Editorials

This one's for the kids

The state should finally do the right thing

Today, a handful of people at the Board of Education should decide that the kids and families of Little Rock have had just about enough of failing schools--and a failing school district--and take control of the city's schools.

Not just this local board, but many before it, have had dismal records of managing the district. But the politicians on the board, like politicians everywhere, won't give up their power easily. They'll fight to hold it. Oh, and how they're fighting. Even if that means another generation of kids in Little Rock will miss out on a decent education. And here some of us thought the kids should be the top priority for any school board. How naive.

Six schools in Little Rock have been termed Academically Distressed, a bureaucratic euphemism for flunking. Some of those on the board say Give Us More Time, because a few of them are new, as is the superintendent of schools. The state Board should compromise. It should get rid of the Little Rock school board--and keep the new superintendent.

Some of us are big fans of Dr. Dexter Suggs and think his plans should be given a chance. But those plans won't have any chance if this school board continues to hold him back. Let him loose. Let him implement the reforms the system needs. Let him get rid of teachers who won't, or can't, teach. Let him get rid of principals who won't, or can't, lead.

Hard as it is to believe, in the past 20 years, one (1) teacher has been fired by the school board for poor performance, according to its superintendent. Over the past twenty years. Sure, not all teachers might appeal their firing to the full school board. But if you were the boss of a widget factory, and that factory was failing and flailing at every turn, and for years at that, and you had fired one (1) widget-maker over that time for poor performance, what kind of businessman would you be? Answer: not a very good one. And the future of our kids is a lot more important than any bunch of widgets.

Nobody is calling for a wholesale purge of teachers in Little Rock's schools. Indeed, there are many good teachers and good people in the district, but they are trapped in a broken system. Look at student test scores. Those schools didn't get labeled as Academically Distressed because of the baseball coaches.

Here are some other things the state might consider today when deciding whether to take over Little Rock's schools:

--There are more than 24,000 students in the school system. Nearly half attended schools performing in the bottom 11 percent of all the schools in the state, according to those who've crunched the numbers. It's not just six schools that aren't doing the job.

--Since 1997, or the past 18 years, employment at Little Rock's school district has increased by 50 percent, from 2,600 to 3,900.

--All the while, student enrollment has remained flat.

--And over the last 33 years, the district has blown through 22 regular and interim superintendents.

But of all the numbers that have been tumbling about concerning Little Rock's schools, here are some that tell the sad story best: In the past decade, the district has lost 1,599 white students. And more than 1,200 black students. That according to the University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy website (officeforeducationpolicy.org).

The district doesn't have just White Flight, but now Black Flight, and as families of other kids begin to learn how poorly their kids are being educated, how long until Asian Flight, Hispanic Flight and Everybody Else Flight?

Anybody who has the means to leave the state's largest school district usually jumps at the opportunity. The school district in Little Rock needs to be managed--and led--so students want to attend its schools, not leave. And it's hard to see that happening unless the state takes control of Little Rock's long mismanaged school district. The kids, the teachers, the parents, all deserve better. A lot better. Let's give them all a chance.

Hopefully today will be the beginning of a new day in Little Rock, especially for the students, but also for the city's future.

Editorial on 01/28/2015

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