Group protests outside LRSD headquarters before announcement on school closures

A group of protesters gather in front of Little Rock School District headquarters Tuesday morning.
A group of protesters gather in front of Little Rock School District headquarters Tuesday morning.

A group of parents, educators and students congregated outside Little Rock School District headquarters Tuesday morning to protest the possible shuttering of five schools — a decision that will be announced by Superintendent Michael Poore later today.

Poore previously outlined a tentative $10 million cut in district expenses, which includes closing or repurposing as many as five schools in the district, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The cuts are necessary, Poore said, to mitigate a loss of $37.3 million in state desegregation aid.

Carver, Franklin and Wilson elementary schools as well as Woodruff Early Childhood Education Center and the Hamilton Learning Academy are the campuses that could close or be used differently. After several months of debate and public comment, Poore is slated to announce the final decision at a 2:30 p.m. news conference.

But parents and community activists will not give up without a fight, said Anika Whitfield, an organizer with Save Our Schools, a group dedicated to staving off the closures.

Whitfield and fellow protesters gathered outside the district headquarters with neon signs and a bundle of petitions signed by parents. They gave petitions, along with artwork from students, to an administrator to pass along to Poore.

The kids’ sketches demonstrate “in their own colorful and creative ways” how much they care about keeping their schools open, Whitfield said. Those campuses are like a second home, she added.

“And these schools belong to us,” Whitfield said, referring to the residents of Little Rock. The state took over the district in 2015.

Samantha Toro, a teacher in the crowd of roughly 20 people who leads cooking and nutrition classes at multiple schools around the district, said she took part after seeing how the quality of materials and care given to kids vary widely from school to school.

“Some kids aren’t getting the same resources,” Toro said.

Whitfield said she hopes Poore and Education Commissioner Johnny Key will rethink the closures, especially because they take place in black and low-income neighborhoods.

And if Poore’s announcement does not go the way they want, the group will host demonstrations outside the campuses, petition the city’s chamber of commerce, call for the resignation of Key and just “keep the fight going,” Whitfield said.

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