A new superintendent is moving into the Little Rock School District. He's just been armed with a district cellphone pre-loaded with numbers that he is champing at the bit to call.
"An exciting moment for me this week was [Thursday]," Michael Poore told the Arkansas Board of Education on Friday. "I got the cellphone numbers of every principal in the Little Rock School District. This weekend, that's what I'm going to do ... I'll be able to reach out to those principals. I'm excited about that."
Poore, selected by Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key to head the state-controlled, 25,500-student school district starting July 1, said he intends to use phone calls -- at least 10 a day -- as well as social media, public forums, kitchen-table conversations, neighborhood walks and letter-writing to introduce himself. He said he wants to determine the most important aspirations of employees, residents and parents in the district.
Poore, who was in Little Rock to speak on efforts to modernize career and technical education in Northwest Arkansas school systems, took the opportunity to present his "Listen and Learn Entry Plan" for transitioning into the Little Rock job from his current role as Bentonville superintendent.
The entry plan, he said, sets the foundation for the work he will do over the summer until the first day of the 2016-17 school year in mid-August.
"I am excited and humbled to serve as the new superintendent of this historic school district," Poore's three-page plan begins. "I take this opportunity very seriously and will perform my job with energy, enthusiasm and commitment. I will 'hit the ground listening and learning' in order to gather as much information from stakeholders within the schools, as well as from parents and community members. I firmly believe that the greatest asset the Little Rock School District has is the passion of its people. This plan is another step forward in returning LRSD to local control."
Poore is replacing current Little Rock School District Superintendent Baker Kurrus, 61, a Harvard-educated attorney and former Little Rock School Board member, who though not a professional educator has served in the role since May 2015.
Key told Kurrus in April that his contract will not be renewed when it expires June 30. Key made the leadership change without any notice to area leaders just after Kurrus argued to the state Education Board against the expansion of open-enrollment charter schools in the city, saying they draw higher-achieving students and leave the district with fewer resources to serve high-need students.
Key has denied that he replaced Kurrus because of the charter expansion debate and said he selected Poore, 54, as the successor because of Poore's record of raising student achievement. Poore will earn a salary of $225,000 a year for two years.
Both Key and Poore have said they would like Kurrus to continue to work in the district in either a formal or informal role.
Poore said Friday that the role has not been decided but that he and Kurrus are getting to know each other and working together. They jointly interviewed candidates for human resources director earlier this week, and Poore expects to be involved in other hiring decisions, as well. He said he has valued and enjoyed the time and support he has received from Kurrus and district staff members.
Kurrus' ouster from his $150,000-a-year job has resulted in an outpouring of support -- including letters to state leaders, public rallies and even a legislative hearing. He has said he is open to helping out in an unpaid role.
Asked whether Poore sees it as his role to give advice to Key about independently run charter school expansions in Little Rock, Poore said, "absolutely."
"As the Little Rock superintendent, I am going to advocate for my students and for my staff and for my community, and I will speak my mind as we work on future things, whatever that might be," Poore said.
"The thing I think I'm known for in my professional life is to be very collaborative," he said. "I plan to collaborate and work together with a variety of different people, make sure I understand the dynamics and then create the appropriate level of support for Little Rock students. I want Little Rock students to have the very best programs and options and opportunities to have them be prepared as young people."
The Walton Family Foundation, based in Bentonville, is a financial backer of charter schools nationally, in the state and in Little Rock.
The Walton foundation also has direct ties to Poore's Bentonville school system. It provided a grant for Northwest Arkansas school district leaders -- including Poore -- to visit model career-education centers in Michigan, California, Oklahoma and New York. The foundation also provided funding for two years to direct Bentonville's career-education program, the Ignite program.
Poore said that as Little Rock superintendent, it would be most important to reach out to Little Rock-area organizations for support and development of career opportunities for students. The Walton foundation is one resource, but so is the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, he said.
Key and Gov. Asa Hutchinson have directed Poore, he said, to help the state's largest district return to the control of a locally elected school board, which was dismissed in January 2015 when the state took over the district because six of its 48 schools were labeled by the state as academically distressed for chronically low student test scores. One school has since been removed from the list.
Building collaboration is another directive to Poore, as is developing world-class career-education opportunities that result in a return in the business investment.
Career centers should be in every school and every school system in the country, he said. It's part of re-imagining the junior and senior years of high school and, if done right, should affect every student, Poore said.
He said the Little Rock district has aspects of career programs but that more can be done to partner with businesses and higher-education institutions to determine what industries and businesses are going to need in terms of professionals. No Little Rock school should be singled out to be the district's career-education center, he said. Every high school should have opportunities -- some might have those resources on campus, and for others it might be at a satellite campus or at a college site.
A large part of Poore's entry plan is community outreach, including "Twitter Town Halls," in which he would converse with people online, and door-to-door visits in neighborhoods. Traditional community forums, letters to every district employee and every district parent, and a back-to-school celebration are also included in the plan.
Other components include the development of a "community call to action plan" that brings in community members to work on an initiative such as a community reading program or the design of a new high school.
A three-day, on-campus conference for all district administrators is part of the entry plan, so administrators can begin the process of setting the direction for the school year. District administrators will be asked to prepare reports on their divisions, complete with three years of trend data. Senior administrators in the district will be asked to be active and visible in schools and the community.
In regard to the district's five academically distressed schools, an "achieve team" of faculty and parents will support the improvement efforts through the use of data, staff training and community resources.
In response to the incoming superintendent's plan, state Education Board member Jay Barth of Little Rock urged Poore to include strategies for grappling with the pain and distrust that has been expressed in recent weeks by residents about the state-controlled district.
Poore said the plan is made up of efforts to build trust.
"There are a lot of people who are very passionate about the Little Rock district right now," he said. "That's an opportunity if we capture that passion and create the appropriate level of collaboration."
Board member Mireya Reith of Fayetteville urged Poore to be aware of language barriers that hinder public participation in the district and to work to overcome them.
Board member Charisse Dean of Little Rock told Poore that parents and others had expressed their "loss of hope" in the transition of the district leadership.
"I think the opposite," she said. "I have gained a lot of hope with you being in the position. I'm looking forward to the new gains."
Board member Diane Zook of Melbourne applauded Poore's plans for public outreach.
"They don't care what you know until they know that you care," she said, adding that there are lots of people who are excited and hopeful.
Poore said that outreach components of his entry plan will be in gear this weekend as he begins making calls to principals.
"You can see there is going to be a thoughtful outreach to teachers and classified staff, as well, because all those stakeholders are important, including parents and other community folks," he said. "Hopefully there is something for everyone that says, 'I think that this is my spot. This is where I think I can see him trying to interact with me or interact with people who represent what I am a part of.'"
Metro on 05/14/2016