RISON - While the Cleveland County School District began moving tables into the new Rison School cafeteria addition on Tuesday, Superintendent Davy King said the contractor will need to return during the upcoming Labor Day holiday to re-do the floor.King said Tuesday that he and the architect on the project, Steve Elliott of Little Rock, agreed that the floor to the new addition was not acceptable, and the contractor, Brody Richardson Construction of Sheridan, agreed to return during the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend to re-sand and re-finish the floor.The Cleveland County School Board approved a bid of $865,000 from Brody Richardson Construction last December to build the addition. More than 1,700 square feet was added to the cafeteria to provide more seating space for students while also converting an existing office space into a third serving line. During the December 2023 school board meeting when the contract was awarded, former Superintendent Jerrod Williams suggested paying for the project with a combination of COVID funds, state partnership money and money from the district's building fund to pay for the project. That plan included using $372,079.85 left over from the district's federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) COVID funding, $339,325.70 in state partnership funding that was awarded for the project, and $201,591.45 from the district's building fund.Completion of the addition addresses an ongoing need for the school district. The cafeteria is used by both the elementary and high school, and it was not large enough to accommodate all the students at a reasonable lunch time. Former Superintendent Craig Dupuy pointed out that some elementary students were having lunch before 11 a.m.Teacher Recruitment PlanThe board also approved its three-year teacher recruitment plan as required by the state. Part of that plan includes the Cleveland County School District's participating ...
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