Education notebook

Hearing to focus on ‘unitary issues’

U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. has scheduled an April 4 court hearing on “unitary issues” in the Pulaski County Special School District.

The Pulaski County Special district, a party in a 31-year-old federal school desegregation lawsuit, remains under court monitoring for compliance with several of the school system’s Plan 2000 desegregation obligations.

Topics to be covered at the 9 a.m. hearing include the future role of the Magnet Review Committee and the Office of Desegregation Monitoring, as well as whether the district is ready to be released from court supervision of its special-education program.

The federal judge also wants to hear from the district and the Joshua intervenors, who represent black students in the district, on whether they are in dispute over any of the district’s efforts to become unitary and need to be referred to a magistrate for resolution.

In addition to special education, the district remains under court supervision for student scholarships, student discipline and the condition of school campuses.

Education Board to meet this week

The Arkansas Board of Education has a two-day meeting set for Thursday and Friday.

Besides deciding on requests for snow-day waivers for more than 70 school districts, the Education Board is also expected to act on a request from Jacksonville residents to set an election date on whether to establish a new Jacksonville School District apart from the Pulaski County Special School District.

The state board also will act on a request from the Academics Plus Charter School in Maumelle to expand the school’s enrollment cap from 650 to 850 over two years. Charter renewals for the Little Rock Preparatory Academy and the Jacksonville Lighthouse Academy charter schools are also on the agenda.

The board meeting begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday. The meetings can typically be viewed through the Education Department’s website: arkansased.org.

Charter changes on panel’s agenda

The Arkansas Department of Education’s Charter Authorizing Panel will meet at 1 p.m. Friday on requested amendments to previously approved school charters.

The agenda includes a request from Responsive Education Solutions of Lewisville, Texas, to change the location of the not-yet-opened Quest Middle School of West Little Rock from Rahling Road to 400 Harden Road, near the intersection of Interstate 630and Shackleford Road.

Additionally, the Arkansas Virtual Academy - which is approved to serve as many as 3,000 students statewide - is asking to amend its charter to permit the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade program to expand to serve ninth- and 10th-graders starting in 2014-15.

LR district to hear report on facilities

The Little Rock School Board will receive an initial report on the condition of school district buildings and demographic trends at a work session with architecture and engineering consultants.

The session is set for 5:30 p.m. Monday at the district’s headquarters, 810 W. Markham St.

The board last fall hired a team led by the Fanning-Howey architecture and engineering company of Indianapolis to assess the district’s school buildings and make recommendations for a capital improvement program.

The work session will be televised on LRSD-TV, which is available over Comcast Channel 4 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99, as well as on the Little Rock School District website, www.lrsd.org.

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 03/16/2014

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