Crawford announces the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for students
JONESBORO — Representative Rick Crawford is calling on 9th-12th grade students living in the First Congressional District to showcase their creativity and STEM skills in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge.
Crawford believes that fostering innovation and engagement in computer science and STEM education is crucial for future workforce and the economic growth.
Educators are urged to integrate the Congressional App Challenge into their curriculum, providing students with the chance to create apps relevant to their daily lives. “I continue to be impressed with the quality of app submissions my office receives for this competition,” Crawford said.
“Last year the submissions targeted a variety of needs.
There were apps for educational online games, apps that could help people with their daily routines, and creative virtual reality tours of historic places and outdoor trails.”
The winning app will receive the honor of being featured in the U.S. Capitol building, House.gov, and the Congressional App Challenge website. In addition to the prestigious recognition, winners will be celebrated at the #Houseofcode reception in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2025.
You can visit Crawford. house.gov to find the submission guidelines and videos of the previous district winners.
For additional questions, reach out to the congressman’s district office at (870)
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203-0540. The deadline for submissions is October 24th, and students are encouraged to register online by September 30th.
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No arrest yet on 'threat of violence' against Searcy High
School last week
SEARCY — The Searcy Police Department is continuing its investigation into a 'threat of violence' made last week against Searcy High School for Monday and will continue to have an increased presence at the schools this week, according to Chief Steve Hernandez.
Hernandez, who was on patrol at McRae Elementary School on Tuesday, said his department is not revealing too much information about the threat at this time since it is still under investigation.
'We obviously don’t want to let too much out there on the investigation because we don’t want anybody who is not involved with the threat to come out and say, ‘Well, I’m the one that said that,’' Hernandez said, 'because if somebody does come out and say, ’I’m the one who said that,’ we’ll say, ‘Exactly what did you say?’ and if we put it out in the newspaper they are going to know exactly what we said.
“… We’re talking to a lot of people on it [the threat]. We’ve had a couple of detectives all day on it, interviewing several people.”
Both Hernandez and Searcy School District Superintendent Dr. Bobby Hart said that there was an increased police presence on campus Monday.
“We’ve had a lot of officers out at the schools and walking through all day and we’re going to continue that this week,” Hernandez said.
Hart informed parents about the threat Friday, pointing out that it was for Monday and telling parents in a video he posted on the district's website that 'it is your right to keep your child at home without penalty for missing school.' Hart said Tuesday that 'attendance was about 43 percent' Monday.
Hernandez said his department began its investigation into 'a threat of violence to our schools' Friday in cooperation with the school district. “Protecting our schools has been, is now and will always be a No. 1 priority of the Searcy Police Department.'
Hart said in his video address that students 'and others' needed to 'understand that threats of violence against schools are felony acts, and once suspects are identified and found to be responsible, appropriate school discipline policy will be enacted, and the suspect will be turned over to law enforcement and prosecuted.'
He said Tuesday that he believes “99 percent of kids in our school system understand this is not a joking matter. It’s that one-tenth of 1 percent that think that this is cute to be a copycat or they saw somebody else’s district do it or whatever.'
'And by no means do we think it’s not always credible that somebody is going to carry out a threat. In the world we live in today, we can’t ignore it,' he said. 'Student safety and staff safety are our first priorities. We talk about it all the time [with other superintendents], we work together to try to make out plan after plan.
'The bottom line is we’re dealing with kids and kids do silly things and make silly mistakes, but we don’t have the luxury of missing one or making a mistake, so we try to take those things seriously. We also want to be transparent with the public, too, and with parents and say, ‘OK, we don’t think this it’s really credible but we understand the anxiety the world lives in now and the anxiousness that words like this can cause, so it’s regrettable that this is the world we live in.'” Hart likened the threat to bomb threats that were oc-
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casionally made when he was in school in the 1980s. “This is the new bomb threat for 2024, I guess. I think places are starting to understand and kids are starting to understand, it’s just not a flippant matter, that it is something serious and our intentions are to prosecute to the fullest extent.”
Lt. Todd Wells said making these kind of threats has been popular so far this school year, with ones made in Little Rock, Cabot, Jonesboro and other districts following a school shooting in Georgia a couple of weeks ago that left four dead and nine injured.
'We don’t think there’s any credibility to them,' Wells said of the threats, 'but you can’t treat it like that, you have to treat it like it’s the most serious thing out there.”
Arkansas legislators passed a law in 2019 making any threat against schools a class C felony. Class C felonies in Arkansas are punishable by three to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Anyone with information about the 'threat of violence' is asked to call the Searcy Police Department at (501) 268-3531.
Hernandez said his department hopes to wrap up the investigation soon.
