Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday appointed three new members to the Arkansas Board of Education, his first appointees to the nine-member board that oversees the state's public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools.
The new appointees, who are joining just as the Education Board must select a vendor for a federally required, statewide student-testing program, are M. Susan Chambers of Bella Vista, Charisse Dean of Little Rock and R. Brett Williamson of El Dorado.
Chambers, 58, just this week announced that she is retiring from her position as executive vice president, Global People Division, at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where she has been responsible for managing, attracting and retaining the nation's largest private workforce.
She said Thursday that in her work she has seen education systems around the world. Service on the Arkansas board is a good opportunity not only for her to "give back" and to assist in lifting families from their circumstances, but also --"from a self-interest perspective" -- to see businesses benefit through investment in the state's education system.
"I think Gov. Hutchinson's focus on [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] is particularly noteworthy and important," Chambers said. "If we want to meet the demands in the country for technology, wouldn't it be something if Arkansas could be a leading state in generating students with the kind of experience and education that would fill those jobs?"
Chambers worked for 14 years for Hallmark Cards Inc. before joining Wal-Mart in 1999. The married mother of three children has held her current position in the corporation since 2006. She has been named repeatedly to Fortune magazine's list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.
A 1990 graduate with a bachelor's degree in systems and data processing from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., Chambers has been a member of the board of trustees for the college and has also served on the board for Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Kansas State University's Business Advisory Board.
Dean, 35, has worked for the past year as project coordinator for the Family Council, a conservative-values advocacy organization.
She is a member of the 16-member Governor's Council on Common Core Review. That council called for replacing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career tests with ACT Inc. test products. The online PARCC tests in math and literacy were administered to more than 200,000 Arkansas students for the first time this past school year to mixed reviews that included complaints about the length of the tests.
The governor recommended the test change based on the council's recommendation. The state Education Board last month, however, voted 7-1 against going to the ACT products and to stick with PARCC for the coming year. The governor has since declined to sign a required written commitment to participate in the PARCC consortium and has reiterated his call to the Education Board to select a new student testing program.
The Education Board -- with its new members -- is expected to tackle the testing matter at its 10 a.m. Thursday meeting.
"I will stick with the recommendation [from the council] that we should go with something else other than PARCC," Dean said Thursday about the testing matter.
Dean, who graduated from Oak Grove High in the Pulaski County Special School District, has a diploma of biblical studies from Agape College on Napa Valley Drive in Little Rock. Her four children attend three schools in the Little Rock School District. Until about three years ago, she home-schooled her children for 10 years.
"I'm a concerned parent," she said about her interest on board service. "I'm the single mom of four children and I want to make sure my children first of all get the best education possible and I want the same thing for the children of Arkansas. I'm thrilled about the opportunity to serve on the board to do all that I can to make sure that the children of Arkansas get the best that they can get."
Williamson, 45, is general manager for Murphy Offices in El Dorado and father of three children -- two in college and one in the El Dorado School District.
Efforts to reach Williamson late Thursday were unsuccessful. He did not return a message at his office phone at the Murphy Foundation. He serves on the Murphy Foundation board, which provides college, university and trade-school scholarships to El Dorado and Union County high school graduates.
He also is part of the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Union County, El Dorado Fifty for the Future and El Dorado Works.
The terms of Dean and Williamson expire June 30, 2022. Dean replaces Sam Ledbetter of Little Rock, whose term expired this week. Williamson replaces Alice Mahony of El Dorado, whose term expired.
Chambers is replacing Kim Davis of Fayetteville. Davis, who was appointed to the board last year by then-Gov. Mike Beebe, announced earlier this month that he was resigning because of commitments associated with taking a position with the Walton Family Foundation. Chambers' term will expire June 30, 2021.
Metro on 07/03/2015