Two school systems and 15 schools -- including three each in Little Rock and Forrest City -- will keep their state-applied "academic distress" labels for another year, the Arkansas Board of Education decided Thursday.
The board voted 6-0 to maintain the academic distress classifications for Covenant Keepers College Preparatory Charter School in Little Rock, the state-controlled Dollarway School District and 15 schools scattered across the state. Fewer than 49.5 percent of the schools' students scored at proficient or better levels on state-required math and literacy exams over three years: 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16.
At the same meeting, the Education Board denied an appeal from the Helena-West Helena School District to remove the distress label from that district's Central High. The board also voted to remove "focus' labels from 14 schools that had closed large achievement gaps among student groups.
The ongoing classification of the Covenant Keepers Charter School prompted the board to direct the Education Department's Charter Authorizing Panel to do a review of the school to determine whether the school can correct what have been long-standing academic challenges. Decisions by the Charter Authorizing Panel -- be it to approve, renew, amend or revoke a school's charter -- ultimately go to the Education Board for a final decision.
Covenant Keepers, at 5615 Geyer Springs Road, serves an enrollment of high-poverty, black and Hispanic pupils in grades six, seven and eight. The school has been in operation since 2008 at different locations in southwest Little Rock. The independently operated charter school is within the boundaries of the Little Rock School District, which has been under state control since January 2015 because six of its 48 schools were labeled as academically distressed. That number has since been reduced to three academically distressed schools.
"We know how challenged the student population is at Covenant Keepers, but we also know that other charter schools and other districts working with similarly challenged populations have shown real improvement," Education Board member Jay Barth of Little Rock said. "No matter how warm and inviting and community-minded that school is, it is really a difficult problem."
Diane Zook of Melbourne, another board member, asked about the timing for any decision to withdraw the school's charter, which would result in closing the school.
The timing for any decision to close the school -- if it comes to that -- should be done with compassion so that parents can enroll their children in other schools and employees can find new jobs, Zook said.
"I don't want us to leave the students, parents, students and teachers hanging out to dry should we decide to pull the charter," she said.
The school's current charter will expire in June 2019, but charter schools are subject to state review and action at any time once they are given notice and a hearing about their operations.
The Education Board voted Thursday "with regret" to deny the appeal made by Helena-West Helena Superintendent John Hoy that Central High be relieved of its academic distress label.
The school's three-year average proficiency rate of 49.426 percent narrowly missed the 49.5 percent bar for removal of the label. The proficiency rate is based on different tests given in each of the past three years, a point that Hoy raised in his appeal.
Hoy told the Education Board that the intent of the academic distress label was to ensure state help to a school but, in the case of Central, the label "has done more harm than good."
Community members, he said, cite the distress label as a reason to vote against a proposed 9.75-mill property tax increase at a special election next week. He said the school district and community are sometimes divided by race and wealth, but he has seen progress and said the area is undergoing revitalization. He said he wants the district to be part of the progress.
If the tax increase is approved, the money generated would be used to demolish a portion of the Central High campus and replace it with a new building for seventh- through 12th-grade students. The school would feature new science labs and a 350-seat auditorium for music and drama programs. The construction would cost about $28.7 million.
"My point is if you are looking to help us, it would help us to lose the label," Hoy told the Education Board, noting that the school would retain its similar "priority" classification, which was applied as part of a federal school-accountability system.
The priority label is the result of Central being among the 5 percent lowest-achieving schools in the state a few years ago. That priority label, like the academic distress label, entitles the school to state monitoring and guidance, Hoy said.
Education Board members questioned whether they could delay a decision on academic distress until after the state-required Aspire tests are given later this spring, but Education Commissioner Johnny Key said the school's label from the 2013 through 2015 school years would stand.
Board members also were reluctant to grant the appeal, which would be contrary to actions on similar appeals made in the past by other school systems.
Zook said Hoy "can at least go back to his board and his community and say, 'We are moving in the right direction; we're caught in a bind, or whatever words he chooses, to use to reassure his community that their children are in fact getting a good education at Central High School in Helena-West Helena.'"
Key added: "He can confirm that we are happy with the direction they are going and he can blame it on the department."
Helena-West Helena's Central High is one of 15 schools to keep its academic distress label. Another of the 15 is Covenant Keepers, which is listed as both a district and a school. The other schools on the list include Little Rock's Hall High and Cloverdale and Henderson middle schools, and Forrest City's Middle School, High School and Lincoln Academy.
Still others that did not meet or exceed the 49.5 percent proficiency rate and are keeping the distress label are Blytheville Middle School, Dollarway High, Morehead Middle School in Dollarway, Hope High, Marvell-Elaine High, Strong High in the Strong-Huttig School District and Wilbur D. Mills High in the Pulaski County Special School District.
As a result, the schools will continue to be monitored and receive guidance from the Department of Education staff, and they will be required to periodically report to the Education Board on their improvement efforts.
Also Thursday, the state board voted to remove the "focus" label from 14 schools that had met achievement criteria for two years, as required by the state's plan for complying with federal school accountability requirements.
The schools initially were labeled focus schools and had to carry out improvement plans because they had the largest achievement gaps in the state among their group of students who were poor, needed special education services or spoke English as a second language and the group of students who were not in those categories.
The schools relieved of the focus label are DeWitt Middle School, Wilmot Elementary in the Hamburg School District, Oark High School in the Jasper School District, Health-Wellness-Environment Magnet School in the Jonesboro District, Pulaski Heights Middle School in the Little Rock School District, and Central Elementary in the Magnolia School District.
Also relieved of the focus label are Indian Hills Elementary in the North Little Rock School District; Baldwin Elementary in the Paragould School District; Maumelle Middle School in the Pulaski County Special School District; Smackover Elementary in the Smackover-Norphlet School District; Central Junior High, Monitor Elementary and Southwest Junior High all in the Springdale School District; and Wonderview High School.
Maumelle Middle School Principal Ryan Burgess announced the news about the removal of the label to his staff and others in an email.
"This is the greatest event that's happened here since the opening of the school," Burgess wrote. "This is a special place because of the people in the building, not the building itself. I celebrate you and commend you on a job well done."
Metro on 03/10/2017