Little Rock School District notebook

— Teachers contract

decision delayed

The proposed 2009 contract for Little Rock School District teachers has not yet been ratified by the School Board.

Voting on the tentative agreement was on the board's to-do list Thursday night, but it was pulled off the agenda by David Hartz, human resources director, so that some of the language in the document can be checked. A district spokesman said later that there were grammatical errors to be fixed.

Representatives of the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association and the school district reached a tentative contract agreement in late July. Members of the association endorsed the proposal Aug. 17, leaving it to the School Board to finalize.

The proposed agreement does not include an across-theboard percentage salary increase for the teachers. However, step increases of $623 to $1,246 will be offered to eligible teachers for completing a year of work.

The proposed agreement calls for the negotiating teams to meet in October and February to determine if the district can afford raises then.

One new provision in the proposed contract this year sets up a means for the district to pay teachers for at least some unused sick-leave days. One of the purposes of that would be to reduce absenteeism among employees who might otherwise use up their sick-leave days.

The Little Rock board did approve pay increases for substitute teachers Thursday.

The daily rate for a substitute teacher who does not have at least a four-year degree will increase from $49.14 to $55.

The substitute with a degree will see the daily pay increase from $53 to $60.

A long-term substitute - one who serves 20 or more days - will receive $90 a day, up from $85.50. The long-term substitutes must hold state teaching certificates.

Substitutes for instructional aides and clerical workers will now earn $55 a day.

Terry school gets

campus spruce-up

A sports field, landscaping and a paved walking track are new features of Little Rock's Terry Elementary School campus- courtesy of Immanuel Baptist Church in partnership with the school's Parent-Teacher Association.

The Little Rock School Board last week accepted what amounts to a $54,375 donation, including gifts in kind, from the church for dirt work, soil, sod, trees, shrubs, irrigation and a walking track.

"We see this as an investment not only in today's kids, but as a responsibility for all of us to make a positive influence on our city's future," Associate Pastor Phil Spigner recently wrote district officials about the project. "I am grateful for all our teachers who serve our city and our children. Our hope is for this to be a long term effort to continue to make improvements year after year."

The improvements are for Terry pupils and the school's neighborhood.

Terry is at Shackleford Road and Mara Lynn Drive. Immanuel Baptist is across the street from the school.

Aerospace theme

getting a new look

The Little Rock School District is revisiting the idea of establishing an aerospace-education theme in one of its schools - this time at Cloverdale Middle School.

School Board members last week authorized Superintendent Linda Watson to send to the Arkansas Department of Education a letter of intent to convert Cloverdale into a district-run charter school with an aerospace and technology theme. The converted school would start no sooner than the 2010-11 school year.

The letter of intent is an early step in a long planning process for any public charter school. A full application, including a detailed description of the proposed program, would be due to the state in November for review and action by the state Board of Education.

The Little Rock district proposed an aerospace-themed charter school last year but did not get to the point of submitting an application. In the late 1980s, an aerospace-magnet school was widely discussed in conjunction with the planning for the new Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock. The district ultimately withdrew from that project. Now, the Aerospace Education Center, Pulaski Technical College and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock are among the agencies partnering with the Little Rock district to develop the latest school plan.

Arkansas, Pages 17 on 08/29/2009

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