Little Rock area lawmakers have selected nine community members and representatives of philanthropic organizations to serve on the new Little Rock School District Civic Advisory Committee.
The committee, created by the state Board of Education when it voted in January to take control of the Little Rock district, will have a total membership of 33, including 12 teachers and 12 students from the six schools that are classified by the state as being in academic distress as the result of poor student performance on state exams over a three-year period.
The community and philanthropic organization representatives were selected from a pool of more than 80 applicants.
One person was selected from each of the district's school board election zones. They are: Joy Springer, a former Little Rock School Board member from Zone 1; Anika Whitfield from Zone 2; Peter Gess from Zone 3; Dionne B. Jackson from Zone 4; John L. Wilkerson from Zone 5; Marq Golden from Zone 6; and Brenda "BJ" Wyrick, a member of the Little Rock Board of Directors, from school district election Zone 7.
Eugene Levy of the Little Rock Public Education Foundation, and Kathy Webb of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, will represent philanthropic organizations on the committee. Webb is also a member of the city's Board of Directors.
The teacher members will be Deborah Cavener and Latonya Jackson from Baseline Elementary; Brooke Sanders and Yasmine Butte from Cloverdale Middle; Sharon Jackson and Fred Dickins from J.A. Fair High; Liz Lucker and Amanda Warren from Hall High; Sandra Ledbetter and Tiffani Jones from Henderson Middle; and Seketa Ross and Deborah Hansberry from McClellan High.
The district has not released the students' names.
The Civic Advisory Committee will meet on the third Tuesday of each month from 5-6 p.m. in the Little Rock district's administration building, 810 W. Markham, to review the progress of the district in meeting goals to be removed from state control. The Civic Advisory Committee will make recommendations for communication of data to the general public and others in the district.
The district will provide staff support to the committee. A written agenda and minutes of each meeting will be posted monthly on the district's website. Transportation of the student committee members will be provided by the district. No stipend, salary, fees, membership or travel reimbursement will be provided to committee members.
Metro on 03/18/2015