Michael Poore, superintendent of the Little Rock School District since July 1, reported Monday on what he has learned from his ongoing efforts to get to know the city through daily phone calls, community meetings and neighborhood walks.
Speaking for the first time to a convocation of as many as 3,600 district employees at Barton Coliseum, Poore said he used a process of "appreciative inquiry" to identify what is going well and what are the aspirations of the public for the 25,000-student district.
"Ten a day -- I made phone calls to many of you and I made many phone calls to parents ... and then through these community walks," Poore told the assembly. "You know what came out of it? I'm telling you there may be people who say 'Oh, the community is not happy with the school district.' That is not the truth. This community believes in you as a staff. They expect a lot from you, but they believe in you, and they love and support what you are doing for kids."
Poore said he came to realize that many of the district employees have a history of 25 years or more in the district, and some had even been students in the system themselves. He asked those employees -- about one-fourth of the assembly -- to stand for applause.
"That is commitment. That's a belief in what we are doing," he said about those employees.
The public wants the district to communicate and talk about the district's accomplishments, Poore said, adding as examples the rising ACT college entrance exam scores at the district's high schools, the district's high-performing early childhood program and the Williams Elementary School fourth-grader who sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" to open the convocation.
"They expect us to be transparent with our finances because we have hard stuff ahead of us," he said about the district's anticipated loss of $37 million a year in state desegregation aid after the 2017-18 school year. "We've got to balance the checkbook, and it won't be easy."
Safety is a concern among parents, as is "connectivity" -- knowing, caring for and supporting the students, he said. Academic progress and student preparedness were chief expectations cited by parents and community members, Poore said.
The school district has been operating under state control and without a locally elected school board since January 2015 because six of its schools were labeled by the state as academically distressed. One of the schools has since been cleared of that label, which is given to schools in which fewer than half of students score at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over a three-year period.
Poore, a state-appointed chief executive for the district, didn't make a specific reference Monday to the state control or his appointment by state Education Commissioner Johnny Key to replace the district's one-year state-appointed superintendent, Baker Kurrus. Poore was previously the superintendent of the Bentonville School District.
Poore talked about his family, including his wife of three years, Marianne. The couple surprised their families by marrying on a camping trip in Montana. Between them they have five adult children -- a disc jockey, an aspiring Russian Orthodox priest, a social worker, a business administration major and a senior in college who is a member of a championship hockey team. They also have an 18-month-old granddaughter and a beagle named Maynard. Poore said he was dismayed to realize that Maynard rules the household.
To emphasize his point about the impact teachers have on their students and on their colleagues, Poore "interviewed" four high school seniors and one 2016 graduate about the best qualities of their teachers and what they would like teachers never to do.
Erica Braswell -- a 2016 graduate of Hall High, a Gates Millennium Scholarship winner and incoming freshman at Baylor University in Waco, Texas -- said highly motivated teachers are key to student learning.
"So if you are in the classroom and you are pumped about what you are teaching, we're going to reflect that. You get what you put out," Braswell said.
Emma Mateo, a special education teacher at the new Pinnacle View Middle School and the Little Rock School District Teacher of the Year, also was featured at the event. The Philippines native told the crowd that all students have potential and that "we can't expect others to believe in us if we don't believe in ourselves."
Mateo said there are pressures in teaching and working to see the best in all students, but pressure is what creates diamonds.
The convocation featured numerous drawings for door prizes. Linda Kindy, coordinator of the district's adult education department, won the top prize -- a 2016 Buick Encore compact sport utility vehicle that was donated by Everett Pontiac GMC.
Metro on 08/10/2016