Post-Brooks LR School Board race seen pivotal

LITTLE ROCK — On the brink of the Central High integration anniversary and in the wake of a racially divided fight over a now-former superintendent, Little Rock School Board incumbent Mike Daugherty is dodging most media and public forums and relying on endorsements and yard signs to win re-election Sept. 18 against three opponents.

Drew Pritt, Michael Nellums and Anna Swaim arechallenging 12-year School Board member Daugherty in the election to fill the Zone 2seat representing a central area of the city.

The zone election will determine whether the factions now on the Little Rock School Board will remain intact - with four black members and three white members voting as blocs - or whether the balance of power will shift to the white board members or whether some new board dynamic will be formed to oversee the 26,000-student district and its nearly $300 million budget.

The vote comes not only at a time when district emotions are still raw over the removal last month of former Superintendent Roy Brooks, but also on the brink of the 50th anniversary of Central High's integration and the attention that it focuses on race relations.

In interviews, Swaim, Nellums and Pritt focused on the issues of a new superintendent, the desegregation case, teacher pay and student achievement.

Daugherty did not respond to repeated messages left at his home and on his cell phone and with campaign manager J.J. Lacey to be interviewed for this article about issues facing the school system.

At a recent ministerial luncheon that was open to reporters, Daugherty in a prepared speech warned that those who oppose his re-election want to see a return to a racially divided city.

"Now I've run into a strong current of opposition from individuals who would like to undo what I have worked so hard to accomplish," Daugherty, who is black, read to the ministers, most of whom also are black.

"They want to turn back the clock to a time when our communities, our schools and our churches were segregated, and people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds were too ashamed or afraid to embrace each other," he continued, without specifying to whom he was referring.

"They want to promote ignorance and mistrust between people of good faith. They want to make us people we don't want to become through our children, and we simply cannot allow that to happen."

Daugherty's candidacy was endorsed by the group of about 25 ministers as well as the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association and the Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now-Pulaski County.

"Over the last year, Micheal has done a great job of standing up for the needs of Zone 2," Donna Massey, political action committee chairman for the community organizations group, said in announcing the endorsement.

"We still have a long way to go to ensure that programs are in place to help low- and moderate-income children succeed. That's why we need Micheal back on the School Board."

Early voting starts Tuesday in the Pulaski County clerk's office at the Pulaski County Courthouse, 401 W. Markham St., in Little Rock. Voting hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and on Sept. 17. The successful candidate for the three-year term must receive 50 percent of the vote plus one to win without a runoff.

Zone 4 incumbent boardmember Baker Kurrus is running unopposed for re-election to his seat in northwest Little Rock.

Zone 2 falls between South Woodrow Street on the east, Interstate 430 on the west, Markham Street on the north and roughly Asher Avenue on the south.

It takes in the Stift Station, Briarwood and Broadmoor neighborhoods, as well as neighborhoods around Henderson Middle School, Parkview Magnet High and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

According to a Metroplan analysis of the zone done in 2001 based on the 2000 U.S. Census, the zone had a population of 24,243, of whom 32 percent were white, 64 percent were black and about 2 percent were Hispanic.

SEEKING A SUPERINTENDENT

The Little Rock School Board is embarking on a search for a superintendent to replace Brooks. Daugherty was among the four-member majority of theboard who pushed for Brooks' removal.

Each of Daugherty's challengers said the selection of a permanent chief executive is a priority.

"I'd like to get a strong instructional leader in place, someone who has a proven background in raising test scores and a strong background in curriculum and curriculum development," Nellums, 45, said, adding that a national search would be necessary.

He said he is confident there are people who can do the job and would be willing to work inLittle Rock despite the district's recent turmoil.

Nellums, a 23-year employee of the neighboring Pulaski County Special School District and currently a middle school principal, said hiring an instructional leader who can produce higher test scores will heal rifts in the district.

"Most people do not complain about anything if test scores are up," he said.

Swaim, 38, said her ideal superintendent candidate would have a proven record in reducing the student achievement gap between black and white students in an urban district, a history of finding and retaining good teachers, and an ability to work with the community without disenfranchising one group or another.

"Let's draw a picture of what we want," said Swaim, the mother of a kindergartner and second-grader. "And then cast a wide net.

"As we put the picture together, we need to get input from parents, teachers and the community at large, and we need to go to the applicants' home districts ... and really find out what their character is and examine their credentials.

"Then we need to bring someone here with a unanimous vote of the School Board to show there is complete support for that person." Pritt, 32, said local people - even if they are not traditional educators - should get first consideration for the top job.

"I don't think we need to go out-sourcing for talent to Miami or to New York City," Pritt said. "We need to find someone who will make a commitment to central Arkansas and, at the same time, we need to find somebody who has political savviness, has the ability to command respect and has knowledge about what needs to be done but also [is] open to change."

CLOSING THE CASE

The School Board on July 12 voted 4-3 - with Daugherty voting in the majority - to negotiate with John Walker, an attorney for black students known as the Joshua intervenors, to settle Walker's appeal of a Feb. 23 federal district court order that declared the district unitary and no longer subject to federal court supervision.

The board voted to attempt mediation against advice from its attorney and the state attorney general. The mediation sessions have been stalled but are still on track to occur.

Pritt said he favors some sort of talks.

"I am one who believes we can't leave things in the lurch like this," Pritt said. "We cannot cop out and say, 'We have got the ruling from the judge, there's nothing more to say.' I think it is imperative - we have a moral obligation - to sit down andhave a forum or series of forums to allow both sides to air their grievances. A lot of the problems of the desegregation case would disappear if people had a chance to air their grievances."

Swaim said pursuing a settlement with the Joshua intervenors is unnecessary because of the court order and that the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act will serve as a monitor of student achievement.

"I don't see any reason to engage in settlement negotiation with attorneys," Swaim said. "We can redirect that money to the classroom. But the district still has to monitor itself. Luckily there are state and federal accountability measures that re-quire constant monitoring in every grade and by every sub-population of students. So, what we were required to prove in the past to the court, we are now required to prove to the federal and state governments."

Nellums said he has great respect for Walker, but there shouldn't be mediation.

"If Mr. Walker won the case, do you think he'd mediate?" Nellums asked. "At some point it has to end," he said about the 24-year-old school desegregation lawsuit, "and I think the court has made the decision that it is over. No lawyer wins and then mediates. Nobody wins and says, 'Hmm, let me give you something back.'"

A ROLE ON THE BOARD

Each candidate said he can be an asset to the School Board and the district - Swaim as a communicator, Nellums as an educator and Pritt as an advocate for new ideas.

"Two-way communication is the key to any group succeeding and my track record for doing that is one of my strengths as a candidate," Swaim said. "I am a communications director. I engage in that every day, and I believe that is something the board and superintendent need to do to heal the community."

In her campaign, she has found that the residents of the zone welcome her involvement.

"Every conversation I've had - across ethnicities, across economic status - they are glad I am running for the school board," said Swaim, who is white. "They express the need for change from the current School Board. That's across the board."

Pritt said he will seek ways to further empower students to become contributing members of society.

"I'm going to be the ideas guy, the activist guy," he said. "If board member Baker Kurrus says something that's good, I'm going to be behind it, and I'm going to work with him to make it happen. But if Charles Armstrong, who I know, or if Dianne Curry, who I campaigned for when she was running ... if they have a good idea, I'm going to be more than just an 'attaboy,' I'm going to work to make it happen," said Pritt, who is white.

"But I'm not going to align myself with either side. I'm going to align myself with the parents and students of the district, especially those in Zone 2."

Nellums, who is black, said others who are black discouraged him from running for the board because his candidacy might jeopardize the board's current black majority.

"But I made a conscious decision to run because I think I can break the log jam," Nellums said and pointed to his knowledge of school district operations. "I'm in the advanced class on that one. I don't have to learn on the fly."

Nellums doesn't see himself siding with either faction on the racially polarized board.

"I make up my own mind," said Nellums, who once sued and settled with the county district over his efforts to be promoted to a principal's job. "I've always been an independent thinker. Some people don't like that because independent thinkers tend to tell the truth and not shade it one way or the other.But that's who I am."

Regardless of its makeup, the board needs to be making "right decisions, not white or black decisions," Nellums said. "Black and white people both want a good education for their kids. Why can't we focus on that? The current board is making that hard to do."

Of Daugherty's challengers, Pritt is the most critical of him.

"Mr. Daugherty's record is one of questions and unanswered queries," Pritt said, pointing to Daugherty's role in the Brooks' controversy and his refusal to reveal academic credentials ever since he was accused in 1997 - but never charged - of perjury.

The Little Rock city attorney's office accused him of "apparent perjury" in describing his college degrees, including a doctorate, during a sworn deposition in a federal lawsuit.

The city attorney's office notified the Pulaski County prosecutor of the discrepancies between Daugherty's testimony and university records that indicated he held no college degrees at the time of the deposition. No charges were filed against Daugherty.

"I am offering solutions for problems facing Zone 2," Pritt said. "Mr. Daugherty is just playing hide and seek."