NLR chief suggests cutting own salary
North Little Rock Superintendent Kelly Rodgers has volunteered to take a $5,000 cut in his $185,000-a-year salary as part of the district's effort to cut millions in expenses over the next three years.
School Board members said the salary cut, which would come with an additional reduction of $1,150 in benefits, will be considered in January when the board typically evaluates the superintendent.
The board in April approved a three-year plan for saving $13.5 million in operating expenses to offset construction costs and prepare for the eventual loss of $7.6 million in state desegregation aid that will end after the 2017-18 school year.
The district is in the middle of what started as a $265 million capital improvement plan to build anew or extensively renovate 12 of the district's 13 campuses.
The district has eliminated dozens of licensed and support staff positions for this school year and accepted voluntary reductions in days worked per year in an effort to absorb the bulk of the cuts this school year. Nearly all of the employees whose positions were eliminated have now had the opportunity to take other jobs in the school system, district leaders said last week.
Rodgers last week announced that the district will employ 11 more safety supervisors than originally planned for the district's high school and middle school and one additional assistant principal at the middle school. He said the positions are needed in light of the construction and resulting reorganization of operations at the two campuses.
The School Board is planning to hold a work session to consider cuts for the 2016-17 school year, including the reduction of as many as 45 work days for secondary school assistant principals.
Saracini named as new staff director
Karli Saracini is the new executive director of human resources in the North Little Rock School District, replacing Gregg Thompson, who is the district's new executive director of school transitions.
Saracini, who will start the new job that pays $92,800 a year next month, is currently director of educator licensure at the Arkansas Department of Education.
She started her career as a teacher in the Little Rock School District, later working as a curriculum coordinator in the Newport School District and as a middle school principal in Harrisburg.
Mergers make 232 districts statewide
Arkansas now has 232 traditional school districts, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
The new total, effective July 1, reflects the involuntary annexation of the Hughes School District into the West Memphis school system and the voluntary annexation of the Hartford School District by the Hackett School District.
Both mergers were the result of the Hughes and Hartford districts falling under the minimum 350-student requirement for operating an Arkansas school district.
The new total number of districts does not include the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District that is to remain under the direction of the Pulaski County Special School District until next July 1.
Metro on 07/19/2015