminated from the Class 6A state tournament.

Sheridan bludgeoned the Lady Devils from the free-throw line and the Lady Yellow Jackets took a 50-42 quarterfinal victory. The free-throw disparity was the main source of Burns' displeasure. Sheridan sank 28 of 32 free throws while the Lady Devils (17-15) had 6 free-throw attempts, making just 2. "Quote this...the elements were against us," Burns said, tersely. "This should never happen in the state tournament."

The Lady Devils held Sheridan (22-6) to only three second-half field goals, but the Lady Jackets canned 18 free throws in the second half. Sheridan's last field goal of the game happened with 5:06left in the fourth quarter.

Along the way, the fouls caught up to West Memphis individually as ninth-grade center Tiara Bradley sat for much of the second half saddled with foul trouble. She fouled out with 25.4 seconds left in the game.

The Lady Devils took 15 more shots from the field than Sheridan. Still, the West Memphians hung close to the champions of the 6A-West Conference. They trailed 24-22 at halftime and then took a 26-24 lead early in the third quarter on a rebound basket from senior Ty Bullins, who scored 7 points, and a basket off a sweet spin move from Bradley.

The Lady Devils' last lead was 34-33 when ninth-grade sensation Aryah Hazley stuck back a missed shot with 6:40 to play in the game. That's when Sheridan swung the game in their favor for good. The culprits were Sheridan's duo of senior Madison Raney and sophomore Diamond Morris, who combined to run off a string of seven consecutive points to give the Jackets the momentum and a 40-34 lead with 5:06 to play in the game.

Raney led all scorers with 17 points while Morris pumped in 16.

"Everything we tried to do on defense we just weren't allowed to do," said Burns. "The game hinged on that swing midway through the fourth quarter." Actually, the Lady Devils immediately answered Sheridan's spurt with a three-pointer by senior guard Paris Perkins, who led her team in scoring with 11 points, and later senior Taylor Johnson hit another three-ball to creep the Lady Devils within 44-40 with 1:15 left. But Sheridan just would not miss from the free-throw line.

The Jackets sank all 10 of their free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, including 8 of 8 in the final 1:24.

Hazley added 10 points for the Lady Devils while Bradley stuck in 8.

Lady Devils Over Greenwood

By Billy Woods

WM School District

PEARCY --- The transition from junior high to high school basketball has been no big deal for Aryah Hazley.

The ninth-grade West Memphis point guard continued her assault on the older competition here Wednesday in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament by blazing the nets for a game-high 29 points in her team's 52-46 victory over Greenwood.

The Lady Devils (17-14) will face Sheridan on Thursday in a 4 p.m. quarterfinal game.

Less than 24 hours after her junior high career was capped by leading her Wonder Lady Lions to a conference championship Hazley was moved up to varsity high school ball and the transition has been seamless. If anything, it's made her step up her game. Hazley is averaging 19.2 points in four high school games. "I play with a lot of the (varsity) players in AAU, so I'm used to playing with them," said Hazley, who hit 10 of 12 free throws. "It's different at times because the level of play is better, but it's been OK."

Hazley made 4 of 4 free throws in the final 1:30 of the game to seal the outcome. After Greenwood (15-16) battled back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to make it a one-possession game with 40 seconds left, West Memphis senior Nikki Higgs split a pair of charity shots to make it 50-46. Hazley then clinched the contest with a pair of foul shots with 14.1 seconds left.

Head coach Shelia Burns went with a smaller lineup in the second half for more quickness and it paid off in the Lady Devils forcing 15 Greenwood turnovers, including 6 in the fourth quarter. "It was a guard game," Burns said. "Our bigs did a good job in the first half, but we felt like we could run on (Greenwood).. We put our big girls back in there for a brief period in the third quarter, but we got stagnant, so we went back to our smaller group and it paid off."

Fellow ninth-grader Tiara Bradley made her presence felt in the first half, blocking three shots without even leaving the floor. She also scored 4 points. West Memphis led 19-15 at halftime after hitting only 7 of 24 field-goal attempts. But the Lady Devils dominated the boards all day, outrebounding Greenwood 35-23. Hazley contributed 6 rebounds to her effort.

A Hazley three-pointer with 52 seconds to play in the third quarter gave the Lady Devils a 12-point cushion (36-24) heading into the fourth quarter. After back-to-back layups by Hazley and senior guard Paris Perkins, who scored all 12 of her points in the second half, the West Memphis girls held their biggest lead of the day at 40-26 with just over seven minutes left in the game.

But the Lady Devils spread their offense and they stopped attacking with over five minutes left in the game. That allowed the Lady Bulldogs to creep back into the game. Greenwood made 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to spur its rally. Hazley, however, took over the final four minutes of the game by hitting all 6 of her free-throw attempts. "I missed two (in the first half) and I was thinking I was going to miss (late in the game)," Hazley added. "But I focused on what I was doing and made them."

Senior center Ty Bullins added 4 points for the Lady Devils while Higgs scored 3. Sarah Reeves paced the Greenwood attack with 12 points while Kyiah Julian scored 10.

Senior Night is Thursday for Blue Devil hoops

The West Memphis Blue Devil basketball teams will be in action on Tuesday and Thursday of this week for the regular-season finales.
West Memphis will host Valley View at Lehr Arena on Tuesday before taking on Nettleton on Thursday for Senior Night at Lehr Arena.
Tuesday's game will begin at 6 p.m. with the girls game.
Blue Devil seniors will be recognized on Thursday between the girls varsity and the boys varsity games.
Also, 6A-East Conference coaches will meet on Wednesday of this week to vote on seedings for the upcoming conference tournament. The tournament will not be played at one site. Teams with the better seed will host its opponent. The tournament will begin on Saturday.

AWM squad wins GREC Quiz Bowl

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The Academies of West Memphis quiz bowl team swept right through the competition last week at the annual Great Rivers Educational Co-op tournament at Forrest City on the campus of East Arkansas Community College.

AWM went 6-0 in the round robin tournament to win the championship. The Blue Devils posted wins over Palestine-Wheatley, Brinkley, Clarendon, Barton and Helena-West Helena.

"These are some of the most talented kids I've worked with in a while," said AWM quiz bowl coach Dewanda Kirkland. "All of my seniors are uber-talented in band and other extra-curriculars and so I have to share them, but I do that willingly because I want them to be as well-rounded as possible."

Kirkland used all juniors and sophomores for the regional competition because seniors Jason Scott (captain), Joshua Foster, Ervin Jeffries and Dawson Mathis were at the regional band clinic.

The team of Lee Pouncey, captain Byron Emerson, Tyler Dye, Jordan Young, Kobie McCoy, Malik Barnes, Wallace Crain, Bradley Flippo and Teresa Miller dominated the competition at EACC.

Kirkland said her team has various areas of expertise. Emerson, she said, is solid in math and science, Young is strong in literature, Scott is strong in math, science and history and Foster is strong in history and chemistry.

"Bradley (Flippo) keeps asking me when are there going to be some sports questions," Kirkland said with a laugh. "I said, 'honey, this is Quiz Bowl."'

OURschools - NEW RELEASE

VOLUME 1 - Issue 1 of OURschools released today!  West Memphis School District's latest media publication shares just a few of the great things happening at WMSD! www.wmsd.net/ourschools

Spring sports meeting Wednesday

There will be a meeting between coaches and parents of athletes in West Memphis spring sports on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Academies of West Memphis' Performing Arts Center.
All parents are urged to attend.

Richland robotics team stand out in competitions

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The Richland Bot Builders, a rookie First Lego League robotic team, competed against 23 other teams in a qualifying round on Jan. 14 at Christian Brothers University.

The won one of only five certificates of recognition and received an invitation to the West Tennessee Championship. Richland competed in the championship against 48 teams at the University of Memphis Jan. 21. The team was elated to win first place for their Innovative Solution that benefits people and animals.

Bot Builder team member, Emily Thorne, said this was an experience that she will never forget.

"Every time you are working with robots it feels like you are an engineer, but what's awesome about it is that you are an engineer. I'm just a fifth-grade engineer."

The team was judged in four categories: Robot Design, Core Values, A Project and Robot Races.

After building and programming their autonomous robot, the team raced in three rounds to earn points by completing missions designed to help animals and people. The team was able to deliver a shark in a tank to a set location, attach a disabled pig's prosthetic legs, deliver a trainer and zoologist to a training base and depress a barrier for a seeing eye dog and its owner in just two-and-a-half minutes.

The team also demonstrated skills in mechanical design, programming efficiency and strategy and innovation in their robot design interview.

The Core Values were judged through an interview focusing on how the team collaborated, problem solved and compromised.

Nicholas King, a rookie team member, said, "What robotics mean to me is teamwork, trust and learning from each other.

With a nationwide push to increase Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Richland coach Amanda Webb says that robotics encompass all aspects of STEM.

"Just ask one of our team members or their family about this experience," said Webb. "Their response is all the encouragement we need to try to extend and expand this program."

The team is seeking supportive partnerships to increase students' exposure to robotics, coding and STEM

"My robotics experience was amazing and I hope more people get to have this experience," said team member Meredith Grafton.

WMSD school choice deadline: May 1

The West Memphis School District Participation in the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2015:

Parents and legal guardians of children residing outside the West Memphis School District who are interested in sending their child/children to the West Memphis School District for the 2017-18 school year may pick up and application at the WMSD Central Office located on 301 South Avalon.

The Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2015 provides a process by which parents may apply for the admission of their child to attend a school in a district outside the district in which the parent resides.

The parent must first submit an application to the selected non-resident district. The application must be on a form approved by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The application must be submitted or postmarked no later than May 1 of the year in which the student would begin the fall semester at the non-resident school district.

Applications do not have to be resubmitted for students currently attending the WMSD under the Arkansas Public School Choice Act. The notice complies with all provisions of the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2015.