After Education Board debate, west LR charter school is a go

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Quest Middle School of west Little Rock can open its doors in August, thanks to Friday’s 6-2 vote by the Arkansas Board of Education to uphold a November decision made by the newly formed Charter Authorizing Panel.

The board also voted 7-1 to uphold the panel’s rejection of a charter request from Redfield Tri-County Charter School in Jefferson County.

Before calling for a vote on the Redfield charter school, Board Chairman Brenda Gullett of Fayetteville warned her fellow board members that a “dangerous precedent” would be set if they overturned decisions after the very first meeting of the Charter Authorizing Panel.

Act 509 of 2013 gives the Arkansas Department of Education and its Charter Authorizing Panel of agency leaders power over charter schools. The new law also gives the state Education Board the right to review the authorizing panel’s decisions and, at its own discretion, conduct a hearing on applications for new or amended charters before making a final decision, either upholding, altering or reversing a panel decision.

A lengthy - and sometimes heated - discussion preceded the final decision Friday by the state Education Board to put its stamp of approval on the opening of Quest Middle School.

Attorneys for the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts requested the hearing because they said Quest’s projected enrollment of 50 percent of its pupils being eligible for free- and reduced-price lunches was exaggerated. Public schools near Quest’s proposed location on Rahling Road - which include Baker Elementary in the Pulaski County district and Roberts Elementary in the Little Rock district - have under 25 percent of its students who qualify for meal assistance.

On Friday, officials with Responsive Education, the Lewisville, Texas, group that proposed the Quest school, submitted an amended budget that trimmed the number of projected students it says would qualify for subsidized meals down to 48 percent.

Chris Bauman, general counsel for Responsive Education, said the numbers are a moot point because the school’s projected budget would still allow for a surplus, regardless of the revenue garnered by meal assistance.

More money per student is granted for schools in which 70 percent of students qualify for subsidized meals, and the amounts increase again for schools in which 90 percent of students qualify.

Regardless, “any budget at this stage is only an estimate,” Chief Financial Officer James Taylor said, because school officials will not know the demographics of the student body until the application process is complete.

Little Rock School District attorney Chris Heller told the board that it was highly unlikely that Quest would ever pull “50 percent of African-American students in this school.”

He added that it would take a good recruitment plan and adequate transportation to meet that goal, pointing out that the Quest budget allotted only $91,000 for transportation needs. That amount, Heller said, might provide for “one bus and a driver for a year.”

“It’s just not going to happen,” Heller said.

Sam Jones, an attorney for the Pulaski County Special School District, prefaced his response by congratulating Quest on its “superficially beguiling presentation.”

Jones told the board that he saw no way, “no evidence except verbal,” that Quest could possibly attract even 48 percent of students qualifying for free- and reduced-price lunches. Jones quipped that it was “interesting that they say they want to have diversity.”

Board member Sam Ledbetter of Little Rock also asked the group to further define how Quest would innovate as compared with public schools. He referred to a statement made in November to the Charter Authorizing Panel by Gary Newton, the leader of a group of west Little Rock parents who pushed for a charter school in the area.

Ledbetter said Newton’s response to the panel that Quest was innovative simply by the fact that “it exists” was not a sufficient enough distinction.

Several Responsive Education officials spoke to Quest’s emphasis on delivery methods of instruction that are based on the classical liberal-arts education, as well as the school’s foundation on the principles of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, the son of author and motivational speaker Stephen Covey.

Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Jerry Guess said the curriculum was nothing new and that “we’ve been talking about that for 40 years.”

Heller also said that the approval of the charter school could hamper the efforts of a future millage request to build a new middle school in west Little Rock. The Little Rock School Board recently approved measures to pave the way to construct a middle school near Cantrell and Katillus roads to complement the nearby Don R. Roberts Elementary School.

In an interview after the meeting, Newton said that Quest and the west Little Rock parents behind the effort to open the school would show up in force to support the Little Rock School District’s initiatives if they are in the best interest of students.

“We’re all on the public side. We will work shoulder to shoulder with anybody who will put children first,” Newton said.

Board members Ledbetter and Jay Barth voted against affirming the charter panel’s decision.

On the Redfield Tri-County Charter School proposal, board members encouraged Amanda Kight, secretary of the board of directors for the school, to reapply for a new charter in another year after further defining the proposed curriculum.

Kight told the board that the school would focus on college and career readiness but failed to supply a written, detailed plan.

“I really do hope we will see you all again next year,”board member Mireya Reith said.

“You will,” Kight replied.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/11/2014