Springdale and Fayetteville school districts plan to apply to open a School of Innovation in August, and other Northwest Arkansas superintendents are considering ways to improve student performance.
Megan Witonski, assistant commissioner for learning services at the Arkansas Department of Education, on Tuesday said a School of Innovation has unique goals requiring waivers from state education standards to improve learning, similar to charter schools that get waivers to experiment with approaches to teaching.
At A Glance
The Process
A school or school district can apply to be a School of Innovation or a District of Innovation by filing an application with the Arkansas Department of Education. The district must show in its application it has:
• Formed a Council of Innovation of teachers, classified employees, a building administrator, parents, a member of the community and at least two students attending the school.
• At least 60 percent of the school’s personnel voting to approve the proposal.
• Adopted a resolution in support of the application.
Source: Staff Report
Her comments came during a meeting of superintendents at the Northwest Arkansas Educational Services Cooperative in Farmington.
Leverett Elementary School in Fayetteville plans to apply by May 1 to become a School of Innovation with an emphasis on science, math and technology curriculum.
Springdale wants to develop a school for eighth-graders by creating a curriculum focusing on learning a set of career and technical skills, said Marsha Jones, an associate superintendent.
Farmington, Lincoln and Decatur superintendents expressed interest in the new program that came out of the 2013 legislative session as Act 601.
Larry Ben, Decatur superintendent, suggested an innovation school may be a way to get approval to change the start date for school, making it earlier than Aug. 19 or to add minutes to the school day to make up a large number of snow days.
Janie Darr, Rogers superintendent, said she hasn’t talked with her school board about applying for a innovation school. She said there are advantages to starting school a week earlier which gives seniors more time in school. Now, seniors graduate in mid-May and are finished with school at least two weeks ahead of other students.
Also, Darr said, schools could make up snow days quickly by adding 45 minutes or one hour to the school day.
“It makes sense,” Darr said. “There are a lot of things where a school can be innovative.”
Witonski said the application process requires a school to state its goals first and then what waivers it needs to meet the goals. The application, rules and regulations and other details were approved Thursday by the state Board of Education. The application is on the department’s website.
A School of Innovation differs from a charter school in several ways, Witonski said.
An innovation school receives no state money for startup. A charter school receives a planning and implementation grant from the state. Also, an innovation school must provide teachers with due process provided by the Teacher Fair Dismissal Law if they are fired. A charter school doesn’t have to follow the dismissal law.
Lastly, a charter goes through an approval process starting with a charter authorizing panel and ending with the state board. The innovation school is approved by state commissioner for a four-year period, Witonski said.
“I’m excited to see what we’ll get,” she said, about strategies, goals and waivers. “I don’t know what we’ll get in the way of applications.”
No applications were filed as of Tuesday.
“A School of Innovation is not about waivers. It’s about meeting the needs of students where they are,” Witonski said.
The conversation developed during a monthly meeting at the Northwest Arkansas Educational Services Cooperative in Farmington.