Open enrollment at LRSD extended
The Little Rock School District is extending its open-enrollment period that begins Monday for the 2020-21 school year.
The open-enrollment period will go through Dec. 20 with the exception of Dec. 16-17, when the system will be closed for scheduled maintenance. It will reopen Jan. 6-Jan. 17.
Parents of students who are not currently enrolled in the district, or are returning from another school outside the district, or are parents of pre-kindergarten children, or are parents of students interested in applying for a magnet or specialty school, are encouraged to register during the December period before the winter vacation break.
Registration must be done online at https://registration.lrsd.org.
Upon completion of the online registration, parents unable to upload the required documents must take the document to the district's Student Registration office at 501 Sherman St. near the intersection of East Capitol Avenue and Interstate 30.
Parents whose children are new or returning to the district must complete their student's registration online before making a magnet or specialty school selection. Once the online registration is complete the parent will be notified and then can make selections.
4 school districts to go before court
A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis has scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 11 in four very similar Arkansas lawsuits over interdistrict school choice in the Hope, Junction City, Lafayette County and Camden Fairview school districts.
The 15-minute hearing is one of several hearings set to begin at 9 a.m. that day before 8th Circuit Judges Ralph Erickson of Fargo, N.D.; Michael Melloy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Jonathan Kobes of Sioux Falls, S.D.
In January, at the request of the four districts, U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey modified the districts' court-approved desegregation plans and decrees to prohibit segregative student transfers in or out of the four districts -- except in case of education or compassionate need.
The Arkansas attorney general's office -- representing the state Department of Education and Board of Education -- appealed Hickey's rulings to the 8th Circuit.
Dyslexia support in LR rises 50%
The number of Little Rock School District students who are receiving instructional intervention for their characteristics of dyslexia grew by 50% between February and November, according to a recent report by Chandle Carpenter, the district's dyslexia specialist.
The increase was most significant at the middle and high school level, where the number of students receiving the tier three support increased from 79 in the 2018-19 school year to the current 359.
At the elementary school level, the number of children receiving the tier three services has increased from 898 in February to 1,107.
A total of 977 students received tier three support in February as compared with the current 1,466 students.
The district's recent report on reading intervention services to students comes after a February 2019 audit of the services by the Arkansas Department of Education. That state audit found that the district's services to students with dyslexia or symptoms of dyslexia were almost nonexistent at the high schools and full of holes at the middle and elementary schools.
Ex-principal sues district over firing
Rhonda Hall, a former principal at Little Rock School District's Mabelvale Middle School, recently filed suit against the district in circuit court in Pulaski County.
She is seeking reinstatement to her job, back pay, restoration of benefits and attorney costs.
Hall was fired from the district in August by Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key, acting on a recommendation from the state-controlled district's Community Advisory Board and district leaders.
Earlier, in June, Hall was put on paid leave by the district pending investigation of a January "altercation" between Hall and a student that happened while Hall was reportedly breaking up a fight.
Hall also was charged with misdemeanor assault in the incident, court records state.
Initial reports to police said Hall was punched in the face while breaking up a fight and there was no mention of an adult striking a student. Later, a "video of a video" appeared to show an adult woman throwing a punch at a student, district officials said in June.
The lawsuit was assigned to Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen.
Metro on 12/01/2019