The day after the state approved the contested closing of multiple Little Rock schools to cut expenses in the 2017-18 school year, state and school district leaders on Friday explored the next steps for the state-controlled system.
Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore told the Arkansas Board of Education in a wide-ranging presentation that the district will solicit proposals from the public for the purchase or lease of two of the soon-to-be-vacant schools. Any responses for the use of Franklin Elementary and Woodruff Early Childhood Center will be passed on to the school's neighborhoods, Poore said, for their vetting to ensure the new uses for the buildings are a good fit.
State Education Board member Jay Barth of Little Rock, who urged that the campuses not be left vacant for long, said the district has additional building challenges in regard to financial support from those who feel they don't have a voice in the district.
"It does of course come back to the state takeover, and I think it has major-league dollars and cents implications," said Barth, who suggested that the district be returned -- sooner rather than later -- to the direction of a locally elected school board.
"Ultimately, votes will have to be cast that will say a lot about what kind of resources the district is going to have moving forward," he said in citing the need for improved buildings throughout the district. A public vote on a tax measure for construction costs is more likely to be favorable if there is "clarity about when true local control will return."
On Thursday, Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key -- over the objections of the Save Our Schools grass-roots coalition -- approved Little Rock district proposals to close Franklin, Woodruff, and the Hamilton Learning Academy. Additionally, Wilson Elementary will no longer serve pupils but will become the site for the alternative education program now at Hamilton.
Closing and re-purposing the schools is intended to save about $3.8 million of the approximately $11 million in reductions planned for the district's more than $300 million budget.
The cuts, which also include streamlining middle and high school staffing, reducing administrative positions and cutting some school bus transportation expenses, are being combined with cuts made this year and in past years to offset the loss of $37.3 million a year in state desegregation aid. That special state funding will stop after the 2017-18 school year because of a 2014 agreement to settle part of a now 34-year-old school desegregation case.
THE 2015 VOTE
Barth was in the minority in the Education Board's 5-4 vote in January 2015 to take over the Little Rock district. The elected School Board was immediately removed and the superintendent placed under state direction because six of the district's 48 schools were classified as being in academic distress for chronically low student achievement on state math and literacy exams.
As of Thursday, three of the six schools have been relieved of the label -- Baseline Elementary Academy, and J.A. Fair and McClellan high schools. Hall High, Henderson and Cloverdale middle schools continue to bear the label, and much of Poore's presentation to the Education Board addressed efforts being made at the specific schools and systemwide.
Barth complimented Poore and his predecessor, Baker Kurrus, for work in the district done in conjunction with the Department of Education. He said it has long been known that closing some schools would be necessary because of the loss of state desegregation aid.
"I really think it is time for us to think about the possibility of a return, " Barth said about local control of the district. "I had a conversation with Mr. Key [Thursday] and it is true in the statute that until every school is out of academic distress, he cannot and the department cannot recommend a return.
The same restrictions don't necessarily apply to the Education Board, he said.
"It is also important that when you look at 6-15-430 ... under section F ... the state board has an independent authority to take any of the actions that are listed in this section to address public schools and school districts in academic distress," Barth said. "We have to be cautious. There are a lot of moving parts here, but I do think that it is crucial that before patrons of LRSD are asked to vote, there be clarity about when true local control will return."
Section F of the statute says, "Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the department or the state board from taking any of the actions listed in this section at any time to address public schools and school districts in academic distress."
Barth asked his board colleagues to consider moving toward the release of the district from state control while allowing state services to continue to the academically struggling schools.
Education Board Chairman Mireya Reith of Fayetteville suggested the issue be discussed in greater detail at the board's April meeting.
AT FRANKLIN
During a news conference at Franklin Elementary on Friday, opponents of the school closures said they were frustrated that the decision to close schools was made while locals do not have control of the district.
About 20 people gathered on the small South Harrison Street sidewalk running in front of the school while school district security officers watched from the parking lot.
At times opponents of the closures chanted, "Our kids matter" and "Our schools, our children, we shall not be moved." Some held up signs calling to restore democracy in the school district, to oust Key and Poore, and for "no more white supremacy."
Eight speakers stood in front of a collection of television-news cameras and lamented the school closures during the event, which was organized by the Save Our Schools community coalition.
"This is an insult," former Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey said. "It's also racist in this day and age. It's very, very racist. The whole takeover is an act of racism."
Of the 585 students enrolled this year at the two elementary schools scheduled for closure, 445, or 76 percent, are black, according to Arkansas Department of Education data.
Humphrey and a second speaker compared Gov. Asa Hutchinson to former Gov. Orval Faubus, who in 1957 called on the National Guard to block nine black students from entering Central High School after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional.
A federal judge ordered the Guard to stand down, and President Dwight Eisenhower deployed federal troops to Little Rock to ensure the nine teenagers could attend school.
"This should be an issue in the governor's race in 2018, the way they have callously disregarded the citizens, the taxpayers, of this community and erased the presence of a school board where there was a four to three black majority," Humphrey said. "... We need to call it the way it is, and I am appalled that Gov. Hutchinson would want his name up there next to Orval Faubus' name."
Anika Whitfield, a Save Our Schools spokesman, repeated the criticism.
"I'd like to say to Gov. Hutchinson, as [former] Judge Humphrey reminded us a few minutes ago, he's acting just like Orval Faubus," Whitfield said. "He's acting on behalf of his white privilege, his white supremacy, to tell black and brown students that they're not good enough to go to schools that were made and built for them to attend in their neighborhoods."
Hutchinson said Friday in a statement that the state Education Board took control on its own initiative shortly after he took office in 2015 and before he appointed any of the members of the board.
"I believe the State Board of Education acted out of genuine concern for these students and their educational opportunities," the governor said. "To assure academic growth for the children of Little Rock, I have directed Commissioner Key to do all that he can with Superintendent Poore to improve educational opportunities here and bring these schools up to academic compliance. And ultimately, to return the governance of the Little Rock School District back to the community. The voters in Little Rock will then be able to elect their own school board."
After the news conference, Whitfield said the goal of the event at Franklin was "to remind the city of Little Rock that we're not giving up."
"We will continue to build momentum with parents who haven't come to the table," Whitfield said, adding that she hoped to attract parents of students at different Little Rock schools to join their efforts. "Until things are done, you can stop them."
A Section on 02/11/2017