Little Rock schools chief plans walkabout

Poore wants patrons’ input during neighborhood visits

Mike Poore, the new superintendent of the Little Rock School District, will be knocking on doors of central Little Rock homes this afternoon as part of his effort to meet residents and exchange views on the district's schools.

Today's Listen and Learn Community Walk in the neighborhoods around Washington and Stephens elementary schools is the first of a series of walks that Poore has planned for the different parts of the city in the coming weeks.

Poore became the district's superintendent on July 1. He was appointed by Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key to head the Little Rock district, which is operating under state control because six of 48 schools were labeled as academically distressed for chronically low student scores on state math and literacy tests. One of the six is now off the list after test scores improved.

The community walks are one element of Poore's Entry Plan for familiarizing himself with the state's largest district. He has already spoken to different groups and has been trying to telephone as many as 10 staff members and parents a day. Also planned is a Twitter meeting, in which people will be able to exchange comments with Poore via the social media microblogging site.

"I hope that people will see we are trying multiple vehicles to extend out -- to be able to really listen and show that we want to hear what people are saying," Poore said Friday. "I'm going to ask them what they appreciate about the district.

"It's not that I'm going to avoid the negative," he added, "but I also want to draw out some of the positives in the district."

Pamela Smith, a spokesman for the district, said that a small contingent of district staff and community members -- all wearing turquoise shirts -- will accompany Poore as he knocks on doors, chats and distributes bookmarks that list "points of pride" regarding the Little Rock district.

Homes have not been preselected for the visits, Smith said, but principals at Washington, 2700 S. Main St., and Stephens, 3700 W. 18th St., did send messages to families of their pupils about the plans for the superintendent walk.

Similar Listen and Learn Community Walks are planned for other parts of the city during August, Smith said.

Metro on 07/23/2016

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