North Little Rock High School plan gets charter panel OK

Career-linked program up to state board

A plan designed to give North Little Rock High School students choices about the pace, place, path and time for academic and career-related instruction was approved Friday by the state's Charter Authorizing Panel.

The proposed Center of Excellence, which is now subject to a final vote of the Arkansas Board of Education later this year, would be a school within the larger North Little Rock High School. Plans call for the conversion charter school to serve as many as 3,000 students in grades nine through 12, although district leaders expect initial enrollment will be a few hundred students to start in August 2017. Registration for the program would start in January.

In addition to the North Little Rock district conversion charter-school plan, the Charter Authorizing Panel that is made up of top-level Department of Education staff members also endorsed over two days of hearings the conversion charter applications from Hot Springs, Prairie Grove, Van Buren, Harrisburg and Harrison school districts.

North Little Rock Superintendent Kelly Rodgers welcomed the support for his district's plan despite concern by the panel over the request to waive elements of state teacher training requirements that are necessary for renewal of state teacher licenses.

"We are starting to chart some new ground and they will have to look at changing some of the state regulations to fit what we are doing," Rodgers said and added, "I think it is great that in Arkansas we have built this partnership with our businesses to develop careers or potential careers for our students."

North Little Rock Deputy Superintendent Beth Stewart told the panel that the Center of Excellence is intended to "re-engage our disengaged youth" and provide a means to break the cycle of poverty for students from low-income families. It will simultaneously challenge gifted and talented students "like never before," she said. "All the while, we will be meeting the needs of the local industry employers."

The Center of Excellence will offer instruction in the career fields of computer science, manufacturing, engineering, health care, and transportation, distribution and logistics.

Christie Toland, the district's director of college and career readiness, said students will be able to make choices about instruction in core academics and careers, be it a traditional classroom, a blend of online and classroom instruction or strictly an online instructional program that can be delivered at the school or at another site preferred by the student.

Students will have the flexibility to complete traditional one-year courses at a faster rate, or alter traditional course schedules in a way that they might devote one full day a week to math and the next day to another subject or subjects.

The charter-school students will have to meet the same graduation requirements as students in the traditional North Little Rock High School program. But the accelerated pace and/or flexible scheduling in the charter school will enable the students to also take career-related courses, take concurrent college courses, participate in internships and apprenticeships, and/or even graduate early.

Charter-school students -- who will be concentrated in Tower C of the new North Little Rock High School building -- will be able to participate in the same athletics, arts and other co-curricular activities as other high school students. The charter school will offer support to charter-school students who have special education needs or are learning English as a second language.

"It will be a big shift in learning for everyone," Toland said, adding that extensive training for students, staff and parents will be necessary.

The program includes a two week "boot-camp" for students beginning in the charter school to help them select a career field, improve any problems with their math and literacy skills, and identify the instructional delivery system they will use. Each student will be part of a Personalized Opportunity Plan team that will include parents, teachers, counselors and industry partners. The team will regularly monitor student progress and adjust the student's learning program if there are problems.

The state charter panel unanimously approved the North Little Rock plan after district officials agreed to rescind for the time being a waiver of professional development requirements for teacher licensure.

"I believe we are seeing the future in this application," Education Department Deputy Commissioner Mark Gotcher said in voting for the plan.

Gotcher noted the involvement and support for the plan by business and industry representatives who reported that student preparation is desperately needed to fill jobs in the state and nation.

"We are going to see crisis turned to opportunity with these types of models in our state," Gotcher said.

The Charter Authorizing Panel also approved and will submit to the state Education Board for final approval the following district-operated conversion charter-school plans:

• Hot Springs Junior Academy for as many as 600 students in grades seven and eight.

• Prairie Grove High School for a maximum of 750 in grades nine through 12.

• Arkansas River Valley Virtual Academy in Van Buren for up to 325 students in kindergarten through 12th grades.

• Harrisburg College and Career Preparatory School for up to 600 students in grades nine through 12.

• Harrison High School for a maximum of 1,400 students in grades nine through 12.

A Section on 10/22/2016

Upcoming Events