Osceola High School is receiving a one-point-three million dollar grant over a three-year period to help with teacher retention and developing strategies to boost student scores in math and literacy. The Sun Newspaper reports the funds are part of a federal school improvement grant program. Part of the funds will allow for the district to give bonuses to teachers who decide to stay at the high school for four years. This is in response to a reported high turnover rate at the school district. Funds will also be used to compensate teachers for additional training they take above and beyond required training at the schools. Osceola is one of three schools in the state to receive the money. The other schools were Baseline Elementary in Little Rock and Bellepoint Alternative School in Fort Smith.
Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.