Desegregation suit meeting canceled
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr., the presiding judge in a long-running Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit, has canceled Thursday’s quarterly status conference with attorneys and school district leaders in the case.
The cancellation is meant to allow the Pulaski County Special School District and the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District to “spend their time on the important work of birthing a new district,” Marshall wrote in an order last week.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District — created by an order of the state Board of Education in November 2014 after a favorable vote of Jacksonville area residents — will officially detach from the Pulaski Special district July 1.
“We don’t need to meet just to say we did,” Marshall wrote about the Thursday session but also added that the Sept. 15 status conference will be held as scheduled.
“The status reports [from the parties in the lawsuit] do not disclose any problem that needs Court attention next week,” he wrote. “The Court is available during the summer, of course, if needed; otherwise, the Court will stay out of the way.”
Marshall did direct that the representatives of the two school districts and the black students known as the Joshua intervenors must continue to meet on a monthly basis.
“The Court is convinced that full, open, and regular discussions between PCSSD, JNPSD, and Joshua — through the parties themselves and counsel — are essential to the districts achieving full unitary status as soon as practicable,” the judge wrote.
3 weeks of repairs closing field in LR
Scott Field, located on the campus of Forest Heights STEM Academy in the Little Rock School District, will be closed for approximately three weeks beginning Monday.
The gates will remain locked during surface repair.
Additionally, the McClellan High School football stadium and field in the district will be closed this summer to prepare for the 2016 football season. Renovations at McClellan will include upgrades to the fence, field and press box.
District shuffling transit complexes
The Pulaski County Special School District has reorganized its school bus transportation department stations to accommodate for the upcoming detachment of the Jacksonville area and for a move of the Oak Grove transportation complex.
The following are the locations of the district’s transportation complexes, their phone numbers and the schools each will serve, beginning July 1, for the 2016-17 school year:
West Transportation Complex, 16404 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, 72210; 821-4463. Baker Elementary, Chenal Elementary, Joe T. Robinson Elementary, Joe T. Robinson Middle, Joe T. Robinson High and Lawson Elementary.
Northwest Transportation Complex, 7508 MacArthur Drive, North Little Rock, 72118; 234-2950. Cato Elementary, Crystal Hill Elementary, Maumelle Middle, Maumelle High, Oak Grove Elementary, Oakbrooke Elementary, Pine Forest Elementary, Sherwood Elementary, Sylvan Hills Elementary, Sylvan Hills Middle, Sylvan Hills High, Sylvan Hills Ninth-Grade Academy and William Jefferson Clinton Elementary.
South Transportation Complex, 7400 Highway 365, Little Rock, 72206; 234-2915. College Station Elementary, Daisy Bates Elementary, Fuller Middle, Harris Elementary, Landmark Elementary and Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High.
NLR board to host vacancy hopefuls
The North Little Rock School Board is holding a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to meet with candidates who have applied to fill the vacancy on the board that was created by the death last month of Ron Treat.
The board also will consider revisions to the district’s dress code policy for pupils in kindergarten through eighth grades.
Board members plan to give all applicants for the vacant School Board position an opportunity at the meeting to speak briefly about themselves and their interest in board service before selecting someone to hold the board seat until the September school election.
Job change urged at Pulaski County
John Tackett, director of secondary education in the Pulaski County Special School District, is being recommended for the job of interim assistant superintendent for secondary education in the coming school year.
The change in title and additional duties for Tackett come as the district’s deputy superintendent, Laura Bednar, is resigning to become head of school at The Baptist Preparatory School in Little Rock.
Pulaski County Superintendent Jerry Guess said he is recommending to Education Commissioner Johnny Key that the deputy’s job not be filled. Key acts in the role of the school board for the state-controlled district.