NLR board approves property sale, hires
The North Little Rock School Board dealt with administrative hires and real estate at its meeting last week.
Karli Saracini, the district's executive director of human resources, was approved by the board to be the district's assistant superintendent. Lori Smith, who has been principal at Crestwood Elementary, is the district's newly appointed executive director of elementary curriculum, assessment and accountability.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Acklin recommended the two last month, but the board asked that the positions be advertised internally prior to its finalizing of the appointments.
In other business, the board voted to allow McKimmey Realtors to proceed with its sale of the old Park Hill School property to the Hannah Institute for what is expected to be mixed use. The district sold the property to McKimmey in 2017, conditioned on the district holding the right of first refusal to buy back the site should McKimmey choose to sell.
Diocese announces new superintendent
Theresa Hall is the new superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas Catholic newspaper announced Friday.
The Rev. Anthony B. Taylor, bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, promoted Hall to replace Vernell Bowen in the role. Bowen, who held the leadership position for 16 years, retired earlier this year after a total of 48 years as both a public school and Catholic school educator.
Hall is a former principal at St. Edward School in Little Rock but has worked since 2009 as the associate superintendent for the diocese's 27 statewide schools with an enrollment of about 6,700 students.
Ileana Dobbins, who resigned earlier this year after 15 years as principal at Our Lady of Holy Souls School in Little Rock, will take Hall's place as associate superintendent.
Suspensions rise in past school year
The Pulaski County Special School District levied a total of 3,414 student suspensions during the 2017-18 school year, an increase of 198 suspensions over the previous year, according to the latest version of the district's annual report.
Of the total, 1,216 students receiving the suspensions were white, 36 percent, and 2,198 receiving suspensions were black, 64 percent. The actual number of suspended students, 1,899, is less than the suspension totals as some students were suspended more than once.
Male students were suspended more than females, 2,389 to 1,025. Black males were issued 1,447 suspensions and 942 were issued to non-black students. Black male suspensions declined by 44 over the previous year. Black female suspensions increased by 139 over the previous year to 751.
Additionally, 20 students -- 12 of whom were black and eight were white -- were expelled this past school year, down one from the previous year.
The Pulaski Special district is a defendant in a long-running federal school desegregation lawsuit. As such, the district of 12,000 students remains under federal scrutiny of its efforts to eliminate racial disparities in student discipline practices.
Standards revision affects old waivers
This year's comprehensive revision of the state's standards for accrediting Arkansas schools has a direct effect on charter schools that had waivers from the now-repealed old standards.
Arkansas Department of Education staff have developed a variety of ways that schools can update waivers from the previous standards to waivers of the new standards -- with the over-arching goal of ensuring continuation of all relevant exemptions.
Charter schools by definition are exempted from some state laws, rules and standards that govern the operation of traditional public schools. State law has changed over time to allow traditional public schools and school districts to apply for the same kinds of waivers granted to charter schools that enroll students who live in their districts.
The Education Department staff envision working with each charter school to mutually determine how best to update the schools' current waivers to conform to the new standards. Any resulting, mutually agreed upon plan would be subject to approval by the state's charter authorizing agents.
Additionally, a charter school can use the state's system for applying for amendments to its charter agreement as a way to transition to waivers based on the new standards. Thirdly, if a school's accreditation status is called into question by the state monitors, the charter school leaders will have the opportunity to negotiate a modification of the charter with the authorizing agent -- the Charter Authorizing Panel or the state Board of Education
Speaker named for teacher conference
Ruby K. Payne, a career educator and author of A Framework for Understanding Poverty, will be the keynote speaker at a Sept. 5 event for educators.
Much of Payne's work has focused on understanding and overcoming the barriers of poverty in education.
The one-day conference will be from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree-Little Rock.
Cost is $30, and the registration deadline is Aug. 29. Registration is available at www.thereformalliance.org/events.
Metro on 08/20/2018