EDUCATION NOTEBOOK: Schools' damage due for assessment | Charter panel gets two new members

Schools' damage due for assessment

The Arkansas Department of Education is aiding the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management in collecting information on winter storm damage to school and other properties in February.

The Emergency Management Division is requesting documentation and photos of damage to buildings in an effort to determine if a state or federal disaster declaration request is necessary.

The information on damage is due to the division by Friday.

Charter panel gets two new members

Eric Flowers and Karli Saracini are the newest members of the state's seven-member Charter Authorizing Panel.

The panel is made up of four state employees and three citizens, including two former members of the Arkansas Board of Education. The panel reviews applications for new charters for open-enrollment and conversion charter schools as well as for renewal of existing charter schools. The panel's recommendations go to the Arkansas Board of Education for final action.

Flowers, who has a doctorate degree, is chief opportunity officer and an assistant to Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key.

He is a former associate vice president for student affairs/dean of students at Henderson State University as well as a former director of student affairs/public health education program manager at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Saracini recently returned to the state's Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to be assistant commissioner for educator effectiveness and licensure.

She previously worked for the agency as the director of educator licensure. She left the division in 2015 to become the executive director of human resources at the North Little Rock School District, a position she held until August 2018 when she became the district's assistant superintendent. She is a former principal at Harrisburg Middle School and has worked in the Newport, Little Rock, West Fork and Marked Tree school systems.

Key reports eight charters available

Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key has issued his annual, legally required memorandum on the number of open-enrollment charters that are available in the next application cycle for new charter schools.

There are eight charters available for applicants of new charter schools.

Arkansas law established the original cap for open-enrollment charter schools at 24 schools.

Arkansas Code Annotated 6-23-304, enacted later, allows for an automatic increase of five charters each time the number of open-enrollment charters is within two of the existing limitation or cap.

In March 2020, the cap was set at 34 open-enrollment charters. Currently, there are 24 active open-enrollment charters and two more have been approved to open in the coming 2021-22 school year. As a result, the limit on the number of charters available for the next open-enrollment public charter school cycle will not increase and will remain at 34, according to the memo.

Memphis schools to ease back open

Across the Mississippi River from Arkansas, public elementary and secondary schools in Memphis are scheduled to gradually open to in-person learning this month.

Students in pre-kindergarten-through fifth grades can return to campus for the first time this school year starting Monday.

Students in grades six through 12 will return March 8.

Students with disabilities or in self-contained classrooms will return within their grade bands.

Virtual instruction will continue for all students whose families chose to remain virtual, all according to the district's website early last week.

The Shelby County School District website acknowledged that the 100,000-student district was in jeopardy of state sanctions in terms of funding if it didn't reopen its campuses.

"However, declining COVID-19 cases and the availability of vaccines have been key factors in our plans to return safely, the website states.

"Although there is pressure to reopen school buildings, SCS will not compromise our commitment to safety or our core mission to provide a high-quality education for the children of Shelby County," the statement continues. "Millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds have been used to purchase protective equipment, cleaning supplies, install safety signage and improve building ventilation systems, and our schools are ready to welcome students back safely."

LRSD chooses Fair custodial service

The Little Rock School Board last week voted to use SSC Services for Education to provide custodial services at the newly reconfigured J.A. Fair School that will serve kindergarten-through-eighth grades.

Fair has been vacant this school year but is to open in August as a elementary and middle school campus.

SSC already provides custodial work at Stephens Elementary and Hall STEAM Magnet and Southwest high schools. Other campuses are maintained by district-employed custodians.

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