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Smackover-Norphlet students use of school-based health center

Posted on October 27, 2016

Published by El Dorado News Times

By: Brittany Williams

SMACKOVER — The Smackover-Norphlet School Board approved two hires, recognized employees and learned about the progress of the school-based health center.

Norphlet Middle School principal Keith Coleman and Norphlet Elementary School principal Patti Vickery honored an employee and volunteer at the meeting.

Coleman awarded Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) president Tamra Pratt the “Volunteer of the Month” award for her work through the organization including sponsoring and organizing the construction of the school’s homecoming float, designing the school’s t-shirt and being a “go-to girl.”

“We all know volunteers play an important role in schools and we all want our kids to have the best that they have,” Coleman said. “Our volunteer this month has supported our school in a lot of different ways. She’s done so much and when I began to consider who I was going to choose, there wasn’t but one way to go.”

Vickery honored Norphlet first grade teacher Marilyn Winright with an “Employee of the Month” award for her dedication toward making Norphlet Elementary School “a great place to learn.”

“Her educational career spans 28 years, 23 of which were in Norphlet in a first grade class room,” Vickery said. “She has a passion for her profession and a dedication to help each child reach their potential.”

The school board approved an update to the district’s medication administration policy form.

“Due to the fact that we have the school-based health center and that there’s some updates, we wanted to update the form to make it more feasible,” special programs director Teri Philyaw said.

The Smackover-Norphlet School District officially opened its school-based health center in August. Center coordinator Candis Langley gave school board members an update on the its progress.

About 23 percent of students are enrolled in the school-based center’s system and there have been 153 students visits so far, Langley said. The center has saved almost 30 days that would’ve been missed if students used off-campus medical services.

“Enrollment is going well,” Philyaw said. “The other day I was in there (because) they were gone … I had two people come in there to pick up paperwork to enroll.”

Langley has recorded 70, 122 and 69 “encounters” for the center’s medical, mental health and dental services, respectively.

“45 of those users are medical, 61 are mental health and 46 are using the dentist. Those are unduplicated users which means that there’s 45 using the medical (services) but there may have been 70 appointments because some of those people have saw her more than once,” the coordinator said.

School board members approved district superintendent Dave Wilcox’s recommendation to hire two employees. Johnny Lambert was hired as a paraprofessional and Jane Doyle was hired to teach special education, pending background checks.

The Smackover-Norphlet School Board’s next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. November 28 in district’s central office boardroom