Baker Kurrus, the new superintendent of the state-controlled Little Rock School District, on Thursday described myriad problems in the state's largest district but also said the system has "a better than fighting chance" of success if employees become motivated and the community engaged.
To that end, he told the Arkansas Board of Education that he and employee union leaders have reached a deal to pay employees what was later described as a one-time bonus this year.
He also said he is seeking a nationally recognized, experienced person to advise the district on generating public involvement and support for the 24,000-student school system.
Kurrus, appointed superintendent May 5 by Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, told the board that his first days on "the hardest job I've ever had" were spent examining the district and identifying its barriers to success.
As he spoke, about a dozen people sat in the audience wearing red T-shirts that read: "Return LRSD to Local Control!" The people also held up signs urging "Don't Show Where You Can't Vote! Restore Democracy!" and "Shop Online Until Democracy Returns!"
The state board voted 5-4 on Jan. 28 to assume control of the school district and dismiss the locally elected school board because six of the district's 48 schools are state-labeled as academically distressed. Fewer than 50 percent of the students at those six schools scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over a three-year period.
Kurrus thanked the protesters for attending, saying their presence showed that they cared.
Education Board Vice Chairman Toyce Newton of Crossett thanked Kurrus for his efforts.
"We certainly appreciate your zeal and your drive to excel in what you have been assigned to do," Newton said. "We don't take it lightly as a board. We hope that we can provide support through the staff and the resources of the Department of Education to help facilitate your goals and objectives."
At the same January meeting in which it assumed control of the district, the Education Board created a Civic Advisory Committee to continue to involve community members in the Little Rock system.
On Thursday, board member Jay Barth of Little Rock proposed, and the board approved, a "charge" that calls for the committee to serve as a sounding board for district strategies, advise district leaders on how to communicate with parents and patrons, and otherwise foster good relationships.
By June 1, the chairman of the Education Board, Key and Kurrus must identify someone to lead the committee and serve as a liaison among the committee and the board, the Education Department and the Little Rock district. That person may or may not be a current member of the advisory committee.
Kurrus said he will present the idea of hiring someone to help refine district support-building efforts to the Civic Advisory Committee.
"It's not just my idea," he said. "I've talked to a lot of people about it, people whose advice I value, and they are supportive of it. I'm working on it. We've not hired anyone yet, but we've got some really good people who are willing to help us. That's going to be forthcoming. It's the Civic Advisory Committee that is going to make that call."
He said he intends to send a letter to the committee describing the idea and to get the committee's response. The committee has met once and is to meet again May 26.
The new superintendent, who is a Harvard University-trained attorney and not a state-licensed educator, told the Education Board on Thursday that the Little Rock School District doesn't adhere to any organizational structure and has failed to make changes when problems arise. He also found "decision-making bottlenecks," no delegation of authority, no integration between departments, little mutual respect among employees, very low morale and budget problems.
"I found out the hard way that everybody thinks I'm the answer man, and that's not the way an organization should work," Kurrus told the board.
He also said the district has failed to integrate curriculum and instruction into the essence of teaching and learning. He elaborated by saying that the district's curriculum people work very hard, but their work doesn't always get incorporated into the schools. He compared their work and their suggestions "to throwing notes over the wall," and "creating very uncertain outcomes."
"Everybody has to be pushed and reminded constantly that what we really do must translate into the classroom -- teaching and learning in the classroom every single day," he said.
He said he spent his first day on the job visiting Baseline Elementary School, one of the six academically distressed schools. The principal and faculty members at the school will be reconstituted, he said, meaning all the jobs at the school, including the principal's, will be vacated and the jobs opened to applicants. An improvement plan has been drafted for the school, but it will be supplemented by faculty members who are on the front lines and who will have sound ideas about what needs to be done, he said.
That same "continuous improvement plan" also will be used at the other schools that need to improve student achievement, including the schools in academic distress -- Cloverdale and Henderson middle schools, and J.A. Fair, Hall and McClellan high schools.
"It's going to be a marathon," Kurrus said of the districtwide efforts. "It's not a sprint. And it's not a plan. It's a process. Until we change the way we do business, we'll never be successful."
Kurrus said he has been working day and night talking with staff members, visiting schools and meeting with organizations. He said he was thrilled at getting to converse in Spanish with children at one school, sharing stories with district bus drivers at a driver appreciation event, and dropping in on the employee union's representative-council meeting.
Despite the challenges in the district, the former 12-year Little Rock School Board member said he's also "extremely excited" to be on the job.
He said, "we're hiring a bunch of new principals." Several current principals are retiring at the end of the school year. "I'm going to find people who are slobbering to educate kids, just mad about doing it.
"And," he continued, "we have some really good people, and I think that if we turn them loose, motivate them, energize them, appreciate them and then get our community to embrace our goals, I think we really have a better than fighting chance."
Kurrus said he has "a deal" with the Little Rock Education Association "to pay our employees a little money." He said he still needed to talk to Key to finalize the agreement.
He said after the meeting that a bonus is being considered and should be finalized by early next week. "We want to show our people that we appreciate them," he said.
Cathy Koehler, president of the Little Rock Education Association, which is a union of the district's teachers and support staff, welcomed the possibility of the bonus.
"It's not huge," she said of the amounts. "This has been a strange year, so it's really nice that people are going to have a little bit extra something as they begin their summer."
Koehler said she is planning to announce the bonus to association members Monday.
This school year, employees received traditional step increases for their additional year of work experience if they were not at the top of their salary schedule, but there was no across-the-board pay raise. The employee association never publicly pushed for a raise.
"The reality is that the district has to cut a lot of money," Koehler said Thursday, referring to the impending loss of about $37 million a year in state desegregation aid. That funding will end after the 2017-18 school year.
"There was just no way, looking forward to the significant amount of money that we need to cut from the district budget, that there was any possibility of adding money -- an across-the-board raise -- to the salary schedule," Koehler said. "This is a very thoughtful gesture to let the employees know that they are appreciated."
Metro on 05/15/2015