LITTLE ROCK — Two months after the state took control of the financially troubled Pulaski County Special School District — dismissing the superintendent and dissolving the seven-member school board — the district has started the 2011-12 school year with a new superintendent, two new schools and, despite everything, an enrollment increase.
Jerry Guess, who was called on by state Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell to quit his job as a 13-year superintendent in the Camden-Fairview School District to guide the state’s third-largest system out of fiscal problems, said last week that he’s been pleased with the way the new school year has started.
“It’s just been refreshing to me to see the kids, the parents, the teachers, the administrators, the support staff — everybody — just working really hard,” Guess said.
In May, the Arkansas Board of Education categorized the Pulaski County district as “fiscally distressed” because of mismanagement uncovered in a series of audits and investigations.
On June 20, urged on by the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee that remained dissatisfied with district efforts to rein in spending, Kimbrell severed the district’s contract with Superintendent Charles Hopson, disbanded the seven-member board with its reputation for infighting, and appointed new leaders who answer to him.
Guess has a one-year, $215,000 contract, but the district could remain under state control for up to two years before the Arkansas Board of Education is obligated by law to take further action if financial problems aren’t resolved. That state action could mean merging the district with one or more other districts.
On Wednesday, the eighth day of school, the district recorded 17,689 students in prekindergarten through 12th grades, which was an increase of 387 over last year’s count of 17,302.
The increase is significant in light of the district’s history of declining enrollment. Between 2005-06 and 2010-11, for example, the district’s Oct. 1 count — considered the official enrollment for the school year — dropped by more than 1,000 students. Changes in enrollment also affect state funding. If this year’s increase holds up, the district could be in store for additional state aid.
Enrollment at the elementary level remained stable, decreasing by 22 pupils to 9,385. But there was a 409-student gain at the secondary level, fueled by the opening of the new Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood and Maumelle High School.
Maumelle High, which replaces Oak Grove High, recorded 897 students Wednesday, in contrast with Oak Grove’s 490 students last year.
Sylvan Hills Middle School reported 791 pupils at its new location, up from 678 last year at the old campus. There were also gains at Fuller Middle, Maumelle Middle and Robinson Middle schools. The count at Jacksonville High dropped from 941 to 907, but the school edged out Maumelle High to remain the largest in the district.
Guess said the district’s strengths — including the instruction taking place in schools — are no longer being overshadowed by controversy at the district’s administration building.
“We have a lot of good stuff going on,” Guess said. “It’s a good place. I’ve met a lot of good teachers and administrators. I told the teachers, ‘You guys can’t help the publicity that existed. It wasn’t about you. It was about things that were out of your control.’”
Pointing to his sheets of enrollment figures, Guess added: “There are a lot of people here who aren’t being bombarded by bad news stories. There are a lot of things going on that are going well. And that word is getting out there.”
Daniel Gray of Jacksonville is one of the leaders in a longstanding campaign for new schools in that city and the establishment of a separate Jacksonville school district.
“I think things are going pretty well,” Gray said Friday about the district’s new management and the start of the school year. “I haven’t heard any negatives, but it’s kind of too early to tell.”
There were some typical first-of-the-year glitches, such as the lack of paper products at a school, Gray said, but on the other hand he praised Jacksonville High School’s new principal, Henry Anderson, and he said he was excited about the $6 million federal School Improvement Grant going to that school.
Gray and other Jacksonville leaders met earlier with Guess about their plans for replacing Jacksonville’s aging schools and are now giving the superintendent time to familiarize himself with all the district issues.
“We want to be fair. This is not an ordinary transition and we understand there is going to be some time before they can make any major decisions,” Gray said, but added that Jacksonville will not give up on its efforts to improve the area’s schools.
Gray filed to run for the district’s School Board at this year’s annual September school election. However, there won’t be an election for any board members this year because of the state takeover. Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, is serving as the district’s one-man School Board. The district each month prepares a book of program reports, employment changes, policy proposals and financial reports for Kimbrell and the public just as it used to do for the School Board.
Voters will be able to vote this year on the district’s existing school property tax rate of 40.7 mills. The state constitution requires an annual election on school tax rates regardless of whether a rate change is proposed.
No polling places will be open on the Sept. 20 school election date for a vote on the millage rate, said Melinda Allen, director of elections for Pulaski County. Instead, voting on the district tax rate must be done by early and absentee voting only. Early voting begins Sept. 13. Guess said the district is installing 4,400 new computers and putting in the new national Common Core curriculum.
But his focus now is to work with the district’s staff and financial consultant Don Stewart to develop the 2011-12 budget that is due to the state Education Department by Sept. 30. To that end, he is trying to hold down the hiring of any new teachers — choosing instead to move teachers from current schools to schools where they are needed if a school is to meet state standards on student-teacher ratios and course offerings.
Guess met with Maumelle Middle School faculty members last week about the staffing needs at that growing campus. The choices, he said, were to hire a significant number of teachers or have the current teachers give up their team-planning periods, leaving each teacher with one preparation period in an eight-period school day.
“I told them we are making adjustments all across the district in trying to be more efficient,” said Guess. “‘What we need to do is dissolve that team prep period so that we don’t have to hire people to give your kids the classes they need,’” he said he told them.
“The whole staff said, ‘How can we make it work?’” Guess said. “It was wonderful.”
The district last year drew on its reserves to meet expenses, causing the balance to shrink from $9.5 million to $2.7 million in a year, according to a state Education Department report to legislators last month.
Guess said the new budget will attempt “to grow” the $2.7 million reserve fund. The proposed budget includes annual increases to eligible employees for their additional year of work experience. There is no plan at present, however, for an across-the-board raise for all employees, but Guess didn’t rule it out for later in the school year.
Guess, who has a Little Rock apartment and commutes to Camden on the weekends, is working from 6:30 or 7 a.m. to 8 or 9 at night, his staff says.
He’s visited many of the district’s schools and met with food service and transportation staff members to share information about the district’s efforts to run more efficiently.
The superintendent shrugs off the long hours, saying he’s having fun and that the communication is essential.
“The only way to gain the trust of the community and the support of the teachers is to earn it,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 08/28/2011