PEA RIDGE — With the faculty, staff, administration and supporters coming together Monday for a last day pizza luncheon and farewell tribute to those retiring or leaving the Pea Ridge district, the 2011-2012 school year came to a close.
School superintendent Dr.
Roland Smith addressed the audience, counting off the things that the students and faculty had accomplished during the year. As the list was rather long, I won’t reproduce them here.
For my part, the biggest thing that took place this year was the change in folks’ way of thinking. From the students up or the administration down, there has been a greater attitude switch from what is to what could be. In my 34 years of teaching, plus my own educational experience, I have witnessed such a thing very few times.
School morale is an important thing and the interim superintendent has worked wonders in improving that vital statistic.
Relating to the athletics program, a school’s sporting program to a large degree reflects school and student morale. Great athletes come and go, but schools with great morale and positive environments usually have competitive sporting programs on steady basis. Valley View schools to the east of Arkansas is a wonderful place for teachers and students, and they are highly competitive in everything, from sports to musical activities, to academic prowess.
With the possibility of a new football field and track, along with all the other physical improvements that have aided the development of Pea Ridge schools, it is now a place that people want to move into and to take part.
The Gravette School District had an incredibly upbeat leader of their school district some time back and their school went from “hum drum average” to one of the best in just a short period of time.
The superintendent moved on, but the school hasn’t lost that attitude, something Ithink will be replicated here.
As I have said before in this space, I fully believe that 2012-2013 is going to be a banner year athletically for Pea Ridge High School.
Things are going to happen next year that will be unprecedented, at least to the Pea Ridge District. Thank you Dr. Smith, for being here this year.
As School Board president Josh Ramsey said to the crowd Monday, Dr. Smith was “the right man, at the right time, at the right place.” Here’s to wishing Dr. Smith a happy sixth retirement.
SEC tournament starts
The Razorbacks drew the sixth seed in the SEC baseball tournament this week. This year, 10 teams are in the mix in a format that, quite frankly, I have never seen before.
Arkansas led off the tourney facing the No. 7 seed Mississippi State. If they beat the Dogs, they would playLSU - only if Ole Miss lost to Kentucky. If Arkansas wins and Ole Miss wins, then they would play the winner of LSU and Kentucky. These five teams are playing a double elimination bracket which will produce a winner to play in a final game Sunday at 2:30 on ESPN.
The other five teams are No. 3 Florida, No. 10 Auburn, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 8 Georgia and No. 2 South Carolina.
LSU is the No. 1 seed with Kentucky No. 4, Arkansas No. 6, Mississippi State No. 7 and Ole Miss No. 9.
For what it’s worth, I believe that South Carolina hasn’t been seeded No. 1 in the last two SEC tournaments, but the Gamecocks have won the last two NCAAbaseball championships.
Like head coach Dave Van Horn said, “We would like to win the SEC but we don’t want to get burned out before the NCAAs.”◊◊◊
Editor’s note: John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
News, Pages 8 on 05/23/2012