An open letter regarding LRSD

To Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Education Commissioner Johnny Key and Mr. Michael Poore:

As school board president, I opposed the state takeover of the Little Rock School District (LRSD), but I, along with many others, have worked for the success of the state-controlled LRSD out of concern for the students. I believe the decision to not extend the contract for Superintendent Baker Kurrus is unwise for the district and was handled disrespectfully for Mr. Kurrus, the LRSD and the Little Rock community. I stand with those who protest this decision.

Because of the need for the LRSD to be successful for all its students, I join the voices of many others in providing unsolicited commentary and advice in the spirit of trying to be helpful for the sake of the students.

So many of us who care about LRSD students and public education in Little Rock are angry at least partially because we are afraid. Unless our fears are understood, acknowledged and addressed, there is little chance of a successful LRSD under state control.

We fear that our district will not be returned whole and healthy when state control eventually ends. We fear that when state control ends, some of our schools will no longer be connected and accountable to the community, as they will instead be accountable to outside charter organizations. We fear that our teachers and staff will be scapegoated and treated as problems instead of partners in education because they have chosen to organize and bargain collectively. We fear that the needs of our most vulnerable students--those with the least financial resources, those with special education needs and English-language learners--will be neglected.

We have these fears because we do not trust the state's concern for the LRSD and its students, and we do not trust because of a continuing series of events which sow doubts regarding the state's positive intent and responsible stewardship. The State Board of Education (SBE) voted 5-4 in January 2015 to take over the LRSD despite requests for more time to build upon progress being made--progress that has been demonstrated in the recent Arkansas Department of Education school "report cards" based on improvements made before the takeover. For many who opposed the takeover, the appointment of Mr. Kurrus as a non-educator superintendent was evidence that the LRSD would be treated as an educational experiment by the state. When Mr. Kurrus proved to be a strong and effective leader, his shocking, poorly executed and unjustified termination following his advocacy for the LRSD in the face of charter school expansions caused more mistrust.

During the recent SBE hearing where charter school expansions were approved, Mr. Kurrus provided data regarding the negative impact of such expansions on the LRSD and its students. LRSD supporters provided compelling requests that charter school expansions be paused, at least while the LRSD is under state control. The concerns for the LRSD and its students were not acknowledged or addressed by the SBE or by the commissioner. No concern or compassion was expressed for the students left behind in the LRSD by charter expansions or even for the reported several thousand students on charter school waiting lists who would remain on waiting lists after the approved charter school expansions were put in place. The lack of expressed acknowledgment and concern was deafening in its silence and did much to erode what little trust there may have been in the state's concern for the LRSD and its students.

No public school system can be successful without the support and engagement of the public. The LRSD public has been traumatized by the events of the past year and a half and refuses to play the passive victim. You need us--parents, teachers, staff, concerned community members, volunteers, businesses, community organizations and local elected officials--to be partners with you for improvement efforts in the LRSD to be successful. It is time to treat us as true partners and stakeholders. This is our home and our community. These are our children.

We need you to raise the bar in your efforts and to earn our trust and partnership. To do so, you need to demonstrate by word and deed that you understand our fears and that you will engage honorably with us to address our fears and concerns. This does not mean that we will always agree. Universal agreement in a large and diverse school district is rare; however, you have inadvertently tapped into it--that Mr. Kurrus earned the right to keep his job and that continued turnover in the superintendent's office is a bad thing is a nearly universal perspective here in Little Rock.

There is so much that needs to be understood about the unique history and present of the LRSD for improvement efforts to be successful. We have not only general fears but regional fears within the LRSD. There are those in the southwest who fear losing McClellan as a high school and others who fear that the plans for the new southwest high school will be forsaken. Those in the central city and downtown fear that they will be left without neighborhood schools. Those in the west fear that their needs for secondary schools will go unmet as they were for many years. And these are just a few examples of the dynamics that need to be understood and addressed for any superintendent to be successful.

Gov. Hutchinson, for success in the state-controlled LRSD, the chain of accountability needs to be strong from end to end, from classroom teacher and principal all the way to education commissioner and governor. Please do whatever is required to ensure that disastrous decisions such as the unjust ouster of Mr. Kurrus are not repeated.

Mr. Key, if you continue in the role of education commissioner, and Mr. Poore, if you do become our superintendent, then I wish your efforts on behalf of our students--all of our students in every corner of our district--to be wildly successful. If you will demonstrate that our fears are unfounded and that you want to be partners in education, I believe our community will eventually join you in this endeavor out of concern for our students. Despite our pain and anger, we have over 24,000 reasons to rise above, and so do you.

Greg Adams is the former president of the Little Rock School Board and current co-chair of the LRSD Civic Advisory Committee. The opinions expressed are his own and are not intended to represent any formal group or organization.

Editorial on 05/01/2016

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