March - Arkansas School Boards Association

Transcription

Report Card
March 2014
www.arsba.org
Student-focused
innovators
The Journal of the
Arkansas School Boards Association
Last year, the Bauxite School District created a charter
school, Miner Academy, to reach students coming from
challenging circumstances. Now superintendent Jerrod
Williams and curriculum director Bridget Chitwood are
considering whether other parts of the district should become
schools of innovation. Schools of innovation serve the same
purpose as charters but may offer more flexibility. There’s a
lot of interest across Arkansas, but not much time to apply.
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Little Rock, AR 72216
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Report Card
The Journal of the
News and Features
22
Kara Burns, English teacher at
Bauxite’s Miner Academy, works
with junior Frank Garrett. Bauxite
is considering taking advantage of
the state’s new school of innovation designation.
Departments
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5
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Letter from the Executive Director
ASBA News and Notes
ASBA Calendar
Advertisers Index
Jay Bequette’s Column
Commercial Affiliates
President’s Column
Marketplace
8
Changes bring new leaders to ASBA
10
Conference / Students emphasized
Phyllis Stewart and Lucas Harder bring their skills to
ASBA.
At the Annual Conference, student-focused leaders like
late ASBA President Maxine Nelson and Columbine
student Rachel Scott served as examples for school
board members.
11
Schaeffer: Students need to belong
14
Legislators, Beebe, Gooden talk politics
15
Reasons many for broadband expansion
20
Passing a millage in Walmart’s town
Media personality Rick Schaeffer said kids need to
know someone cares.
School board members can’t ignore what’s happening in Little Rock and Washington.
ADE’s Tom Kimbrell updates school board members
on state’s efforts to go digital.
At Bentonville, school supporters passed a millage
increase to build a second high school by giving
voters the facts and running a professional campaign.
22
Cover story / Schools of Innovation
28
Executive Session with
Keith Baker
Schools wanting extra flexibility to innovate don’t
necessarily have to go the charter school route thanks
to a new designation, schools of innovation, created by
the Legislature.
Report Card
Letter from the
Executive Director
by Dr. Tony Prothro
School boards
must advocate
for education
The headlines of today’s newspapers
and electronic media are often filled
with stories of school systems that do
less than an admirable job of educating
students. Sadly, this is a reality in some
schools and school districts. Oftentimes
the poor performance of some of our
public schools is used to tarnish the
reputation of the public education system as a whole. Stakeholders and politicians will speak of failing schools but
insist that their own school district is an
exception. Many will speak with pride
of how their schools are effectively
meeting the needs of the student population while, at the same time, advocate
for change that will ultimately affect
their local districts.
We all need to do a better job of
highlighting the accomplishments of
our students, staff and schools in our
communities and in the media. When
ASBA conducted the 2013 Fall Regional
Meetings, one of the activities for school
board members was to talk about the
positive happenings in their schools
and districts. It was one of the most
enjoyable events of the evening, and we
obviously did not allocate enough time
for this activity. We were forced to cut
it short many times due to the number
of stories of school success that were
shared.
Many board members can recite
a list of school accomplishments of
which they are very proud. However,
patrons and parents may not be so well
versed in this area. It is up to school
board members to convey, at every opportunity, positive accomplishments of
their respective school districts. Board
4 March 2014 Report Card
members attending ASBA’s Four Corners Conferences in February and March
were encouraged to develop pocket
cards of district accomplishments that
could be easily passed on to the public. These can be valuable tools for all
school board members in conveying the
positive attributes of their districts.
Board members should also be encouraged to note their own accomplishments in various media outlets. ASBA’s
publication, Report Card, is devoted
to covering board members and school
successes.
Take advantage of your local newspaper to highlight key messages of what
your schools stand for. For example,
“Top-Flight Readers Make the Difference!” Use your district or school
website to give parents something to
brag about. Include two or three items
in your school profile and list art, music
and civic projects in which your students
are involved.
In recent years, several of our neighbor states have seen vast changes to
their educational delivery systems. It is
foreseeable that some of those changes
may be on the horizon for Arkansas.
Many public education advocates feel
that we have been playing defense
since the publication three decades ago
of A Nation at Risk, the report by the
National Commission on Excellence in
Education. This is because some publications have focused on the identification of weaknesses in public education.
As public education advocates, we must
address those items that need improvement, but at the same time tout our positive accomplishments.
The Journal of the
Vol. 7, Number 1
March 2014
P.O. Box 165460 / Little Rock, AR 72216
Telephone: 501-372-1415 / 800-482-1212
Fax: 501-375-2454
E-mail: arsba@arsba.org / www.arsba.org
Board of Directors
President: Jerry Don Woods, Dardanelle
President-elect: Steve Percival, Fayetteville
Vice President: Brenda McKown, Beebe
Sec.-Treasurer: Sandra Porter, Bryant
Past President: Dr. Paul Hance, Batesville
Region 1: Bob Warren, Elkins
Region 2: Neal Pendergrass, Mountain Home
Region 3: Alan Oldman, Westside (Craighead)
Region 4: Jamie Hammond, Van Buren
Region 5: Clint Hull, Pottsville
Region 6: Keith Baker, Riverview
Region 7: Gene Bennett, South Mississippi Co.
Region 8: Randy Goodnight, Greenbrier
Region 9: Rita Cress, Stuttgart
Region 10: Debbie Ugbade, Hot Springs
Region 11: Dr. Raymond Jones, White Hall
Region 12: Rosa Bowman, Ashdown
Region 13: Erma Brown, Stephens
Region 14: Katie Daniel, McGehee
Staff
Executive Director: Dr. Tony Prothro
Chief of Staff /
Communications Director: Phyllis Stewart
Executive Assistant: Michelle Burgess
Board Development: Anne Butcher
Staff Attorney: Kristen Garner
Policy & Advocacy: Ron Harder
Lucas Harder
Advocacy & TAPS: Mickey McFatridge
Study Circles: Connie Whitfield
Finance: Deborah Newell
Administrative Assistant: Angela Ellis
Bookkeeper: Kathy Ivy
Risk Management Program &
Workers’ Comp. Program:
Shannon Moore, Director
Krista Glover
Amanda Blair
Dwayne McAnally
Ashley Samuels
Jennifer Shook
Misty Thompson
Melody Tipton
Tiffany Malone
General Counsel: Jay Bequette
Editor: Steve Brawner
TO CONTACT THE MAGAZINE
Please contact Steve Brawner, Editor
501.794.2012
brawnersteve@mac.com
Report Card is published quarterly by the
Arkansas School Boards Association. Copyright
2014 by the Arkansas School Boards Association and Steve Brawner Communications. All
rights reserved.
ASBA News and notes
New officers take
their positions in
ASBA leadership
Jerry Don Woods, vice president
of the Dardanelle School Board, was
elected president of the Arkansas School
Boards Association at the Annual Conference Dec. 11, while Steve Percival of
Fayetteville was elected president-elect
and Brenda McKown of Beebe was
elected vice president. Sandra Porter
of Bryant was elected ASBA secretarytreasurer, and Dr. Paul Hance of Batesville will serve another term as past
president.
Woods acted as president throughout
2013 in the absence of Maxine Nelson, the elected president who fell ill
with cancer and passed away Nov. 21.
Because that left the position of past
president
without an
occupant, the
Delegate Assembly voted
to change
the association’s bylaws
so that the
outgoing immediate past
president can
remain in that
Porter
position, or a
previous past president can be appointed
to it.
ASBA officers typically are elected
first as secretary-treasurer and then
proceed through the ranks up to president. Porter was selected to the Bryant
School Board in 2006 and was president
in 2010-11. Her full-time job is serving
as the interim deputy director for career
and technical education for the Arkansas Department of Career Education.
In that capacity, she is in charge of the
state’s career and technical education
programs, including agriculture, family
and consumer science, business technology and marketing, skilled and technical
classes, and the state’s apprenticeship
and career development programs. She
has been with the department 10 years.
Porter has spent her career in education. Previously she was a business
teacher in the Bryant School District for
15 years and, before that, taught in Little
Rock and Missouri.
“I got into education to make a difference with students and have never
regretted my decision to get into education. ... It’s been my life,” she said.
Randy Goodnight of Greenbrier is
taking her place as Region 8 director.
Goodnight, a semi-retired businessman
and cattle rancher, has served seven
years on the Greenbrier School Board.
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A graduate
of Greenbrier High
School, he
has been
secretary of
the board the
past three
years. His
wife, Lisa, is
a kindergarten teacher
there.
Goodnight
Butcher to lead
board development
efforts for ASBA
ASBA will soon have a new director
of board development – Anne Butcher,
superintendent at the Centerpoint School
District in Amity.
Butcher, who starts working at ASBA
July 1, has big shoes to fill. She replaces
recently retired Director of Board Development Horace Smith.
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“Horace of course was a valuable
employee,” said ASBA’s chief of staff,
Phyllis Stewart. “He knew how to not
only develop a program but deliver that
program to school board members, and
that talent will be hard to replace.
Butcher is well prepared for the job.
Previously the director of secondary
education at Fort Smith and assistant
superintendent at Arkadelphia, she has
been Centerpoint superintendent since
2010.
ASBA
calendar
NSBA Annual Conference
April 5-7
New Orleans
May 13
ASBA/AAEA Joint Conference
Little Rock
June 15-17
NSBA Southern Region Conference
Savannah, Georgia
July 10-11
Summer Learning Institute
Hot Springs
Summer Institute
planned for July in
Hot Springs
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Plans are being developed for ASBA’s
first Summer Leadership Institute, which
will be July 10-11 at Summit Arena in Hot
Springs.
Phyllis Stewart, ASBA’s chief of staff,
said former Arkansas Razorback and NBA
star Sydney Moncrief will open the conference the afternoon of Thursday, July 10,
with a keynote address about leadership
and teamwork. The next day will begin
with a breakfast and include remarks by
candidates for governor.
Stewart said the goal is to give school
board members across Arkansas a chance
to meet in a more relaxed atmosphere than
the business-like Annual Conference in
December.
“What we hope to do is bring the
school board members into a setting where
they can possibly bring their family members, and they may want to stay on a few
days and work some vacation time into
that,” she said.
The Institute will fill a hole being left
by the National School Boards Association’s decision to phase out its Southern
Region meetings. Stewart said that school
board members from other states eventually could be invited to attend ASBA’s
Institute.
NSBA campaign
launched to tout
public education
When “12 Years a Slave” director Steve
McQueen accepted the Academy Award
for Best Picture, he also sent a message
about the need to stand up for schools.
McQueen was wearing the red campaign bracelet of Stand Up 4 Public
Schools, an initiative to highlight the
success of public education launched by
the National School Boards Association in
partnership with its state associations.
The campaign’s website, www.standup4publicschools.org, includes details on
how individuals can get involved.
“NSBA’s campaign intends to counter
the aggressive, well-funded attacks on
public education with national and local
outreach that supports local school board
governance and honors the achievements
of America’s public schools,” said NSBA
Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel in a
news release.
The campaign features celebrity
advocates and public school graduates.
NSBA President David Pickler had given
the bracelet to McQueen on the red carpet
prior to the Academy Awards. The bracelet
was clearly visible as McQueen accepted
the Oscar from actor Brad Pitt.
Other advocates include basketball
legend and businessman Earvin “Magic”
Johnson and former talk show host Montel
Williams. In one advertisement, Sal Kahn,
founder of the not-for-profit Khan Academy, notes that “People talk about college
and career readiness, but both are just a
means to an end. What we really need to
talk about is life readiness.”
ASBA officers go to
D.C. to advocate
for public schools
ASBA President Jerry Don Woods of
Dardanelle, President-elect Steve Percival of Fayetteville, and Vice President
Brenda McKown of Beebe joined more
than 750 school board and state school
boards association leaders in Washington Feb. 2-4 as past of the NSBA’s
Advocacy Institute.
The Institute centers on building
year-round advocates for public education and local school governance.
School board members engage in
NSBA’s Federal Relations Network, a
national grassroots legislative effort that
urges Congress to make public education a top priority.
In a day-long visit to Capitol Hill,
school board leaders asked Congress to
accelerate investments in public education that support local efforts, and to
appropriate full funding for Title I and
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates.
School board members are also keeping a close eye on federal intrusion and
overreach. NSBA has worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S.
House of Representatives to introduce
“The Local School Board Governance
and Flexibility Act,” H.R. 1386, which
recognizes the benefits of local school
district governance and ensures that
maximum local flexibility and decisionmaking are not eroded through actions
by the U.S. Department of Education.
School board members also urged
their senators to pass the reauthorization
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The House version,
H.R. 5, contains elements of The Local
Governance and Flexibility Act and was
passed last summer.
Schools earn little
attention as private
option dominates
The private option, not public
schools, was the focus of this year’s fiscal session of the Arkansas Legislature.
The end result was that school funding
levels created in 2013 were not changed,
though legislators did add $5 million for
expanding broadband access and $5 million for a revolving loan fund for school
buildings for charter schools.
Legislative leaders spent most of the
session trying to find the votes to pass
the private option, which uses Medicaid
funds through the Affordable Care Act
to subsidize private insurance for Arkansans with low incomes.
In the midst of that debate, legislators had little stomach for arguing other
issues. There was talk before the session
that legislators could change the state’s
NSLA funding mechanism that provides
extra money to districts based on their
number of students receiving free and
reduced lunch prices. Instead, legislators
had not come to an agreement on those
changes before the session. With the private option debate sucking the oxygen
out of the Capitol, the House and Senate
Education Committees barely met.
The fiscal session’s purpose is to discuss funding only. The next 12 months
will bring an election followed by a regular session when all education subjects
will be on the table. “Everything will
come up. ... It will make ‘13 seem like
a cakewalk, ” said Ron Harder, ASBA’s
policy and advocacy director.
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New ASBA staff members
Changes bring new leaders to ASBA
Stewart wearing two hats
as ASBA chief of staff,
communications director
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For many associations, the jobs of
chief of staff and communications director are filled by two people. At ASBA,
Phyllis Stewart fulfills both roles.
Stewart, who joined the staff last
year, said it’s her job to take the vision
of Dr. Tony Prothro, ASBA executive
director, and then help him and the rest
of the staff “connect the dots and turn
them into reality.” She also manages
ASBA’s operations when Prothro is out
of town, which isn’t difficult. “We’ve
got some really good people who are
in charge of their own departments and
require no supervision,” she said.
As communications director, Stewart
helps send email blasts and other communications to school board members
and superintendents as part of ASBA’s
legislative advocacy efforts. She com-
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PHYLLIS Stewart, left, and Lucas Harder are newest ASBA staff members.
For Harder, ASBA service is a family affair
As ASBA’s Model Policy Service
assistant director, Lucas Harder, 26, researches statutes and regulations, creates
model policies that help districts conform to the rules, and, almost always,
gets along with his dad, Ron, ASBA’s
Model Policy Service director.
“There are occasional times where
I don’t think it would be any different
if I were not his son, where we can get
frustrated with each other, but we can
always talk it out,” he said. “It helps in
some ways that we’ve had almost 26
years of working together at home on
projects and stuff like that.”
Lucas Harder came to the job after
graduating law school in May and passing the bar exam in September. He interned at ASBA from September through
December and then started working full
time January 1.
Ron Harder has been working with
ASBA since June 2000 and was a school
board member before that, so school
board business has been a part of Lucas’
life for many years. While his father
works primarily on amending existing policies, Lucas is in charge of new
materials.
His job involves explaining highly
technical legal matters to school board
members. The day before his interview
with Report Card, the IRS had released
new regulations for the Affordable Care
Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
Isn’t that material kind of dry?
“It is, but there is the challenge of
trying to turn it into something that both
I and everyone else can understand, and
there’s some pleasure when you complete that,” he said. However, he admits
that the first time he read through the
regulations, he fell asleep.
Lucas has been blind in his right eye
and legally blind in his left eye since the
Please see HARDER, next page
Stewart
municates with ASBA’s advocacy partners such as the Arkansas Association
of Educational Administrators (AAEA),
where she once served four years as
communications director. She is ASBA’s
primary liaison with Report Card and
manages ASBA’s website. She also
sends out press releases about various
subjects and responds to questions from
the media.
Previously, Stewart served four
years as chief of staff with the Arkansas
Department of Education, where she
was Commissioner Tom Kimbrell’s
right-hand person and was the department’s liaison with the State Board of
Education.
“This job was as brutally difficult and
as high anxiety as you could imagine,”
she said. “You have to manage the flow
of information to the commissioner so
he isn’t overwhelmed. You also have to
tee up tough issues for final decisions.
That means bringing not only problems
but possible solutions. You have to deal
with the internal challenges, and you
have to navigate the political bureaucracy. And then there’s that never ending
series of fires you have to put out and
somehow figure out how to ensure the
important, long-term initiatives are being carried out.”
As difficult as the job was, she misses
her co-workers at ADE and elsewhere in
state government. “They are dedicated
individuals who work long hours to
deliver services to the state’s schools so
they can better serve students,” she said.
“I miss working with them and learning
from them. And of course, I miss Dr.
Kimbrell – the best commissioner of
education we’ve ever had and a wonderful colleague and friend.”
Prior to serving as AAEA communications director, Stewart served 28 years
with the Pulaski County Special School
District and was the superintendent’s
executive assistant and liaison to the
school board. For 15 years, she worked
for Prothro’s uncle, Bobby Lester. “I sort
of watched Tony grow up during that
time,” she said.
Stewart said ASBA’s primary role is
to help board members become better
advocates for schools and students. That
role is increasingly important at a time
when education is changing, technology
is advancing, and support for traditional
public schools is no longer universal.
“Our local boards are the voice of the
community – the connection between
schools and the community – so keeping
that role front and center is critical,” she
said. “There is such value in their work
and in ours here at ASBA.”
age of nine weeks as a result of an illness his mother contracted while he was
in utero. Until 2001, he could speed-read
regular size print, but that year he had
a total retinal detachment in his left eye
that resulted in his lens being removed.
In 2005, a membrane grew where his
lens used to be and clouded his vision
completely.
Harder can perform his job duties
using technology. Many government
documents and all Arkansas statutes
and regulations can be accessed audibly
through a computer program known
as Job Access With Speech. The same
program works in Microsoft Word. For
both reading and drafting materials, the
program can actually be quite helpful
because the material is being read aloud,
which helps him catch things he might
have missed skimming materials by
sight.
“You can do it by character, by word,
by both characters and words, and if
you’re really having fun, you can turn it
off entirely and just see what you end up
with (while typing),” he said.
Being blind is a challenge, of course,
but he lives alone and independently
with a little help from others, such as
shopping for groceries with his sister.
He doesn’t mind talking about his situation.
“I would rather have people ask about
it and learn something than just have it
be an elephant that everyone wants to
know about but doesn’t want to offend,”
he said.
Harder
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ASBA Annual Conference
THE CHALLENGE TO SERVE. Dave Gamache, business development director with Rachel’s Challenge, draws a parallel between
Rachel Scott, the first person killed during the Columbine school shooting, and Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Scott’s service-driven
example and writings served as the inspiration for the student-empowerment organization Rachel’s Challenge.
Students emphasis of conference
At ASBA’s annual meeting,
the focus was ‘Educating
the Whole Child’
By Steve Brawner
Editor
With reporting by David Cooke, Blytheville
Schools; Tonya Varnell, Paris School District; Betsy Bailey, Searcy Public Schools;
and Melissa Brawner, contributing writer
The theme of the 2013 ASBA Annual Conference was “Student-Focused
Leadership: Educating the Whole
Child,” and the conference was marked
by two student-focused leaders who
have passed away but whose legacies
remain: the late ASBA president, Maxine Nelson, and Columbine High School
shooting victim Rachel Scott.
Nelson, who served as a Watson
Chapel School Board member for 24
years, would have presided over the
conference had she not passed away of
cancer in November. Jerry Don Woods
of Dardanelle, the new ASBA president,
presented a plaque in her honor to her
daughter, Cynthia Nelson-Payne.
“I’m here to tell you today that this
courageous lady fought the good fight,
she finished the course, and she kept her
faith,” Woods said. “And on November
the 21st of 2013, in losing her battle
with cancer, Maxine Nelson won her
battle with life. She will always occupy
a very special place in my heart. I will
always remember Maxine. During some
of our deeper discussions about some of
our more challenging decisions, Max-
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ine’s voice
could always
be heard
coming from
the other end
of the table
saying, ‘It
is about our
children.’”
Nelson’s
passing left
Nelson
a vacancy in
the office of
immediate past president, so this year’s
Delegate Assembly changed the association’s by-laws so that the outgoing immediate past president can remain in that
position, or a previous past president
can be appointed to it. Dr. Paul Hance of
Batesville, the immediate past president,
will fulfill that role for another year.
Other officers are: president-elect,
Steve Percival, Fayetteville; vice
president, Brenda McKown, Beebe;
and secretary-treasurer, Sandra Porter,
Bryant.
Rachel Scott’s story was shared by
Dave Gamache, business development
director with Rachel’s Challenge. The
student empowerment organization was
created to honor the memory of the
17-year-old who was the first person
killed in the 1999 shooting at Colorado’s
Schaeffer: Students need place to belong
By Melissa Brawner
Contributing Writer
Every child needs four things:
someone who cares; a place to belong;
hope for the future; and provisions for
the journey.
That was the message of Rick
Schaeffer, co-host of the Drive Time
Sports radio program, director of communications for the Springdale School
District, and former University of
Arkansas sports information director.
Schaeffer, who spoke at ASBA’s
Annual Conference Dec. 13, said he
likes seeing students hugging their
teachers and principals.
“Do you know what that means?
That means when they go into those
schools, they know that someone
cares for them,” he said.
Schaeffer and his wife, Adelaide,
founded the nonprofit group Champi-
ons for Kids
in 2004 and
also have
fostered
many
children
over the
last decade,
adopting
one. Today,
their adopted
son’s best
Nelson
friend is living with them as well.
“He wouldn’t be in school right
now if he didn’t have a place to
belong,” Schaeffer said. “Think about
those kids hugging their principals
and their teachers. That’s a place to
belong, isn’t it?”
Emphasizing the importance of
hope, Schaeffer pointed to two im-
Columbine High School. Her father and stepmother, Darrell
and Sandy Scott, started the organization.
Despite her brief life, Rachel left an enduring legacy
through her example and her journal writings. She did not believe in random acts of kindness, Gamache said. Instead, she
believed kindness must be intentional. During her freshman
year, she wrote in her journal that she would reach out every
day to students with special needs, to those who were new in
school, and to those who were being bullied.
Stories proving her commitment to that pledge surfaced
after her death. One student had moved to Colorado with her
migrant Springdale students. One who
spoke no English when she moved to
Springdale in the second grade now
is attending Ohio State University
on a full scholarship. Another caught
the eye of a teacher who helped her
develop an interest in engineering. In
January, she was to interview for a
possible full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Finally, Schaeffer said students
need provisions for the journey. He
pointed to schoolteachers who spend
their own money for students’ school
supplies and food. Schools need to
follow that example.
“If we all work together, we really
can change the world,” he said. “And
if we do that for them, do you know
what they’ll do? They’ll turn around
and do the same thing for the next
generation.”
family shortly after her mother died and was sitting alone in
the lunchroom when Rachel approached and invited her to sit
at her table. After the student shyly declined, Rachel brought
her friends over to the student’s table. When a student with
special needs was confronted by two hallway bullies, Rachel
jumped to his defense with fists balled up and faced the bullies
down. She then made sure to talk to that student each day afterwards. He later told Rachel’s parents that he was suicidal at
the time and that Rachel’s acts of kindness from then on were
his favorite 10 seconds of each day.
“So how do we spend 10 seconds a
day? In a world that seems to honor and
focus on the big things people do, oftentimes we forget the little things mean
more,” Gamache said.
Gamache implored audience members to take interest in those around
them because even those who seem fine
might need help. Prior to Gamache’s
presenting at one school, the principal had told him the quarterback had
hung himself in his bedroom closet that
weekend, stunning the entire campus.
At the end of Gamache’s speech, a huge
football player had approached saying
he was in the quarterback’s room an
hour before the suicide and didn’t know
anything was wrong.
Rachel Scott knew she would not live
long. At age 16, she wrote, “This will be
my last year, Lord. I have gotten what I
can. Thank you.” Twenty minutes before
she became the first person killed at
Columbine, her teacher noticed she had
drawn a picture of two eyes shedding
clear tears that darkened – perhaps turning to blood – as they watered a rose.
When her teacher asked her about it, she
said she had been inspired to draw it and
that she would have an impact on the
world.
The drawing was kept as evidence by
the authorities along with her backpack.
Her parents were unaware of its existence when a stranger called Rachel’s
father, Darrell, saying he was a practical
businessman who didn’t normally put
stock in such things, but he was having
a recurring dream and thought it was
related to her. He described a vision that
was remarkably similar to that drawing
and asked if it might mean something. A
week later, the sheriff called and asked
Darrell to pick up her backpack, and
that’s when he discovered the drawing.
It was the last entry in her journal.
Warren wins Dr. Dan Award
Also during the Annual Conference, Bob Warren, Elkins school board
member and retired elementary principal, received the Dr. Daniel L. Pilkinton
Award, given to an outstanding contributor to public education. The prestigious
award is always given as a surprise to
someone in the audience, and Warren
was surprised. “The one aspect of work12 March 2014 Report Card
DR. DAN WINNER. Bob
Warren, Elkins
School Board
member, right, is
congratulated for
winning the Dr.
Daniel L. Pilkinton Award by
Steve Percival,
ASBA presidentelect, while Jerry
Don Woods,
ASBA president,
looks on. Photo
by Lifetouch.
Below, Jacksonville High seniors
discuss their
experience with
ASBA’s Study
Circles project.
Pictured are
Davin Anderson,
Melika McCrory, and Kaleb
Reeves.
ing for public education is that it is the
foundation of this nation, and that is the
most important thing that there can be,”
he said.
Prothro’s annual report
In his first annual report as ASBA’s
new executive director, Dr. Tony Prothro
said that 100 percent of Arkansas school
boards are members of the association,
170 are members of ASBA’s risk management program, 261 participate in ASBA’s workers’ compensation program,
238 are subscribers to ASBA’s model
policy service, and 173 participate in the
association’s legal liability service.
Breakout sessions
The conference featured early bird
workshops in parliamentary procedure
and school finance. Participants could
choose between 30 breakout sessions.
In one session, Nabholz Construction
Services’ James McBryde, business development officer, and Todd
Piepergerdes, preconstruction specialist, helped present a program about
safe room construction. Nabholz was
constructing 16 safe rooms in Arkansas
and 13 in Joplin, Missouri, which was
devastated by a tornado in 2011.
They and the other presenters described the process of obtaining funding
from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the Arkansas
Department of Emergency Management.
Most of the safe rooms have been a multipurpose physical education space, as
was built at Vilonia after the tornado of
2011. The room was built according to
FEMA occupancy and construction standards. The walls and roof are made of
concrete, and the footings are very large
so that the building can’t be lifted by the
winds. Presenters emphasized that a safe
room is intended to keep students and
members of the community safe for two
hours until a storm passes, not to serve
as a long-term shelter. While FEMA will
only pay for certain features, schools
can add on to the rooms for other uses.
Students in ASBA Study Circles
Connie Whitfield, ASBA Study
Circles coordinator, led a discussion by
Jacksonville High School seniors who
had been the first group of students to
participate in an ASBA Study Circles
process. The process involves a structured environment where issues and
solutions can be discussed. Fourteen
students had taken part in seven halfhour sessions, and 11 presented at the
conference. As part of the process, students had created a chart describing their
ideal high school and suggested changes
ranging from a brighter color scheme to
more exchange students, broader class
options and a better library. A report was
presented to administrators.
“We did not want this just to be a
gripe session and have students come
together and just complain, complain,
complain,” Whitfield said. “And we
found out from them that they didn’t
have just complaints. They really talked
about some of the good things at the
school, and they talked about things that
they saw that could be improved.”
Dr. Kieth Williams, superintendent at
Bald Knob Public Schools, presented a
session based on the book “The Customer Rules: 39 Essential Rules for Deliver-
ing Sensational Service,” by Lee Cockerell, former executive vice president of
Walt Disney World. Williams explained
that students are the public schools’
customers, and districts should strive
to serve them. He pointed out that this
culture begins at the top with the school
board. Topics included frequent communication, the importance of language,
equality, and professionalism. Nathan Howse and Randi House,
kindergarten teachers at Theodore Jones
Elementary School in Conway, teach at
a school where the poverty rate is the
highest in the district, so they decided, at
their cost, to prepare one meal a week to
provide nutrition and a cooking lesson at
the same time. Howse said that Common Core literature includes many foodrelated references. Twenty vocabulary
words could be learned from cooking
pumpkin soup. House said when the
students began slicing onions for a meal,
not one sound was heard in a classroom
of 45 kindergartners.
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Legislators, Beebe, Gooden talk politics
Beebe gives last ASBA
address; Fort Smith’s
Gooden gives fiery speech
By Steve Brawner
Editor
For school board members to really
provide student-focused leadership, they
can’t avoid state and national politics.
That’s why this year’s conference featured an address by Gov. Mike Beebe,
a panel with three legislators, and a
no-punches-pulled speech by Dr. Benny
Gooden, Fort Smith superintendent.
Beebe, who speaks at every ASBA
Annual Conference, noted that this
would be his last conference as governor. The next governor, he said, must
make education a priority. He asked conference attendees “to use your influence
to make sure that the prioritization of K
to 12 public education remains at the top
of everybody’s agenda going forward.”
The three lawmakers who made up
a legislative panel, Sen. Joyce Elliott,
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TALKING EDUCATION. State Sen. Joyce Elliott speaks while Rep. Ann Clemmer, center,
and Sen. Missy Irvin listen as part of a legislative panel. Photo by LifeTouch.
D-Little Rock; Rep. Ann Clemmer, RBenton; and Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain Home, agreed about the importance
of public education, but they didn’t
agree about exactly what policies would
best support schools.
For example, Elliott said she was opposed to using public money for private
schools, including through vouchers
or scholarships. Clemmer, on the other
hand, said schools that have been failing for 10-15 years have inadequately
served students throughout their entire
educational careers, so she could support
a capped tax credit to make it easier for
students to attend private schools.
Elliott said education reforms should
focus on what has been shown to work,
and spending public money on private
schools hasn’t been shown to work.
What has, she said, is high-quality,
consensus-based standards.
The legislators also discussed the
Common Core State Standards, which
have come under attack by some who
say they represent an unwanted federal
intrusion or are insufficiently rigorous.
Clemmer encouraged schools to be careful how they implement the Common
Core and to maintain open lines of communication with parents. She disputed
that Common Core represents too much
government control.
“When I first heard the criticisms, my
first call was to my daughter, who’s not
still a young teacher; she’s 30,” Clemmer said. “And I asked her, ‘Who told
you what to teach?’ And she said, ‘All
of us English teachers got together and
decided what to teach. There’s no one
from the state department; there’s no one
from Washington. No one is telling us.
We got together and decided.’ But your
patrons may not know that, especially if
they only listen to talk radio and people
that need to be mad about something.”
Elliott, who taught school for 30
years, encouraged board members to be
involved in education policymaking.
“I cannot tell you how crucial it is
that you have decided to take up the
mantle of becoming advocates in and
out of your school district,” she said.
“Because the fact is, you have great
people who come to the Legislature
every day and sit at the end of that table
and advocate on your behalf. They do
great. But it’s got to be a whole lot more
than that.”
Gooden, who was president of the
American Association of School Administrators in 2012-13, was less diplomatic
in his remarks than Beebe and the legislators were in theirs. He said Congress’
inaction on reauthorizing the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act has left in
place No Child Left Behind, with its unattainable requirement that every student
be proficient this school year.
To address that reality, the Obama
administration and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have issued a series of
waivers that have effectively given them
control of the process without having to
seek the approval of Congress.
Gooden directed some of his most
pointed remarks at education reformers
that he said are associated with big business, big foundations and ideological
think tanks. Among the most important
players in the field is the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC,
a think tank that has created model
education reform legislation introduced
or passed in many states. These groups,
he said, have long pushed an agenda to
remake public education with increased
school choice and more public money
used to fund private schools.
“The key messages get down to
basically three things: bad teachers, bad
schools and a broken system,” he said.
“Did I tell you that the reformers have a
solution for every one of those?”
Gooden said that not all education
reformers have bad intentions. However,
the motivation for part of the movement is for big business to get its hands
on public dollars. The National Center
for Education Statistics says $638 billion was spent on public education in
2009-10. Gooden encouraged schools to
oppose these efforts, explaining, “Your
community cannot afford to give away
the schools for profit.”
Reasons many for broadband expansion
Arkansas is working to increase its broadband capability
to 100 kilobits per second per student for 2014-15 and one
megabyte per student by 2017-18 to meet recommendations of
the State Educational Technology Directors Association.
The catalyst for the effort has been the need for adequate
broadband capability to administer online Common Core tests,
Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, said
at ASBA’s Annual Conference. However, Kimbrell told the
participants that testing is only part of the issue. Instead, the
state must increase its broadband capacity to better educate
students.
“Let me tell you folks, that’s not what’s driving this,” Kimbrell told the audience. “If we don’t have capacity for teaching
and learning in our schools, do you think your children and
your grandchildren are going to be competing with the children in other developed countries and even underdeveloped
countries?”
The price tag for meeting this goal still has not been determined, though a $5 million appropriation by the Legislature
in this year’s fiscal session would meet only a fraction of the
need. Plans are being formed by two groups – one that was
created by the state Legislature and another that is composed
of business leaders appointed by Beebe known as Fast Access
for Students, Teachers and Economic Results, or FASTER.
The department is coordinating efforts to improve access,
including working with private broadband providers. The
relationship has had its bumpy moments. The Department of
DR. TOM KIMBRELL, Arkansas education commissioner, left, and
Dr. Benny Gooden, Fort Smith Superintendent, talk at the ASBA
Annual Conference. Photo by Melissa Brawner.
MASTER AWARD WINNERS. The Master Award
is given to board members
who have accrued at least
50 hours of boardmanship credit. Pictured are,
front row, Bob McCleskey,
Fountain Lake; Cecilia
West, Concord; Tim Vose,
Stuttgart; C.J. Parker,
Carlisle; Lesia McLemore,
Strong-Huttig; Dan Marzoni, Greenland; Picolla
Washington, Pine Bluff.
Back row, Anthony Patterson, Trumann; Rudolph
Robinson, Hughes; Justin
Eichmann, Fayetteville;
Ralph Waddell, Jonesboro;
Glen Coston, Magnet Cove;
Robert Neal, Cedarville;
Thomas Hill, Dover; and
Daryel Jackson, Marion.
Photos by LifeTouch.
MORE MASTER AWARD WINNERS. Middle
photo, front row, Sarah Johnson, Earle;
Brenda Odom, Bald Knob; Linda Tucker,
England; Sandra Provence, Jackson
County; Robin Lee, Yellville-Summit;
Joan Vickers, Yellville-Summit. Back row,
Michael Turner, Ashdown; Craig Mullins,
South Conway County; Wes Taylor, Parkers Chapel; Edd Puckett, Mena; Greg Morman, Warren; and Brian Hinds, Bismarck.
Bottom photo, front row, Shannon Davis,
Westside Consolidated; Vonda Crowl,
Southside-Batesville; Robin Barker, Watson Chapel; Glenda Drace, Marked Tree;
Carol Lloyd, Booneville; Dianne Curry,
Little Rock. Back row, Oscar Conyears,
Brinkley; Dennis Stevenson, Cross
County; Clarence Williams, South Mississippi County; Mark Rash, Cutter Morning
Star; Andre Acklin, Conway; and Douglas
Watson, Arkansas School for the Blind.
Education and public schools have said
providers have not always made broadband easily available, while the providers say it often is, but schools haven’t
taken advantage of it. Meanwhile, Arkansas is the only one of 43 states with
university-based internet networks that
does not allow public schools to hook
on. Kimbrell said the state is working to
allow schools to attach to the Arkansas
Research and Education Optical Network, or ARE-ON.
The department is working with
schools to determine capacity and what
devices are needed, and to help them
leverage funding through E-rate, a
program that helps school and libraries
obtain internet access. E-rate is funded
through telephone service charges.
THE PINNACLE AWARD is given
to board members who have
accrued at least 200 hours of
boardmanship credit. Pictured
are, front, Carl Barger, Conway;
Kenneth Graves, DeWitt; Carla
Gipson, Stuttgart; Brenda McKown, Beebe; Rhonda Sanders,
Bryant; and Sandra Porter, Bryant. Back, Tommy Fink, Western
Yell County; Tim Hudson, Fayetteville; Danny Watson, Hope;
Robert Nelson, Mountain Home;
Jerry Daniels, Warren; and Paul
Winborn, Alma. Not pictured
are Tony Quinn, Marvell-Elaine;
Linda Miller, Newport; Louis
Thomas, Siloam Springs; Kevin
Bell, Van Buren; and Stan Yingling, White County Central.
“People who have put internet access
and programs into Third World countries
are helping our state build the best program we can build,” Kimbrell said. “It’s
been fast. It’s been furious.”
Arkansas is making other efforts to
advance digital education. Recognizing
that online courses are an ongoing fact
of life, the Legislature passed the Quality Digital Learning Act in 2013. That
act requires every high school to offer at
least one digital course in 2014-15, and
the graduating class of 2018 must pass
at least one digitally delivered course.
Kimbrell touched on other high-tech
changes occurring in Arkansas educa-
tion. Beebe’s cabinet-level STEMWorks
Initiative is meant to increase students
trained for jobs in science, technology,
engineering and math. It helped lead
to the creation of 14 New Tech high
schools, seven E.A.S.T. core schools,
and 21 Project Lead the Way schools –
all technology-based efforts. The state
also is trying to increase its technologybased teaching. Three universities are
now participating in the UTeach program meant to increase the number of
STEM graduates moving into the teaching field. Because Arkansas schools
produced only nine math teachers last
year, the department is offering to pay
for math, science and engineering students to take a few
classes while they are in school
so they can graduate with a
teaching degree along with a degree in
their field.
These efforts will require the participation of schools and school boards.
In fact, schools can’t succeed without
school boards that are committed to
education.
“When school boards are not putting
first and foremost students and decisions
around the students,” Kimbrell said,
“then that’s when we find that there are
problems to the point where we the state
has to step in. ... School boards are the
driving force of what happens in our
local schools and in the success of those
schools.”
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AROUND THE EXHIBIT HALL. Top left, David Swearingen of Crafton Tull,
right, talks with Steve Percival of Fayetteville, ASBA’s president-elect. Top
right, Jeremy Lemons with Musco speaks with a conference-goer. Middle left,
Bill Birch of BancorpSouth, left, visits with Jeffrey Richardson of the Marion
School Board. Middle right, Liz Cox with Hight-Jackson talks with Dr. Jim Rollins, Springdale superintendent. Bottom left, Mickey McFatridge with the TIPS/
TAPS Cooperative Purchasing Systems talks with Sally Bennett of the Armorel
School Board. Bottom right, Jack See, FAIA, REFP, vice president of Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson Architects, right, visits with a conference-goer.
Photo by LifeTouch.
MORE FROM AROUND THE HALL. Top left, Kelli Gemmell with
Milestone Construction Company visits with conference-goers.
Top right, from right, Nabholz’s Paul Hively, Tim Tennant, and
James McBryde visit with a conference-goer. Second row, left,
Pat Craven, left, with KLC Video Security visits with Gene Bennett of the South Mississippi County School Board. Second row
right, Patti LaFleur with Sport Court discusses her company with
Bobby Sanders of Cave City. Third row left, Josh Siebert and
Hannah Breshears with Modus Studios discuss their architectural
firm. Bottom right, Diann Shoptaw with Educational Benefits, Inc.,
right, talks with Laura Whitaker of the Drew Central School Board.
Bottom left, Eldon Bock with Witsell Evans Rasco talks with
Brenda McKown of Beebe, ASBA vice president.
Passing a millage in Walmart’s town
MIKE POORE, Bentonville superintendent, describes how his school district
passed a millage increase.
How do you raise taxes in a
conservative community?
Give voters the facts.
By Steve Brawner
Editor
When schools do their job and community supporters do theirs, it’s possible
to pass a millage increase – even with a
new school board, even in a politically
conservative community, even amongst
voters who had rejected a millage increase the year before.
That’s what happened in Bentonville,
where the district last September passed
a 2.9-mill increase to build a second
high school by a 70-30 margin. A year
earlier, voters soundly had rejected a
6.7-mill increase.
How that change occurred was the
focus of a breakout session at the ASBA
Annual Conference Dec. 12 whose presenters included school board members
Wendi Cheatham and Rebecca Powers,
superintendent Mike Poore and others.
John Fuller with the DLR Group
architectural firm, which designed the
school, said a critical step was a 6-1 vote
by the school board to make the request.
The one board member who voted no
did not actively campaign against it.
“Your board has to be on board,”
said Fuller. “Six-one vote, you can pass
a millage; five-two, you’re starting at
probably a tough battle; four-three,
wasting your time. I can show you the
math.”
Fuller later said in an interview that
a split board vote is such a kiss of death
because half the board will be campaigning against the effort.
Passing the request was no small feat
considering the district faced a number
of challenges. Bentonville had changed
from an at-large district to one represented by zones. For various reasons,
there were only two members left from
the previous board. This was the fourth
millage request in five years. In 2008,
the district unsuccessfully had asked
for more money to build a second high
school. A 2010 request did pass, enabling the district to spend $60 million
to build elementary, middle and junior
high schools and to remodel most of the
other campuses.
But the district’s rapid growth had
left it with little choice but to return to
the voters in 2012, again to ask for a
second high school. That request failed
in what Poore described in an interview
as a contentious election. Even school
supporters were split on whether the district should build a second high school
or whether it should build a ninth grade
center. The request of $120 million for
a 2,500-student school was too high.
Particularly galling to some was the plan
to build a second football stadium only
miles from Bentonville High’s current
one. That request didn’t fit with a community with a lot of retirees on fixed
incomes, and whose most important
employer is the corporate headquarters
of Walmart, where cost-cutting is a
primary value.
The district still had to find a place
to put those students, but it could not afford a third loss at the polls, so supporters asked themselves what they needed
to do differently. They had worked
hard, but they had made the hard push
too early. By scheduling the election in
June, there was a lull after school ended
in May where supporters couldn’t keep
voters engaged. Meanwhile, the district
surveyed voters, for and against, asking
what had motivated their decision. The
results were clear: The district had to
scale back its request – no more “Taj
Mahals,” they were often told – and
eliminate the second football field. The
results led the district to ask for a $73
million school for 2,250 students and cut
$16 million in athletics spending. “You
have to give them what they want at the
price tag that they feel is reasonable,”
said Cheatham, now the school board
president.
Supporters laid the groundwork as
they prepared for another campaign.
Board members and Poore spoke at
about 20 community forums to help
the district formulate its request and to
demonstrate its transparency. As a result,
board member Rebecca Powers said,
“We could actually say before the bond
promotion, ‘We heard you. We listened.
This is what you said.’”
Meanwhile, Poore met privately with
Walmart CEO Mike Duke in hopes
of gaining the support of the world’s
largest corporation, which depends on
the district to supply its workforce and
educate its employees’ children. Duke
continued to meet with them periodically as they developed their concept
and assigned two staff members to
coordinate with the district. He also
invited them to present their plans to a
luncheon meeting with about 30 executives. “They picked us apart for over an
hour,” Poore said in an interview, but the
meeting helped the district hone its request and tighten its responses. Walmart
later allowed Poore to make a presentation before a much larger lunchtime
audience that was streamed throughout
the company’s headquarters. Once the
millage request was created, Walmart
funded a community survey that indicated the request had broad support. It later
sent a letter to its associates that strongly
implied its support.
“You each have a different business
entity that’s huge,” Poore told conference-goers. “And a lot of times those
businesspeople are a little afraid to be
out in front of a taxation. You’ve got to
set that in motion months ahead of time
so that when you’re ready to actually
create your election question, they’re
ready to go.”
The campaign was divided into two
efforts – one to combat voter apathy,
and one to drive up the yes votes. The
anti-apathy part was left to the school
district, which cannot spend money to
campaign but can engage in activities
that educate voters. For that, $30,000 of
taxpayer money was spent. Meanwhile,
a local committee raised $65,000 in
private money to run the campaign for
yes votes.
Supporters decided to run a professional campaign managed by local political pro Mark Henry. He had never run
a school election, but he thought politically, which is what the district needed.
For example, the campaign bought ads
on an influential local conservative radio
show. The host never opposed the effort,
and school board members and others regularly were granted interviews.
Other members of the news media were
engaged early in the process. Early in
the summer, the campaign created a
weekly plan detailing campaign activities from June through Election Day.
Each week had a specific theme that was
communicated through flyers, social
media, and marquee signs. The district
performed a demographic and capacity
study for 2013 so it could credibly make
the case that the school had to be built.
Even hospital data was studied to project
future kindergarten enrollment.
The campaign looked for supporters in the most likely places – school
staff members, the parents of schoolage children and students. Less than 20
percent of school parents had voted in
the failed 2012 election. Some principals
were shocked at the voter apathy in their
schools. Each school was challenged
to increase its percentage of registered
voters by 50 percent. Between June and
September, that percentage increased
districtwide by 53 percent. Staff captains were assigned to each building
and given information to educate staff,
engage parents, fight rumors, and do all
the other things that a professional campaign does. According to Fuller, a staff
member answering a question wrongly
is worse than one failing to answer it at
all because of the damage it does to the
campaign’s credibility, so staff members
were given a cheat sheet not much bigger than a playing card. Flyers were sent
home with younger children and mailed
to secondary school parents. A voter
registration drive was held at the high
school.
The campaign also worked to change
hearts and minds outside the school
family. It solicited and won the support
of some of the community’s important
employers, including real estate companies and banks. A photo displaying a
packed hallway was an effective prop. A
factor working in the campaign’s favor
was $13 million available in state aid – a
rarity for a district with Bentonville’s
wealth index. On the district’s Facebook
page, supporters were quick to respond
to negative comments with information supporting the cause. Negative
comments were not published on the
campaign’s Facebook page.
Poore estimated
that supporters
were speaking at
two or three meetings per day in August and September. Cheatham, a
stay-at-home mom,
said she was able
to attend numerous Cheatham
meetings. “Maximize each individual
board member’s expertise,” she said
Supporters delayed the hard push
until the end and didn’t supply yard
signs and bumper stickers until a few
weeks before the election. Then one
day community members awoke to find
yard signs everywhere. Eventually, the
campaign ran out of stickers and had to
print more.
The campaign won every precinct,
including the retiree community of Bella
Vista. The community had said yes to
its high school and to its students. But
according to Cheatham, simply basing
a campaign on doing the right thing
for kids isn’t sufficient when people
are struggling to make ends meet and
believe they are already paying enough
taxes. Instead, voters must believe they
are getting their money’s worth.
“You have to address the tea party,”
she said. “You have to address your no
vote, and you have to know that you
have to be very real with them with
everything that you’re coming to them
for.”
Communication
is how we build success.
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Cover / Schools of Innovation
Schools of innovation
ONE ON ONE. Kara Burns, English teacher at Bauxite’s Miner Academy, works with 11th-grader Frank Garrett on a project.
A new tool lets schools
innovate without
becoming charters
By Steve Brawner
Editor
School districts that want to try innovative teaching methods but don’t
want to travel the charter school route
now have another tool at their disposal:
Become a school of innovation.
The newly created designation is
similar to charter schools in that schools
of innovation can ask for waivers from
state regulations. For example, the process can be used to become a New Tech
High School.
But becoming a school of innovation is different from becoming a
charter school in other ways. Becoming
a charter school involves completing
an application that is reviewed by the
Arkansas Department of Education and
approved by the ADE’s six-member
Charter Authorizing Panel, which was
created by the Legislature in 2013. That
panel’s decisions can be reviewed and
reversed by the State Board of Education. Once a charter is approved, schools
receive waivers from state regulations
along with planning and implementation
grants.
The school of innovation process
is more district-led and collaborative.
Schools considering that option form
a council of innovation composed
of teachers, staff members, students,
parents and community members. The
council is tasked with producing a vi-
sion, a mission statement, and up to 10
goals. The idea, said Megan Witonski,
currently ADE assistant commissioner
for learning services, is for the councils
to ask, “If we could dream anything
we wanted to dream, what would this
school look like?”
From there, the council’s plan must
be presented to all school employees,
ratified by a 60 percent majority, and
approved by the superintendent and
school board. The school must submit an
application to ADE with supporting research. Instead of an authorizing panel,
the decision-making authority rests with
the commissioner of education, who can
approve or deny an application for up to
four years and, under the law, revoke it
at any time. Unlike with charters, there
is no appeals process. The ADE has pur-
posely set broad parameters so schools
will create their own innovations.
“Every school has its own separate
personality and its own separate culture, so it’s really got to be reflective of
what they would like,” Witonski said.
“If we set the mission for them and the
vision for them, and if we set the goals
for them, it kind of does away with the
process of, what could this look like?
They’d look all very cookie-cutter, very
similar.”
The school of innovation process is
designed to be easier to get into and out
of than charter schools. Because there
is no charter, schools can reverse course
and return to previous methods at any
time. However, unlike charters, there
is no funding attached, and schools of
innovation cannot obtain a waiver from
the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. As with
charter schools, schools of innovation
must follow state fiscal practices and
federal regulations pertaining to student
privacy.
Witonski, who is leaving ADE to
become Springdale’s assistant superintendent for personnel, said schools
of innovation may be an option where
charter schools aren’t. In some areas,
charter schools have developed a negative connotation. Among the criticisms
is that their models often have not been
replicated in traditional public schools.
Witonski said the ADE is working to
better communicate schools of innovation successes and will encourage
schools to share their stories.
The legislation authorizing schools
of innovation, Act 601 by Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, was passed in 2013.
The rules for the application process
were finalized Feb. 13, with schools
required to apply by May 1. In future
years, the deadline will be March 1.
That’s not a lot of time this year, but
some school districts are considering using the new tool. That includes Bauxite,
which recently underwent two-and-ahalf years of what superintendent Jerrod
Arkansas
Williams called “a very intensive selfdiagnosis” about the needs of the school
district and the community. Among
its goals was increasing the district’s
already high 96 percent graduation rate
to 100 percent.
A Miner Revolution
The result of that process is Miner
Academy, which received a waiver from
the state’s seat-time requirement of 180
days in class. Instead, students are measured by their mastery of the subject.
Some students attend classes there all
day, some a period or two, and some
three days a week for half a day. According to Williams and Bridget Chitwood,
director of curriculum, instruction and
federal programs, that waiver enables
the school to better meet the needs of
particular students in grades 6-12 who
have challenging academic or personal
situations. One student was faced with
leaving school to earn money for his
financially struggling family. As a stu-
We believe in the
power of education.
“The AdvancED process has been a key ingredient in our district’s efforts toward continuous
improvement. Through the self-assessment, collaborative planning, surveying of stakeholders and
peer review phases of the process, we have gained valuable insight into the strengths of our district
as well as key areas on which we can focus in the coming years to continually move us forward in our
efforts to provide a quality education to our students.”
Daryl Blaxton, Superintendent
Pocahontas School District
For more information about AdvancED Arkansas and the AdvancED Accreditation Process, contact:
Kenny Pennington, Director :: kpennington@advanc-ed.org :: 888.413.3669, ext. 5620
Don W. Love, Ed.D, Associate Director :: dwlove@advanc-ed.org :: 888.413.3669, ext. 6907
Cover / Schools of Innovation
“ My hope ... is that they
don’t think of school like
we know school today, that
they think of school for
what kids need going forward. ”
- Megan Witonski
Dept. of Education
dent at Miner Academy, he doesn’t have
to make that choice. Also because of the
waiver, the school year can be extended.
That means students can fulfill state requirements and master materials without
having to repeat a year, as was the case
with one student who had transferred
to a nonaccredited private school that
wasn’t aligned with state standards and
had returned to public school behind his
peers. Because of Miner Academy, he’ll
probably graduate in June 2014 instead
of May 2015.
Miner Academy this year served the
equivalent of 50 full-time students in a
relaxed environment, with that number
increasing to 70 next year. The student, a parent, a teacher, and
a sending principal create a student action plan. Students work
somewhat independently using digital devices with guidance
from teachers. The school has a full-time mental health paraprofessional and a nearly full-time therapist. Students with
discipline issues spend their day in an “opportunity room,”
where they receive focused attention as they earn points
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enabling them to rejoin the general population. It’s meant to be
correctional but not punitive.
The school isn’t just for
students with challenges. It also
offers gifted students online and
digital learning opportunities,
such as a class in anthropology
or a second history course. That
flexibility better serves students
who are particularly gifted in
one area but not in another. The
environment also has proved
conducive to returning homeschool students who might
struggle sitting in a traditional
row of desks. It also serves
students who need to graduate
early, such as a student ready to
enter the military.
“All we’re doing is trying
to reach the kids and help them
be successful that don’t fit the
typical K-12 mold,” Williams
said.
Williams said the district has
been trying to apply the lessons
learned from Miner Academy
to the entire school system. It has no intention of replacing its
charter school model.
Schools of innovation, however, can be another tool for a
small district that must be competitive because 30 percent of
its population are school choice students. So in February, the
district’s leadership team met to start the planning process. At
the time, Williams did not know what the result would be, but
like Miner Academy, it would be creative.
“Schools of innovation will offer an opportunity in maybe
our elementary or middle or high school where we could do
something out of the box to meet kids in a different manner
that the charter school’s not meeting with that route,” he said.
Still a new concept
Because “schools of innovation” is such a new term – and
because it’s hard to distinguish it from other education innovations – it’s hard to define exactly where this process has been
tried and what the results have been. Dr. Denise Airola, director of the Office of Innovation for Education at the University
of Arkansas, said research on the success of education innovations in general is still lacking. However, many innovations
occurring across the country could fit into the school of innovation model. Like Miner Academy, a number of states are
moving toward “competency-based education,” also known as
“demonstrated mastery” or other buzzwords, where the idea is
that students’ progress should be based on their understanding
of the material, not on seat time.
In writing rules and regulations, ADE has looked to other
states where something like Arkansas’ has been tried – par-
ticularly Colorado and Kentucky. In
Kentucky, the Legislature created districts of innovation in March 2013, with
four districts implementing their plans
this past year. Taylor County Schools
is advancing students as they master
grade level content, not as they finish
grades. The district plans eventually to
locate all its school campuses adjacent
to each other so students easily can
move between content levels. Graduates
of Danville Schools must demonstrate
competence in 11 skill areas, such as
the ability to persevere and the ability to think creatively. Their diplomas
will reflect their mastery of these skills.
The Eminence Community Schools are
blurring the lines between secondary
and post-secondary education. Students
who graduate high school there can take
college-level courses after their senior
years so they can continue their education amidst familiar support structures.
Jefferson County Public Schools, which
educate 100,000 students in the Louisville area, has organized a competition
where community groups and entities
are invited to design a school that the
district will operate.
According to David Cook, Kentucky
Department of Education director of
innovation and partner engagement, the
district of innovation model has allowed Kentucky, which does not have
charter schools, to experiment. Another
three districts have been approved to
create their own designs for 2014-15.
The disadvantaged and isolated Owsley
County School District, like Eminence,
is offering community college courses
for its graduates.
Cook said the key to success in
creating a district of innovation is to
determine what is right for one’s own
community. Too often, educators see another district’s success and want to copy
it. Districts must have frank and upfront discussions, starting with why the
district needs to innovate. The Department of Education must provide deep
and ongoing support – which he said
Kentucky’s department failed to do fully
during the first year because it believed
the four districts, all of them considered
progressive, were capable of implementing the changes without a lot of help.
Another key: School board support.
“We have four school boards in the
first four, and I think we have them in
the second three, that are ready to do
this,” Cook said. “They’re change agents
themselves. They’re not sitting back
going, ‘Well, we’ll try it until something
goes wrong.’ They’re the kind of folks
who say, ‘We’re with you.’”
Educational innovations must fit the
teachers, the leadership and the students,
said the University of Arkansas’ Airola.
Other tips? Start with a cohort and then
scale up, as Bauxite has done. Remember that technology is only a tool and not
a learning solution by itself. Finally, be
prepared for an army of vendors making
promises. Avoid multi-year contracts
with them, believe only half of what
they say they can do now, and believe
none of what they say they’ll do in the
future.
“If you don’t like a particular feature
or it’s not going to serve your needs
and they promise you they’re going to
change it later, that it’s the next generation, don’t go there,” she said. “You
need a product that works for you right
now.”
Will schools of innovation offer districts an effective tool to reach and teach
students? The rules were only written in
February, and there’s not much time left
for districts to submit their ideas for next
year. Earlier this year, Williams met with
leaders from three other school districts
for a brainstorming session about the
pros and cons of the schools of innovation model. Williams said that some in
the school administrator community are
excited, while others see it as another
passing fad.
Students have changed, and so must
schools, Williams said. His district has
used the charter school model to create
change, and now it may be one of the
first to try this new model. The ADE’s
Witonski said there has been “tons”
of interest as she has made the rounds
talking to school administrators. She’s
hopeful that schools of innovation will
create innovative ideas.
“My hope as they establish their
councils (of innovation),” she said, “is
that they don’t think of school like we
know school today, that they think of
school for what kids need going forward.”
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Ask two questions before searching student
Must be justified and
reasonable in scope.
Otherwise, you’re liable.
The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth
Amendment prohibition against unlawful searches does apply to searches of
students in schools. Courts have given
schools more leeway than other institutions, but that leeway is not absolute,
and neither is the immunity provided
school officials when they violate the
law.
In other words, yes, a school official
can be liable if they get this wrong.
However, court decisions have made
it easier to get this right by establishing a two-prong test for determining the
reasonableness of a search conducted
by school officials. First, was the search
justified at its inception? And second,
was the search permissible in its scope?
Was it justified?
Let’s start with the first: Was the
search justified at its inception? There
must be reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence
that the student has violated or is violating either the law or school rules. This
test applies to a search of a student conducted by a teacher, a school official, or
a school security officer at the behest of
and in conjunction with school officials.
It does not, however, apply where there
is law enforcement agency involvement
in the search; here, a probable cause and
warrant standard applies.
For a search to be justified, suspicion
of an individual is required. The Fourth
Amendment requires more than a generalized probability that a search will turn
up evidence that the law or school rules
have been violated. General exploratory
or sweep searches are usually unreasonable.
Examples of reasonable suspicion can
include possession of cigarette rolling
papers commonly used with marijuana;
a student in a restroom without a pass
where restrooms are frequently scenes
of narcotics activities; drug paraphernalia observed through a car window;
observation of pill sales; observation of
by Jay Bequette
ASBA General Counsel
smoking and marijuana odor; suspicion
of smoking in restroom; bulging pockets
plus possession of a large sum of money; and searches based on information
supplied by reliable student informants
or anonymous tips. If a school official
is reasonably suspicious of a student,
he may direct him or her to empty their
pockets or produce unlawful items, so
long as the search is reasonable in its
justification and scope.
right of the people to
“beThe
secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall
not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported
by Oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the
place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be
seized.
”
– The Fourth Amendment
Courts give extra leniency based on
what kind of contraband is being sought.
Those include narcotics and concealed
weapons, because courts recognize
how dangerous and disruptive both can
be in a school setting. Courts also are
lenient in searches of stolen property,
so long as something reliably has been
reported to be missing, not just that the
suspected student had an opportunity to
steal. Searches made because of missing
money have been upheld. School searches may be reasonable in cases where
they are based on information supplied
by reliable student informants as well as
through anonymous tips.
The search of a student conducted by
and at the request of a school official
does not violate the Fourth Amendment
if the student consents to the search. The
difficult issue is whether the student’s
consent to the search was voluntary, or
whether it was in acquiescence to the
school authority or the product of coercion or threats by the school officials.
Standards are higher when a search is
conducted by a law enforcement officer
– even when the search is conducted by
a police officer assigned as a school security guard. Generally, when a law enforcement officer participates in a search
conducted by school officials, the officer
must have probable cause for the search,
even though the school officials acting alone would be subject to the lesser
reasonableness standard for conducting
searches. However, where the police
provide information that motivates
school officials to conduct a search, the
search must only be reasonable.
The test also must only meet the
reasonableness standard when the search
is made by school security officers at the
behest of school officials and in conjunction with school officials. However,
the school security officer must have
only limited involvement.
Was it permissible in scope?
The second test is: Was the search
permissible in its scope? A search will
be permissible when the measures
adopted are reasonably related to the
objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and
sex of the student and the nature of the
infraction. Strip searches, for example,
are considered to be highly intrusive
invasions of privacy and are generally
viewed unfavorably by the courts.
However, when it comes to searching lockers, the law is on your side.
Courts have upheld these searches since
students typically do not have exclusive
possession of the lockers. School regulations govern what might be kept in lock-
ers, and schools have a right to inspect
them. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-21608, “[a]ny school official employed
in a supervisory capacity over students
or other persons on school premises,
upon receipt of information that guns,
drugs, or other contraband are concealed
in school-owned property, shall have
authority to investigate and search any
school-owned property for any drugs,
guns, or other contraband which may be
concealed in the school-owned property,
without the necessity of obtaining a
search warrant from local authorities.”
When are you liable?
School officials are protected by
a qualified degree of immunity from
liability for their professional actions.
They are not liable for actions taken in
a good faith exercise of their responsibilities, provided that the actions are
reasonable under the circumstances and
that the officials act sincerely and with
the belief that they are doing right.
However, school official immunity
has been interpreted on a generally
narrow basis. The immunity defense is
not available where a search was not
reasonable or was not based on a reasonable suspicion as to a particular student,
but only on a generalized suspicion
based, for example, on the student’s past
record. School officials may be liable for
damages arising from unconstitutional
searches if a search was conducted that
did not have a reasonable basis.
School Search Fact Checklist
A. Who conducted the search?
1. School official
2. School security officer
3. Outside police
B. Personal background of student who
was searched.
1. Age, sex and grade level
2. School record and history
3. Prior experience of the person who conducted the search with that student
C. Nature of the alleged infraction.
1. Violation of criminal laws
2. Violation of school rules
. Time and location of search.
D
1. During school hours
2. On school premises
3. Area where infractions are known to
occur
F. Follow-up search. Did initial search
discover evidence which led to further
search?
H. Basis for conducting search.
1. Observation of contraband by school
officials
I. Purpose of search.
1. Maintain educational atmosphere
2. Search for contraband based on suspicion of an individual
3. Whether emergency required search
without delay
J. Extent of police Involvement in
search.
1. Was search conducted by or participated in by a school security officer or outside
police?
2. Was search instigated by law enforcement?
3. Did school officials act based on information received from law enforcement?
E. Type of search conducted.
1. Questioning leading to search
2. Locker search
3. Strip search
4. Surveillance
G. What was being searched for/what
was found?
1. Drugs
2. Weapons
3. Stolen property
a
2. Observation by school officials of conduct suggesting presence of contraband
3. Informant’s tip and record of informant
for reliability
4. Anonymous tip
5. Suspicious conduct
6. Being in restricted area without permission
. Search as a result of informant
K
1. Was informant known to school official
or anonymous?
2. If anonymous, did informant have relationship with school?
3. Did informant have a record for reliability?
4. Has informant provided previous
information which resulted in successful
search?
L. Search based on consent.
1. Did student give consent to search?
2. Was student coerced or threatened?
3. Did student withdraw consent?
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EXECUTIVE SESSION
with
Keith
Baker
By Steve Brawner
Editor
Telling Keith Baker’s story requires
talking about his father, too. Archie
Baker was a school custodian for the
Kensett School District for more than 30
years. Beloved by everyone, he was a
bridge between the white and black
communities during and after integration. Keith Baker assisted his dad as a
part-time custodian for many years and
has 30 years of service with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. The lessons
he learned from him shaped him as a
person and school board member.
Baker, 55, has lived in Kensett all his
life and now lives less than a mile from
the home where he was raised. Four
years ago, he was elected to the Riverview School Board. His district serves
students from Kensett, Griffithville,
Judsonia and part of Searcy. He was
appointed last year as ASBA’s Region 6
director to finish the term of Brenda
McKown of Beebe, now secretarytreasurer, and then was elected to serve
his own term during the regional
meetings.
Report Card sat down with him to
talk about his dad’s influence, about
Riverview High becoming a New Tech
school, and about the steps the school
board took hiring the district’s superintendent, Dr. Delena Gammill.
Let’s talk about your school
integrating.
“I was in the second grade. My first
grade year, we went to an all-black
school in Kensett called East Side
School. The second grade year was
1965. We went to the all-white school at
Kensett, and they took the first- and
second-graders and the ninth, 10th, 11th
and 12th, and the third- through the
eighth-graders stayed at the black school
one more year. I can remember all of my
other brothers and sisters, there were
seven of us, and all the other six kids
stayed at the black school for one year,
and I was in one of the first classes that
went to the white school. And I remember crying every day.”
Why were you crying?
“Because all my other brothers and
sisters were still at the black school for
one year, and I was at the other school,
the white school.”
Was it more being separated from
your family than it was going to the
white school?
“Yeah, it was no problem, and I can
remember my first teacher (Caroline
White) at the white school. ... I ended up
being the teacher’s pet, and still today,
every time she sees me, she hugs me.”
How important was having that
caring teacher to help you assimilate
into a difficult environment?
“It was very important to me. It kept
me together, kept me focused, and she
was an inspiration in my life. And she
was a very good teacher, and she loved
the kids, loved all kids, all colors of
kids. She loved them.”
Tell me about your dad, William
Archie Baker, and the role he played
in the school?
“My father, he was a great man. He
was a family man. He worked two or
three jobs, whatever it took to provide
for the family. He was a man that loved
people. He loved people, all kinds of
races of people, and people loved him.
He was instrumental to a lot of the
young principals that came through. He
was instrumental in the black-white
issues that we had. He could talk to all
the black family parents, and he could
talk to the white parents.”
What was his personality like to
make him able to do that?
“He was real mild, and he was a good
listener, and he would tell you when you
were wrong. Regardless of what race, he
would tell you when you were wrong.
And he would stand behind you.
Sometimes if the black kids got in
trouble at something, they’d come tell
my daddy about it, and he’d say he
wanted to know the truth about the
situation. He’d say, ‘Don’t get up there
and embarrass me. I want to know the
facts. Tell me that you did or you didn’t
do it.’ And if they said they didn’t do it,
he would stand with them – in the right
manner, you know. But if they had done
something wrong, he’d tell them to try
to correct what you did and don’t do
those things and try to be a man and
grow up. ... I’ve never known a person
that he didn’t like. I mean, he loved
everybody, and everybody loved him.
“His mother died at an early age, and
his dad married a younger lady, and she
had four more kids, so he had 15
brothers and sisters. He was the oldest of
the 16, and he and his four brothers were
the four oldest of the 16, and they had to
go out and work when they were about
13 years old and provide for the other
part of the family.”
So he was out of school?
“No. He went to school, graduated
and ... from his 10th grade year to his
12th grade year, he and his oldest
brother caught a train from West Point, a
little town outside Kensett, caught a
train from West Point to Cotton Plant
and went to high school. They went
down there during the week and stayed
with an old lady and came back on
Fridays.”
So what did you learn from him?
“He taught me to try to live a life and
live it to your best, and he taught me to
stand for what you believe in, and if you
believe in something, stand for it. Even
sometimes you’ll stand by yourself, but
stand for it. He said, don’t ever ‘act a
fool’ in something you’re trying to do.
He said talk sensibly and listen to others,
and he said if you make a mistake or if
you see you were wrong, be the first one
to apologize. He was real mild-mannered.”
When difficult subjects arise in
school board meetings, do you take
something from his example?
“Yes. ... At school board meetings,
sometimes we disagree, and I always
believe in listening to the others, what
they’ve got to say, and all I expect them
to do is listen to what I’ve got to say,
and ... we’ll make the right decision. I
believe in majority (rule). It might not
be the right thing, but even if we
disagree, and I’m the one that disagrees,
if it’s a majority, I’m OK with it. I may
still voice my opinion, but I’m OK with
it. Once we leave the room, we’re all in
one accord. I learned that from my dad.”
Executive Session
And when you’re in your groups, the
young man that wasn’t as smart as the
other ones, as long as he was trying to
carry his weight, that they would help
him try to get up to where they were.
But if he wouldn’t, they’d put you out of
the group to where you’ve got to work
by yourself. So a lot of kids, the ones at
Cross County, they were talking about
how they liked it.
“The kids here really like it. I sat in
on a class probably about a month ago,
and those kids impressed me because
they’re going to be ready for college ...
because they got up and made speeches
and they toured us around the school
and told us all about the school and did a
very good job.”
“
At school board meetings,
sometimes we disagree, and I
always believe in listening to the
others, what they’ve got to say,
and all I expect them to do is
listen to what I’ve got to say. ...
Even if we disagree, and I’m the
one that disagrees, if it’s a
majority, I’m OK with it. I may
still voice my opinion, but I’m OK
with it. Once we leave the room,
we’re all in one accord. I learned
that from my dad.
”
Does being a custodian’s son affect
the way you view support staff?
“No. I look at whatever job you’ve
got to do, you have to do it well. I was a
custodian, and I worked with my daddy
for 30-something years doing janitorial
work. It’s one of the most important jobs
in a school or any industrial area, and I
just (believe), do it to your best. Whatever you do, just do it to your best.”
What did you do with him?
“I helped him buff floors and a lot of
different stuff. Ever since I was small,
30-something years, I helped him. ...
After I got off my regular job, I would
help him. He had work to do in the
evening times because most of the time
my daddy would leave at six o’clock in
the morning, and we might not see him
until 12 o’clock at night. My mother
never worked. She was a stay-at-home
mother, so he always provided for the
family.”
What did you learn from being a
custodian?
“I just learned, just like I said, whatever you do, do it to your best. And I
learned that it’s a job, and it’s honest
money.”
Sometimes, the job of a janitor is
not given a lot of respect.
“Well, I never looked at it as if people
looked down on you. I never looked at it
that way. I just knew the job had to be
done.”
Searcy, Riverview, and Harding
Academy are all really close to each
other. How do you manage that?
“It’s no problem. Administrators
work together very well. If any problems occur or there is a transfer of
students or anything, they discuss it, and
they get along very well. No problem at
all.”
Is there any kind of competition or
comparison of test scores?
“No, sir. We just try to do the best we
can to be a school for our kids. We don’t
try to compete against anybody. With
the other schools, we don’t really try to
compete, and they don’t try to compete
against us.”
Riverview High is now a New Tech
school (a charter school emphasizing
technology and project-based learning). Why did you do that?
“(One was) concern about our
graduation rate. We went to some New
Tech schools. We went to one in Cross
County. Some of us went to one in
Texas, and we had some administrators
go to one in Indiana. The kids were
telling how happy they were because, at
these New Tech Schools, you work in
groups, like six or eight kids to a group
instead of one on one. And they were
telling about how sometimes the more
advanced kids, and the ones that weren’t
as advanced, they would help those kids
as long as they were putting in an effort.
What were the other reasons
Riverview decided the high school
should become a New Tech school?
“There was a concern about graduation rate, concern about failure rate. At
one time we had quite a few dropping
out, and (we were told that at) this New
Tech school there is a less chance of
people dropping out of school. Then
there was a concern about our attendance rate, concern about college
(attendance) rates, and concern about
(meeting) the Common Core standards.
And we felt the New Tech model would
help us address each of these issues.”
I would think a New Tech school
would be easier for a school board
member to get a grasp on because
there’s so much that’s project-based,
so much group learning, that when
you visit, you can actually see what
the kids are doing versus sitting in
rows. Does that happen?
“We invite parents and people of the
community on the first Friday of each
month. Some kids and different groups
talk in front of the parents or talk in
front of people from the community. I
was up there last time. There was an
all-white group of kids here, and they
talked about some slave history, which
impressed me because they were all
white kids. They said their teacher told
them to talk about something other than
their own race, and so they did a study. I
forgot who the person was; it was some
black lady that they’d done research on.
They presented to the group of people
and did a very good job. And they said
after it was all over, they were excited
about doing it because they never knew
much about black history. They did
research on it, and they were impressed,
and we were, too.”
What are some of the challenges
when you make the conversion to a
New Tech school?
“You’ve got to sell everybody on the
New Tech model. First the board, we
didn’t know very much about it, and our
ex-superintendent (the retired Howard
Morris), he tried to sell it to us first.
Finally, once we went around to these
other schools, he sort of sold it to us,
and then we had to sell it to our teachers
to get them on the right track.
“That’s what we’re working on now
is getting them to where they can relate
it to the kids. We want them to relate it
to all the kids. You know, sometimes,
instructors can relate to the kids that are
making the better grades, but you’ve got
to find a way to relate it to the other
kids. That’s what we’re trying to do
now, get it down to even special ed and
everything else. We’re trying to make all
kids learn from it, and it’s a challenge.”
How did you go about hiring a new
superintendent?
“We took in resumes. We had quite a
few applicants. We probably had
30-something, and we as a board, we
looked at all the applicants and we
decided who we thought from the
resumes were the best, and we got it
down to five, and then we interviewed
the five. So then we talked among the
board who we thought would be best,
and we thought Dr. Gammill (former
Ozark Mountain superintendent) was the
best selection.”
So you did not use a search firm.
Why did the board members choose
to do it yourselves?
“We had heard about some in the
surrounding communities that used it,
and some of them didn’t like it, and
some did like it, and we thought that we
would do it on our own.”
How did you make those decisions?
What were you looking for?
“Just looking for what background
the individuals had, what kind of
degrees, what had they been involved in
– like being a teacher, being a principal,
being a superintendent. We saw Dr.
Gammill had been exposed to a lot of
things, and we thought she would be a
good fit, and she has been.”
Were you looking for a person with
a rural background?
“We were trying to look for somebody from a school that at least had the
attendance that we had at Riverview.
We’ve got about 1,300-1,400 kids. We
were trying to get somebody that could
take us to a level higher than we are.”
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Program endorsed and supported by the Arkansas School Boards Association
ASBA Commercial Affiliate Members
Serving schools and school boards throughout Arkansas
Ace Signs of Arkansas / 501-562-0800
All-Clean USA / 870-972-1922
All Storage Products, Inc. / 501-666-8600
American Bus Sales / 918-205-5000
Archway Graphic Design / 501-224-0227
Architecture Plus, Inc. / 479-783-8395
Arkansas One Call / 501-328-2500
Baldwin and Shell Construction Company / 501-374-8677
Brazil Adlong & Mickel, PLC / 501-327-4457
Canedy Sign Company / 870-926-2049
Capital Business Machines / 501-375-1111
Central States Bus Sales, Inc. / 501-955-2577
Chartwells School Dining Services / 615-374-8464
Clark Contractors, LLC / 501-687-4634
Cobb and Suskie, LTD / 501-225-2133
Crafton Tull / 479-636-4838
Cromwell Architects Engineers, Inc. / 501-372-2900
Crossland Construction Company, Inc. / 816-960-4553
Crow-Burlingame Company / 501-375-1215
David H. Frieze Associates, Inc. / 501-922-9704
Diamond State Bus Company / 501-329-9874
Educational Benefits, Inc. / 501-212-8926
EPM, Inc. / 573-642-6550
First Security, Beardsley Public Finance / 501-978-6355
Fisher Tracks, Inc. / 515-432-3191
Freedom Roofing Solutions, Inc. / 501-796-2061
GCA Education Services / 888-588-0863
Generation Ready / 501-837-8854
Gym Masters Basketball Courts / 501-279-3799
Haddock / 316-337-5645
Harrison Energy Partners / 501-661-0621
Hight-Jackson Associates / 479-464-4965
A r k a n s a s
S c h o o l
Jackson Brown Palculict Architects / 501-664-8700
KLC Video Security / 903-792-7262
Life Track Services, Inc. / 800-738-6466
Lifetouch National School Studios, Inc. / 501-664-5550
Metro Disaster Specialists / 501-758-2845
Meyer Roofing and Sheet Metal, Inc. / 870-425-5182
Midwest Bus Sales / 479-474-2433
Milestone Construction Company / 479-751-3560
Modus Studio / 479-455-5577
Musco Sports Lighting / 501-778-8882
Museum of Discovery / 501-537-3075
Nabholz Construction Company / 479-531-7896
National Playground Compliance Group / 515-989-0829
NE-ARK Adjustment Company / 870-838-0097
Pro Benefits Group, Inc. / 501-321-0457
Quality One Painting, Inc. / 501-664-3083
Raymond James / 501-671-1334
School and Office Products of Arkansas / 501-663-5500
Seamless Systems, Inc. / 479-648-0037
Southern Bleacher Company / 800-433-0912
Southern Management / 888-711-2772
Sport Court / 501-316-2255
Stephens Inc. / 501-377-2306
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS/TAPS) / 866-839-8477
The Learning Institute / 501-760-5525
U.S. Biz Solutions / 870-239-8328
Van Horn Construction, Inc. / 479-968-2514
Virco, Inc. / 501-908-9461
Whatley Sign Company / 870-773-2139
Witsell Evans Rasco, Architects/Planners / 501-374-5300
Wittenberg, Delony, & Davidson Architects / 501-376-6681
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National Connection
‘Are you guys ready? OK, let’s roll!’
Many stories have been told of the
events of Sept. 11, 2001. One I will
always remember comes from United
Flight 93, where brave Americans were
forced to make decisions of historic
significance. Among those heroes, Todd
Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett
and Jeremy Glick formed a plan that
would cost them their lives but spare
the lives of hundreds. When those brave
souls boarded the plane that morning,
they had no concept of the events ahead.
On a less heroic scale, board members’ roles sometimes are challenging,
and often changing. During those times,
I always benefit from a few quiet moments to reset my norms and reorient
myself to our purpose.
School board members in Arkansas
are unique public servants. Through the
delegation of our state Legislature, we
are ultimately responsible for all that
goes on in our districts – from budgets
to buses, white boards to whistles,
lunches to lost ball games. Along with
that comes accountability when things
do not turn out as expected. Yet this
accountability is not accompanied by
the level of authority that some might
expect. Instead, we are empowered with
the authority to lead through policy.
In order to lead in the right direction,
we must have a sound understanding
of how schools function. Some of that
knowledge comes from our own experiences and that of our children, but much
has changed in education since most of
us were students. So to fill the knowledge gap, we rely on our education
experts. Superintendents, principals, curriculum coordinators, teachers and other
staff are critical resources for board
members as we develop policies and
related processes that emphasize student
achievement. This atmosphere of trust
and teamwork focuses all of our efforts
on the performance of our students.
It has been said that a leader without
followers is just a person out for a long
and lonely walk. Teachers, administrators and parents will follow us if they
trust and have confidence in us and believe that our interest in their children is
genuine. I often think about boards who
have found themselves at odds with their
by Jerry Don Woods
ASBA President
shared their plans to rush the hijackers
and either retake control of the plane or
destroy it. Lisa did her best to provide
comfort by reciting the Lord’s Prayer
with Todd.
I’m thankful for the heroes of Flight
93 because they remind us that sometimes ordinary, good-hearted people,
when faced with adverse circumstances,
can do extraordinary things. They remind us that courage can’t be substituted
when facing difficult decisions.
I am so proud to stand shoulder to
shoulder with board members everywhere as we take a stand for public
education. As Lisa talked with Todd
that morning, the last few words she
heard him utter were historic. These few
simple words invoke passion and pride
in every American.
They are a call to action that I extend
to each and every board member in the
state. Now is the time, and 2014 will
be a challenging year. “Are you guys
ready? OK, let’s roll!”
communities. I wonder if their students
would have had better opportunities if
these boards had placed more emphasis
on their leadership style and less on
being sure their ideas were right. Thus,
I believe our purpose as public school
board members is to create a culture in
our districts that continually reinforces
an education ethic through trust, confidence and teamwork.
Public education is under attack,
and, in the balance, so is our children’s
future. This attack is not being fought
with planes and bombs, but with legislation and huge financial contributions.
Our adversaries suggest the road to
free, public education is so broken that
the only solution is to create exit ramps
for students and fund private education
opportunities with public tax money for
Your Sport, Our Court.
those with the flexibility and advantages
to exit. Your Sport, Our Court.
I reject the idea that any child is
entitled to a different education system
based simply on their income, status,
skin color or ethnicity. I further reject
the idea that public education in Arkansas is broken beyond repair. There are,
in fact, areas in Arkansas where public
The World’s Larg
education is very good and boards perform at a very high level.
www.spor
Patti LaFleur
The World’s
Largest Court Builder
After the hijackers had taken control
(501) 316-2255
spo
Sport Court South
www.sportcourt.com
Patti LaFleur
of Flight 93, several
passengers and
sportcourtsouth@aol.com
Sportlearned
Court that
South
flight attendants
attacks had (501) 316-2255
The world’s largest court builder.
already been made on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon. Many believe
Patti LaFleur
the Flight 93 hijackers were heading
Sport
Court South
for either the White House or the U.S.
www.sportcourt.com
Capitol. Todd Beamer was talking on
(501) 316-2255
the phone to Lisa Jefferson, a GTE
sportcourtsouth@aol.com
supervisor, while many of the events on
United Flight 93 were playing out. He
Your Sport,
Our Court.
Sport Court
Sport Court
Sport Court
The latest news from Report Card’s advertisers
Marketplace
Partnership Program Funding Prioritization Process
2015-17,
2017-19
2019-21
1st Priority
2nd Priority
3rd Priority
Project
Type:
Warm, Safe, Dry
(System Replacement)
Space
(Growth/Suitability)
Warm, Safe, Dry
(Space Replace. or Total Ren.)
Amount
$10M/year
Ranking
Factors:
Wealth Index
3rd quarter ADM
10-year enrollment
growth %
Campus Value Ranking,
Wealth Index
Project
Type:
Space
(Growth/Suitability)
Warm, Safe, Dry
(Space Replace. or Total Ren.)
Warm, Safe, Dry
(System Replacement)
Ranking
Factors:
10-year enrollment
growth %
Campus Value Ranking,
Wealth Index
Wealth Index
3rd quarter ADM
Beardsley: Consider partnership changes
Schools creating 5-10-year facilities plans should integrate changes in
the Partnership Funding Program’s
prioritization process.
That’s according to Dan Lovelady,
vice president of First Security Beardsley Public Finance and a former
public school superintendent.
The Arkansas Department of Education program prioritizes funding in
three categories. During the 2015-17
and 2017-19 bienniums, $10 million
will be set aside for warm, safe and
dry (WS&D) systems replacement,
while another $40 million will go
to the second priority of space for
growth and suitability and the third
A+ schools adds
schools, names
Landrum new E.D.
Melanie Landrum has been
named executive
director of Arkansas A+ Schools.
The researchbased, whole
school network
views the arts
as fundamental in every subject. A+
Schools combine arts integration and
multiple learning pathways to nurture
creativity and critical thinking.
Eight schools were members of the
network this school year, and 10 additional ones will be joining next year.
priority of WS&D space replacement
or total renovation.
During the 2019-21 biennium,
approximately $50 million will be
divided among the three priorities, with
the first priority being space for growth
and suitability. WS&D space replacement or total renovation will be the
second priority, while WS&D systems
replacement will be the third priority.
These changes should be a guiding
factor in a district’s choice and timing
for needed facility projects.
For more information on how to
finance those projects, contact First
Security Beardsley Public Finance at
501.978.6392.
Landrum recently served as principal at
North Little Rock’s Pike View Elementary, one of the eight member schools.
For more information, visit www.
arkansasaplus.org or call 501.353.0832.
Crafton Tull can help
districts with summer
maintenance plans
Summer break is a great time to
implement campus maintenance projects, and Crafton Tull (www.craftontull.
com) can help districts do that. The
engineering, architectural and design
firm has extensive experience working
with schools on traffic and pedestrian
circulation, athletic facilities, drainage,
HVAC operations, lighting updates, and
other projects. The firm’s knowledge of
the requisite pre-construction requirements allows for a streamlined process.
With summer right around the corner,
now is the time to get started. For more
information, check out www.craftontull.
ACS can help
districts fix rooms
with bad acoustics
Do you have a room where speech
is never clear, where everything sounds
loud, and where there’s an echo? These
are signs of an acoustically poor space.
Unfortunately, a “bad room” cannot be
fixed by a good sound system. The acoustics must be corrected, usually by installing sound absorbing material. Many
times, this can be done by personnel already employed by the school system.
ACS can help with a room evaluation.
For more information, contact Gene Bosche at gene@arkansascommunications.
net or 870.243.3100, ext. 6.
Hight-Jackson starts
architectural work on
Russellvile gym
Hight-Jackson Associates (www.
hjarch.com), an architectural firm based
in Rogers, has started work on the Russellville School District’s new 2,449-seat
gymnasium. The 63,855-square-foot
two-story “Cyclone Arena” located on
the Russellville High School campus includes varsity locker rooms for girls’ and
boys’ basketball and girls’ volleyball, referee and visitor locker rooms, coach’s office, weight room, athletic director suite,
training room, hospitality room, concessions area, and restrooms. The construction is estimated at 18 months for a target
completion date of October 2015.
BancorpSouth
providing access to
labor law resources
Schools can purchase employment
practice liability insurance through BancorpSouth and its partner, ACE USA.
ACE’s EPL Assist™offering gives
clients access to Littler Mendelson,
the nation’s foremost employment and
labor law firm. EPL Assist™ includes
unlimited access to content covering
employment polices practices, as well as
a forms library with hiring and termination agreements. Policyholders are provided no-cost access through a secure
website and toll-free number.
For more information, contact Bill
Birch at 501.614.1170 or bill_birch@
bxsi.com.
Schools can contract
with ARKUPS to find
underground lines
Need help locating school-owned underground utility facilities while working on maintenance or new construction
projects? Districts can now contract with
ARKUPS Special Services Division at
an hourly rate to locate and GIS map
these private facilities for the future.
Alma, Bald Knob, Mountain Home,
North Little Rock, Prescott and Hot
Springs districts are members of this service. Contact ARKUPS at 501.328.2555
for more information.
WER Architects
recognized for
Conway High School
Conway High School, designed by
WER Architects/Planners, has been
awarded a 2013 American Society of
Interior Design Gold Award as well as a
2014 Outstanding Project Award by the
trade magazine, Learning By Design. The new high school has more than
200,000 square feet of state-of-the-art
learning environments and common
areas built over a three-year phasing
strategy. With the completion of the final phase dining hall structure and quad,
students enjoy a 21st century educational environment and a college-level
campus atmosphere. For more information, call
501.374.5300 or visit werarch.com.
Stephens reminds
schools to update
bond information
Some Arkansas school districts recently failed to regularly update information related to their school bonds.
If this information is not disclosed, a
district may not be able to issue bonds in
the future.
Under federal law, districts are
required after the issuance of bonds
to annually disclose information such
as outstanding debt, assessed valuation, and annual audit to the Municipal
Securities Rulemaking Board through
its Electronic Municipal Markets Access
(EMMA) website at www.emma.msrb.
org. The filed information generally reflects the school’s financial and operating condition, as well as specific events
occurring after issuance of the bonds
that may impact the school’s ability to
repay them.
Stephens’ bankers work with their clients to update this information annually.
However, districts need to be certain
that their annual audits are provided in
a timely manner. To learn more, please
contact Stephens at 800.643.9691.
Modus Studio marks
fifth year with move
Modus Studio (www.modusstudio.
com) celebrated its fifth year in business with a move to its newly renovated
office at 15 N. Church Avenue. Crafted
from the “old bones” of a former electrical warehouse, the new space stays true
to its industrial heritage – it’s open,
modern, and clean. “It represents who
we are as a firm and gives us the ability
to play a greater role in the creative
culture of downtown Fayetteville,” said
principal architect Chris Baribeau.
WD&D Architects’
Chilcote earns
respected designation
Brad Chilcote recently gained the
Certified Educational Facility Planner
(CEFP) designation, a mark of excellence developed to reflect the knowl-
edge, skills and abilities of a competent
educational facility planner. A partner at
WD&D Architects, Brad leads WD&D’s
education team. The firm is currently
working with multiple school districts to
prepare master plans for submittal to the
State Board of Education’s Partnership
Funding Initiative.
The WD&D team brings nationally
recognized goals and standards to the
planning process. For more information,
contact WD&D at 501.376.6681 or go to
wddarchitects.com
Van Horn helps
Russellville build gym
Van Horn Construction (www.vanhornconstruction.com) this past year has
assisted the Russellville School District
with developing its preliminary design
for its new high school gymnasium. Van
Horn has provided expertise in such areas as layout, budgeting, scheduling and
construction means and methods.
The new $12 million facility will
offer the school a 63,855-square-foot
gymnasium with amenities to support
all competitive sports activities the
school offers. The anticipated date of
completion is October 2015.
Schools accredit
through AdvancED
Want to improve schools and show
your commitment to quality education?
Become accredited through AdvancED.
Accreditation is a voluntary quality assurance process that distinguishes
schools with high standards. School
leaders examine the entire institution,
including educational programs, the
surrounding culture, and the stakeholder
community.
AdvancED has access to more than
100 years of expertise in accreditation
and school improvement. For more
information, contact Arkansas Director
Kenny Pennington at 888.413.3669, ext.
5620, or at kpennington@advanc-ed.
org.

March - Arkansas School Boards Association

Transcription

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