Bentonville School Board Rejects Transfer Requests

BENTONVILLE -- One week after voting to allow a student to leave the School District for a neighboring one, the School Board on Tuesday denied four other students' requests to transfer out.

Board members debated the issue for nearly 75 minutes during Tuesday's special meeting. The board's vote on a motion to approve the transfers -- as recommended by Superintendent Michael Poore -- ended in a tie, the equivalent of a rejected motion.

At A Glance

New Administrators

The Bentonville School Board unanimously approved hiring two central office administrators at its meeting Tuesday. Jaye Kay Brown will be the director of special education. Brown has served as special education supervisor for Springdale since 2011. Matt Saferite will be the district’s coordinator of professional development. He has been principal of Fayetteville’s Ramay Junior High School since 2006.

Source: Staff Report

At issue were three requests for transfers out of the district in time for the coming school year. One family asked to transfer two children to the Gravette School District. The other two requests were for transfers to Pea Ridge.

The requests were made after the June 1 deadline families are required to meet under the state's School Choice Act. The board approved a student's transfer request to Gravette last week under the law, but the requests the board considered Tuesday didn't meet the June 1 deadline, Poore said.

Those transfer requests not made under the School Choice Act may be considered on an individual basis by the board. It is the "general policy" of the district to deny them, but certain circumstances may cause the board to grant exceptions, Poore said.

Two of the requests considered Tuesday came with explanations from the families as to why they felt a transfer would benefit them. The third request came without an explanation.

Board members disagreed over how closely they needed to follow the district's policy and the procedure it outlines for requesting a transfer.

Wendi Cheatham, Grant Lightle and Matt Burgess voted to allow the transfers. They agreed the families involved deserved to decide what was best for their children.

"I'm going to assume these families have very good reasons for what they're doing," Lightle said. "All we're really talking about is these families missed the (June 1) deadline."

Poore said he consulted with the Arkansas School Boards Association before making his recommendation. He said an association official told him the board had the right to approve or deny the requests.

Brent Leas, Lisa Clark and Rebecca Powers still opposed the recommendation.

"If the board is going to start making these decisions, we need a policy that is clear on that point," Clark said. "We are here as board members to oversee policy implementation. If we are not doing that, we are not doing that job properly."

Leas, repeating a concern he expressed at last week, said he's afraid of setting a dangerous precedent by allowing the transfers.

Transfer requests traditionally haven't come to the board for consideration. Brad Reed, the student services director until July 1, typically denied requests to transfer either in or out based on district policy.

After Reed left for another job, Poore and Tanya Sharp, new executive director of student services, agreed transfers should be presented to the board for consideration.

Poore said he would call the families and inform them of the board's decision. He also told the board he would revise the transfer policy and present that revision to the board at a future meeting. The transfer policy hasn't been revised since 2008.

Poore said after the meeting he felt the families had "extenuating circumstances" worth considering.

"It was a good discussion the board needed to have," he said. "The big discussion yet to come is how do we rework this policy."

NW News on 07/30/2014

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