Education notebook

Reading-jobs suit now in U.S. court

A lawsuit recently filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court by the Little Rock Education Association against Superintendent Dexter Suggs and the Little Rock School Board was moved to federal court Friday.

The lawsuit challenges the superintendent’s plan to terminate the contracts of some 20 teachers in the Reading Recovery program for the coming 2014-15 school year and require those teachers to reapply for reading specialist jobs.

Reading Recovery teachers work one-on-one with struggling first-grade readers and with small groups of children in different grades.

Chris Heller, an attorney for the school district’s defendants, said in documents submitted to state court that the plaintiffs made claims in the lawsuit of constitutional violations. As a result, the move to federal court on those claims is warranted, he said.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.

$150,000 pledge backs science fair

Southwestern Energy Co. on Friday announced a $150,000 commitment to encourage student interest in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math through a partnership with the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair.

The money will be used to support the annual science fair, to help start regional science fairs in areas of the state where they are not currently available and to sponsor student projects in their schools.

College scholarships for high school seniors who participate in the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair each year and plan to major in a science, math, technology or engineering discipline at an Arkansas college are another potential use for the money.

The new money builds on a 2010 pledge of $100,000 that Southwestern Energy Co. made to the fair.

The announcement was made Friday at the University of Central Arkansas during the opening ceremony for the 2014 science fair.

Episcopal school hires interim head

Thomas N. Southard of St. Petersburg, Fla., has been named the interim head of school for 2014-15 at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock.

Southard will replace current Head of School Steve Hickman, who will become president of Collegiate School in Richmond, Va., on July 1.

Southard has more than 40 years of experience in education, including 30 years as an administrator.

He is a former nine-year president of Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. His other positions were at Saint Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis; Queen Anne School in Upper Marlboro, Md.; The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York; and Saint Michael’s in Stuart, Fla., according to a news release from Episcopal Collegiate.

Currently he is a member of the board of trustees at Shorecrest Preparatory School in Florida.

Southard served on the National Association of Episcopal Schools Governing Board and as an evaluator for the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

“We are very fortunate to attract such an experienced and successful former head of school to work with us next year,” said Chuck Erwin, president of the Episcopal Collegiate board of trustees.

Southard graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in history and economics. He holds a master’s degree in social and behavioral sciences from the University of South Florida.

Welding student enters competition

Jaylen Sims, a senior at Little Rock’s J.A. Fair High School and a welding student at at Metropolitan Technical Skills Center, is seeking to win a scholarship to the Tulsa Welding School in a video contest sponsored by the trade school and the Mike Rowe Works Foundation.

Mike Rowe is the host of the Dirty Jobs television show.

The best way to find Sims’ video is to do a Google search for “Jaylen Sims” and “Tulsa Welding.”

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 04/06/2014

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