Shouting again fills Little Rock schools meeting

Crowd split on what’s next

Fitz Hill, member of the Arkansas Board of Education, speaks during a public meeting Tuesday about the future of the state-controlled Little Rock School District.
Fitz Hill, member of the Arkansas Board of Education, speaks during a public meeting Tuesday about the future of the state-controlled Little Rock School District.

Tuesday's state-hosted community meeting -- the second in as many days to solicit ideas about the future of what is now the state-controlled Little Rock School District -- was nearly as crowded and just as raucous as the one the night before.

At one point in the 1½-hour session in a packed fellowship hall at St. Mark Baptist Church, Arkansas Board of Education member Fitz Hill and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen jabbed fingers in the air and shouted at each other over the din.

"We are not your slaves!" Griffen repeatedly told Hill, who is a moderator for the ongoing series of forums, while Hill told Griffen, "This is not your court!"

Tuesday's session was the third in a series of sessions being held throughout the district by the Arkansas Education Board on how the district, which continues to have some academically struggling schools, might be returned to a locally elected school board within the parameters of state law. While the first meeting, on Aug. 20, was orderly, Monday's meeting was punctuated by chanting and shouting.

[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Y-9bdJMF4]

A fourth forum will be at 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday at Longley Baptist Church, Family Life Center, 9900 Geyer Springs Road.

The community meetings come in advance of the January 2020 expiration of the Little Rock district's five-year deadline to correct its student-achievement deficiencies in order to exit state control or Level 5 -- intensive support.

Chronically low test scores at six of the district's then 48 schools led the state Education Board in January 2015 to assume control of the system by dismissing the locally elected School Board and placing the superintendent under the supervision of the Arkansas education commissioner.

State Education Secretary Johnny Key, who acts as the school board for the Little Rock district, was not in attendance at Tuesday's meeting nor at the previous two meetings. Staff members from the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore have attended the meetings.

Current state law and accompanying rules call for a district under state control to either meet state-set criteria for regaining a locally elected school board or face the permanent "consolidation" or "annexation" of the district to one or more other districts, or be "reconstituted."

Consolidation and annexation of the large district to another district is not considered feasible by most state education leaders. "Reconstituted" -- the third option -- is not defined in state law. That prompted state Education Board members to call for ideas on how the district might be reconstituted in the event the district does not meet all of the exit criteria.

That exit criteria -- announced earlier this year -- rely heavily on the 2019 ACT Aspire test scores in English/language arts and math at eight schools that received F letter grades last year from the state, as well as on the achievement growth on those tests compared with the 2018 test results. The district must also demonstrate sound management practices and meet state expectations on instructional programs and strategies.

Tuesday night's standing-room-only crowd of nearly 200 was fiercely divided over the format of the meeting that started with an introduction by Arkansas Education Board Chairman Diane Zook, which included her recap of the building, instructional and financial problems the state Department of Education officials said they found in the Little Rock district at the time of the 2015 takeover.

Hill and Education Board member Charisse Dean then called for the audience to disperse into smaller meeting rooms to generate ideas about the future management and operation of the 23,000-student Little Rock system. Audience members called out their disapproval of that and about three-fourths of the audience remained in their places, declining to follow the state Education Board members to the breakout rooms.

"What is the purpose of having everybody go somewhere else and then come back here to report?" Griffen shouted out.

"It's the same way we got information last night," Hill responded. "That's what we are doing,"

Anika Whitfield, a leader of Grassroots Arkansas, moved to the front of the large room to read a set of demands to be made to the Education Board and Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Grassroots Arkansas is a community organization that has opposed state control of the school district.

"We are ready to get our school district back, are we not?" Whitfield said, adding that children of color and children of poverty have been "marginalized by the state that is acting as an empire against us, using our tax dollars to shut down our schools ... and to abuse and neglect our children. We are here to tell the empire we will not accept their ways anymore."

Whitfield called for an immediate return of the district to local control -- to either a school board elected in November or the board that was dismissed in 2015. She also called for a pledge from the state leaders that they would do no more harm to the Little Rock district and reopen schools that have been closed down -- Franklin, Hamilton, Wilson and Woodruff campuses -- two of which have been sold. She also called for the nullification of the plan to repurpose or close additional schools in the 2020-21 school year.

Others added to Whitfield's list, calling for electing state Board of Education members, who are currently appointed by the governor; establishing qualifications for serving on state and local school boards; setting education certification requirements for the state's education commissioner; expanding birth-to-kindergarten programs; and adding to the number of school-based health clinics in the district.

Griffen called for an accounting of all district finances and the establishment of "a constructive trust" that would result in the return of any district money that has been diverted to other organizations.

The judge accused the state and community leaders meeting elsewhere in the church building of being white supremacists.

"Lets' be clear, what we have been seeing is what white supremacy looks like," he said. "You must be able to name the dragon to kill the dragon."

Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, urged the audience to focus on the future and the desire by most to return the Little Rock district to an elected board and that any "allegedly failing schools" be addressed immediately.

"I disagree that the argument about white supremacy is helpful," Bond said. "Let's focus on what we all agree on together and where we go from here, together."

Former Little Rock School Board member C.E. McAdoo said in part that state leaders took control of the district because they did not like the fact that a majority black school board -- four black members and three white members -- was overseeing a $300 million district budget.

Those who met in small groups Tuesday night returned to the large room where they and those who had remained had a spirited and sometimes conciliatory exchange of ideas.

Anthony Blackwell, a parent and audience member, called for an elected school board and not a return of the former board. He said the state was premature to take over the district five years ago.

Michelle Davis, a district parent, compared the situation and different viewpoints to a divorce where the warring sides must work together for the benefit of their children.

Dionne Jackson, a parent and former college faculty member, proposed that professional educators have a place on school boards, along with election zone representatives.

Ali Noland, another parent, asked for future meetings to be conducted by a neutral facilitator because the state Board of Education does not have have the trust and credibility with the public.

Ryan D. Davis, a parent, said that protests are legitimate conversation and that the passion shown at the public forums is because the stakes are high.

"We have been in receivership," he said, and "they have failed us."

Alice Kunce, a Little Rock district teacher, said in part that she had hope in a joint venture among Pulaski County's four school districts for college and career academies within each high school.

One person in the audience asked for a change in the state Education Board's Sept. 3 forum on the Little Rock district future because it will conflict with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's speech in North Little Rock.

Others in the audience called for transparency about who wrote the questions and had input into the Board of Education's online survey about the future of the district. The links to the online survey are: https://www.survey­monkey.com/r/BDH7MX9

The Education Board has also established an email address for people to use to express opinions on the matter: [email protected]

The district's eight state-graded F schools are Bale, Romine, Stephens and Washington elementaries; Cloverdale Middle; and J.A. Fair, Hall and McClellan high schools.

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

Judge Wendell Griffen is shown in this file photo.

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

Education Board Chairman Diane Zook of Melbourne and Little Rock (left) is shown in this file photo with Education Commissioner Johnny Key during an Arkansas Board of Education meeting.

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

Anika Whitfield, a leader of Grassroots Arkansas, is shown in this file photo.

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, is shown in this photo.

Metro on 08/28/2019

Upcoming Events