A state Board of Education committee on Friday initiated quarterly monitoring of the Dollarway School District to help ensure administrators keep working to improve student success at the high school.
The state had taken over the district, which is in the Pine Bluff area, in June 2012. The Education Board found the district had violated state accreditation standards over teacher licensure and student transcript records.
State officials returned the district to local control in 2014, even though Dollarway Senior High School was classified as being in academic distress, with fewer than half of its students scoring at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams during a three-year period.
In a report presented to the state board's academic-distress committee, Richard Wilde -- school improvement unit manager for the state Department of Education -- said it was difficult to assess progress because of leadership changes in the school and district.
"The people who were in charge at the moment we were doing the review had just initially started their positions," he said.
The Dollarway School Board had fired former Superintendent Bobby Acklin, who was initially appointed to the position when the district was taken over by the state because of poor academic performance.
In April, the Dollarway School Board placed Patsy Hughey, who was then the district's director of federal programs, as the interim leader of the 1,297-student system. The board appointed her superintendent the next month.
Hughey on Friday presented a progress report to the state board.
Wilde said Hughey's report identified the theory of school improvement, but he recommended more monitoring "because moving from theory to practice is a major challenge. And certainly, they have been unable to do that up to date."
In the past three years, Hughey said, 33.4 percent of students were proficient in math end-of-course exams, 32 percent were proficient in 11th-grade literacy and 8.3 percent were proficient in biology. The district has implemented credit-recovery programs during and after school, she said, adding that administrators want students to succeed during the year.
"The school has consistently failed to make progress in academics. As superintendent of Dollarway, I inherited those lemons," she said. "And it's my job to make lemonade out of those lemons."
Members of the academic-distress committee asked Hughey about the district's use of outside consultants. The district has spent about $600,000 for three consultants, some of whom were assigned to help with teaching strategies, align curriculum to state standards and provide math programs.
Education Board member and committee Chairman Vicki Saviers of Little Rock said the district spent a lot of money on outside consultants and saw "such little progress."
"I mean, on [one] report, there were three goals met. Fifteen were not met," she said. "I'm wondering if you could be creative and take that $600,000 and really create a strong incentive plan of recruitment and retention for teachers and leadership for the district."
The district added the math program because it did not have two certified math teachers at the high school, Hughey said. Three English teachers at the school left during the year, too. The high school used long-term substitutes in their place.
"No. 1, we have got to put teachers in front of those students," Hughey said. "It's unacceptable to have two long-term subs in math last year. It's unacceptable to have long-term subs in English. The No. 1 priority is to put certified licensed staff in front of those students."
The Dollarway School Board will decide Tuesday whether to hire 12 certified teachers for the 13 vacant spots -- or nearly 22 percent of the teaching staff -- at the high school, she said. The high school is still looking for a certified math teacher, she added. Once the high school is staffed, the new principal plans to form a building leadership team.
The district has not renewed any of the contracts with the three consultants, Hughey said, adding that she wanted to get input from teachers.
"If your external providers are not doing things to help support and implement the programs that are set for you, then you either need to not use those external providers or you need to use different ones," said Education Board and committee member Diane Zook of Melbourne. "Many people in this state have already worked through some of the issues that you have."
The Education Department could tell Hughey what school districts in the state have the best practices and how to get in touch with them, Zook said. She mentioned a new partnership with the Dumas School District and the University of Arkansas at Monticello, in which the university will provide clinical interns as long-term substitutes in high-need areas in the Delta.
"I think there are many things that you can do that won't cost a lot of money, which Ms. Saviers mentioned might give you an opportunity to do some[thing] creative -- either more money on your salary schedule or incentives for teachers," she said.
The department's school intervention specialists also found that neither the district nor the high school had leadership team meetings, and that classroom level data weren't used to help improve student success, according to documents. The department's specialists also recommended the Dollarway School Board receive training.
Hughey said she had plans to address all of those shortcomings.
Education Board member Joe Black asked how long it would take for the high school to remove the academic-distress classification.
"Research tells us that it takes three to five years to be able to see any kind of difference," Hughey said. "With the plan in place ... and setting those expectations, it's just like eating an elephant. It's going to take one bite at a time. It's like walking a flight of stairs. It's going to take one step at a time. It can be done, but I cannot guarantee you that it will happen instantaneously."
Metro on 07/11/2015