NLR School Board to offer director's post to LR principal

The North Little Rock School District will make an offer to hire a Little Rock School District administrator to take over testing services.

The North Little Rock district's School Board approved Tuesday the hiring of Henry Anderson, the principal at Little Rock's McClellan High School, as director of testing and data analysis. Anderson -- who has been with the Little Rock district for about three years -- was expected to earn $112,414 for leading the academically distressed high school in 2016-17, said Pamela Smith, the Little Rock district's spokesman.

Anderson would replace Ray Girdler, who left the North Little Rock district to begin working at the Arkansas Department of Education as director of data use and privacy. Girdler earned between $75,000 and $80,000 annually for North Little Rock schools, but because of Anderson's more than 20 years of experience and education -- he is about to finish a doctorate degree -- he will earn $106,077.26 annually, North Little Rock's Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said.

"We're so excited about having him on board," Rodgers said of Anderson, who had also worked as a principal at Jacksonville High School. "He's quite talented in the area of data and analysis."

North Little Rock Deputy Superintendent Beth Stewart said that in one year, Anderson turned Jacksonville High from a school that had received an F grade from the state into one that earned a C. Anderson has also been making improvements at McClellan, which was already in academic distress when he arrived.

A school or school district is labeled by the state as academically distressed if fewer than half of its students score at proficient levels on state exams in math and literacy for three years.

To turn around a school that is in academic distress requires data analysis, Stewart said.

Anderson's start date has yet to be determined.

Also Tuesday, the North Little Rock School Board sold Amboy Elementary at 2400 W. 58th St., leaving the district with three unused properties. The panel also had the opportunity to buy back Pine Street Elementary, 1900 Pine St. -- which had sold to ICE Enterprises LLC, a North Little Rock development company -- but elected not to do so.

School districts have the right of first refusal if the buyer wants to sell to a third party within three years of the closing date, allowing the district to repurchase the property if it so wishes, under state law.

Pine Street sold for $110,000 because of issues with air conditioning units, but the developer wants to sell the school to one of its tenants, a day care center, Rodgers said. The district would have had to pay $150,000 for the school building, he said.

The School Board gave the OK at a special board meeting Tuesday to sell Amboy to a water-treatment company for $175,000. The company is less than a mile from the elementary school and is looking to expand, Rodgers said.

Tuesday's sale came in lower than the original listed price of $1.25 million.

The district had an offer for the school at $250,000, but the board turned it down. Since then, Rodgers said, the school has suffered minor vandalism -- a few broken windows -- that has prompted the district to board up all of the windows.

School Board President Luke King asked if there had been anyone else interested in the elementary school.

"There has not been a single offer in 12 months," said School Board member Scott Teague. "We dropped the price to try to stimulate more offers. They worked it, and this is all we had."

Teague added that the water company is hoping to close the sale by Oct. 31.

The district is "at the very end" of a capital-improvement program that is reducing its 21 campuses to 13, nearly all of which were built new or extensively remodeled. The reduction means that several schools are no longer in use.

Vacant buildings could hamper the district's ability to get state funding for new schools or additions in the coming years, district leaders have said. The state Department of Education's Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division could decide that the district doesn't need state money for new buildings or additions if the old schools are still available.

The district began selling the unused properties last year. In late March 2015, the School Board approved the sale of Argenta, Rose City, Lynch Drive and Baring Cross school buildings to Terra-Forma LLC of Maumelle for $500,000. Last August, it sold Redwood Early Childhood Center to an entity of St. Anne Catholic Church, 6150 Remount Road in North Little Rock, for $175,000.

The district has three more properties: Park Hill Elementary at 3801 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Heights Elementary at 4901 Allen St., and Poplar Street Middle at 2300 Poplar St.

It is putting final touches on the nine elementary schools, such as playground equipment and landscaping. At the high school, the district is still working on the performing arts center and gym, Rodgers said.

The middle school is getting started. Workers have already remodeled the cafeteria to make it like a food court. Students helped redesign the playground area for their age group, adding a basketball court, tetherball and AstroTurf for other sports, he said.

The North Little Rock district also recently got word that it will receive partial funding from the state to upgrade roofing, the heating and air conditioning systems and other infrastructure, he said.

What's most exciting, he said, is the enrollment growth of some 150 to 200 students, and stronger curriculum and instruction.

"On Monday, we had 9,131 students," he said. "And we're still growing."

Metro on 08/31/2016

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