Both the Pulaski County special and the Helena-West Helena school districts were released from state control last week and will be returned to local school boards. But the paths they are choosing differ in significant ways.
Andrew Bagley with the Helena-West Helena school district advisory board asked for their school board elections to be held during the general elections in November, not on some special election date in a month like September. Good for Helena-West Helena! This is when all school board members should be elected in Arkansas--when the turnout is the greatest. The Pulaski County Special School district did not make a similar request, but hopefully that election also will be held in November.
We understand Helena-West Helena officials are considering asking that five board members be elected from zones, with two at-large members. That way at least two will be thinking of the entire district, not just their own zone. We think the Pulaski County district should do the same.
Even more important, Helena-West Helena officials asked for the same waivers from onerous rules and regulations that the KIPP public charter school has, so the traditional district can compete more effectively. Mr. Bagley gave a great example, explaining how the district had attempted to hire a teacher from out of state, but before the district could complete the steps necessary for the teacher to be licensed in Arkansas, the KIPP Delta Charter Schools hired the person. And the Helena-West Helena district had to employ a long-term substitute instead.
Helena-West Helena officials asked for all the same waivers, but they ran into objections from board members Jay Barth and Mireya Reith--and apparently both still don't see the advantages of choice or competition in education. One specific waiver that was denied was one requesting options around the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act--the union-backed measure that makes it very hard to replace a teacher. The Teacher Fair Dismissal Act "is a pendulum that has swung too far in one direction and makes it too difficult to fire incompetent people," Mr. Bagley said in an interview.
To fire someone for incompetence, "principals have to almost drop everything else and focus on the teacher like a laser beam to meet the documentation burden that the Fair Dismissal Act requires," he said. "When we have someone who needs to be fired, it's too doggone hard."
This is a serious problem not just in Helena-West Helena, but throughout Arkansas schools. About the only thing fair about the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act is it virtually guarantees K-12 education in Arkansas will have a hard time being better than just fair when we need to be striving for good to great.
Notable is that the Pulaski County Special School District did not ask for any waivers as Helena-West Helena did. Our concern is that the teachers' union can't wait to elect a new school board for the Pulaski County district, and they don't want any waivers that would make schools more efficient and effective. And if they do elect a new board, will they decide to hire, or not hire, Jerry Guess? Maybe that is why he didn't ask.
We are encouraged by the attitude of Helena-West Helena school officials as they begin planning for local control. It would be great if we could see this same attitude in Pulaski County.
Editorial on 03/15/2016