Chief says LR's schools face 'big issues,' seeks panel input

Little Rock School District Superintendent Baker Kurrus asked the district's new Civic Advisory Committee on Thursday to weigh in on "big, building-block issues" regarding closing small schools and forming one district south of the Arkansas River.

"What I need your help on are community decisions that are central to the future of this school district, big decisions," Kurrus told the committee about issues that include how best to organize resources for students who have great personal and family problems that hinder their academic success.

"You can spend your time, of course, however you want to," he said. "My only hope is that somebody will help me on these big, building-block decisions because if we do want to build a new education center in south-central Little Rock, we won't do it unless we have community buy-in on a number of issues that are going to be contentious."

He said he wasn't going to decide on his own to shut down schools but that choosing to keep small, inefficient or poorly located schools in operation will preclude the opening of new campuses that can better meet student needs within the district's financial means.

Kurrus raised the topics in both a verbal report to the committee and in a 17-page district status report that was distributed to members and contained some of the points that Kurrus made in a Tuesday speech to 200 people at the Political Animals Club meeting at the Governor's Mansion.

The Civic Advisory Committee, created by the Arkansas Board of Education at the same time it took over the state's largest school district and dissolved its School Board, met for the third time Thursday and will meet from here on at 5 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of most months. Committee members include representatives from each of the district's seven School Board election zones and two philanthropic organizations. Teacher and student representatives from the six schools that are classified by the state as academically distressed because of chronically low student test scores are also members.

The state takeover of the district was the result of those six low-performing schools.

Dionne Jackson, a parent and a Hendrix College faculty member, and Greg Adams, formerly president of the Little Rock School Board, are co-chairmen of the advisory committee, which Thursday made some preliminary plans to hold a day-long work session later this summer. Members also took under consideration for a later vote an offer made by multiple outside, nonprofit organizations to provide a professional facilitator to help with the work session and to assist, in the long term, with engaging the general public in the school district. They also offered to assist in doing an equity study on the distribution of resources among the district's 48 schools.

Adams said after the meeting that he hoped the committee will agree to tackle the points laid out by Kurrus, possibly at the work session.

"To me they are very appropriate questions for us to consider," Adams said. "We are better suited to answer those questions and give opinions -- community thoughts -- than we would be about details on curriculum."

Kurrus' questions as written in his report are:

  • "Does Little Rock, or at least the part of Little Rock currently served by LRSD, want to continue to operate approximately 48 schools?"
  • "If a plan could be devised to construct new facilities, especially new and larger elementary schools, would the community support closing smaller schools which are in close proximity to each other?"
  • "What is the community's preference with respect to configuration of the school districts in our county? Should our team be working toward a plan for one school district south of the river, or should we be working in opposition to such a plan?"
  • "How do we muster and focus community resources to support our children of need? What is the role of the school district, and what are the roles of the support groups and agencies? How is this to be coordinated systematically and effectively, over the longer term?"

"Without answers to these four key questions, it will be difficult to prepare budget projections for the critical school years of 2017-18 and beyond," Kurrus wrote, referring to the year that special state desegregation funding of $37 million dollars a year will end.

"Without these answers, I cannot say what the future holds because the future turns on the answers," he said. "As I said, your work is crucial."

In response to a question from teacher Deborah Hansberry, a member of the committee, about the feasibility of merging a couple of the district's high schools, Kurrus said it wouldn't be easy but it could be done.

"Just imagine a $60 million or $70 million high school with 2,000 students set up with the media rooms, computer rooms, and music labs and everything you need in a modern school, and with the specialty provisions in there for the things that kids need. If you get that many kids in one place and they need some kind of interventionist, you can afford to do it. Right now we are half-timing people. They are in their cars all the time and in buildings that aren't functioning. We have schools with breezeways [open-air hallways]. Who really wants to go outside in the summer or the winter in Arkansas?"

Kurrus and some of his staff announced to the committee the award of a federal School Improvement Grant that will be used for the academic program at Baseline Elementary, including the lengthening of the school day. Baseline is one of the six academically distressed schools. More than half of its pupils speak English as a second language.

The district also is revamping Hamilton Learning Academy, an alternative education program, to reduce the number of students transferred to the school as a result of problems in their regular schools and to return the students as quickly as possible to their regular schools once they are assigned to Hamilton. The Hamilton program will focus on behavior modification and core academics. Few, if any, elective courses will be provided.

Sandra Ledbetter, who teaches at academically distressed Henderson Middle School, said she and her colleagues are concerned that elementary pupils who are proficient on state exams and are zoned for Henderson tend to choose to attend other public, private and charter middle schools.

Kurrus called those choice schools "sanctuary schools." As a result of those schools, Henderson "is already upside down before you get started" and that it isn't fair to label that school as academically distressed.

He said he is working with statisticians in the district to identify the elementary schools and teachers in the district whose pupils are not achieving at their grade level.

"We're going to do the things we need to do to assess every kid, intervene when we need to, to reteach -- all the things that seem simple but fall apart when your organization is dysfunctional. I don't know how much better it will be, and it will also take a little time.

"I'm also asking an expert what are the best practices when a kid gets to Henderson and reads at the third-grade level and you're trying to teach them. I don't know the answer but we're working on it," he said. "I think we are going to see some positive changes at Henderson in terms of teaming, positive atmosphere and morale. It will either change or it will really change. This won't be happening a year from now."

Metro on 06/26/2015

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