LR students set board exam record
A record number of Arkansas students took the national College Board’s Advanced Placement exams in the 2016-17 school year in an effort to earn college credit for their high school work.
A total of 27,178 Arkansans — up from 26,579 the previous year — took 47,181 exams, according to a College Board recap of the school year. There were a total 16,036 exams with qualifying scores of 3, 4 or 5. Almost 34 percent of the exams had qualifying scores.
The previous year there were 15,079 qualifying scores on 46,096 exams, or almost 33 percent.
Among the state’s school districts, Little Rock School District had the greatest number of test-takers, 1,534, who took 3,465 tests and earned 1,529 qualifying scores.
Bentonville had the highest number of qualifying scores. The Bentonville School District had a total of 1,457 students who took 2,996 tests with 1,840 of those tests producing qualifying scores.
In the Rogers district, a total of 1,496 students took 2,476 exams with 733 earning qualifying scores.
Ex-PB school exec files age bias suit
Michael Nellums, a former Pine Bluff High principal who once served as an elected member of the Little Rock School Board, has sued the Pine Bluff district in federal court for age and employment discrimination.
The lawsuit, pending before U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, was filed by civil rights attorney John W. Walker and it seeks Nellums’ reinstatement to a position equal to that of either the principal’s job or to the district’s director of human capital.
Nellums said in the suit that he served as a high school principal between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2017. While principal, Nellums applied for the human capital director’s job. He said he was not interviewed by Superintendent Michael Robinson and the job was filled by a person 12 years younger than Nellums, who is 55.
Nellums said he filed grievances against the superintendent over the director’s job and other matters but the Pine Bluff School Board declined to hear them. Earlier this year, Nellums said he was reassigned by Robinson from the principal’s job to supervisor of maintenance, safety and operations. He contends in the suit that the reassignment was in retaliation for Nellums’ grievances and his allegations of employment discrimination.
LR district schools to hold open houses
The Little Rock School District is hosting middle and high school open houses in the evenings this month in anticipation of the district’s 2018-19 school registration period coming up in December.
The open houses are at the campuses on the following dates:
Today — 6 p.m. Dunbar Magnet and Pulaski Heights middle schools.
Wednesday — 5 p.m.-6 p.m. Hall High; 7 p.m. McClellan High.
Thursday — 6 p.m. Horace Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School; 7 p.m. Central High, J.A. Fair High.
Nov. 14 — 6 p.m. Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High.
Nov. 28 — 6 p.m. Henderson Middle School.
The open houses for Cloverdale Middle, Forest Heights STEM Academy, Mabelvale Middle and Pinnacle View Middle schools were held Nov. 1.