Education notebook

High school nears finish; jobs open

Construction of the Little Rock School District's Southwest High School is about 90% complete, with the auditorium and some of the sports fields still to be finished, Principal Marvin Burton reported last week.

As of last week, the school had an anticipated enrollment of 1,808 students, including 633 ninth graders.

Filling staff positions in the school is well underway, Burton said.

In addition to an administrative staff that includes three former high school principals as well as Burton, a total of 126 state-licensed teachers have been hired so far out of the 141 who are needed. Staffing at the school is intended to include two social workers and up to 15 people who are trained in reading instruction. So far, 10 bilingual instructors have been employed, and Burton is looking for more. Fine arts and gifted and talented positions are also open at the school, as are special education teaching positions.

School and district leaders are in the process of planning a virtual grand-opening ceremony.

In-person summer school plan halted

The Little Rock School District has canceled its plans to hold in-person summer school for elementary pupils at four schools this summer.

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"We are working with the City of Little Rock to provide literacy instructional support to our students virtually and in-person during the 2020-21 school year, " the district said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon.

The Little Rock elementary full-day summer school was designed for as many as 540 children and was to be held July 8-31 at King, Stephens, McDermott and Otter Creek schools.

Darian Smith, the district's executive director of elementary education, announced the summer enrichment academy in May but, at that time, reserved the district's right to call off the program in light of the covid-19 pandemic and Gov. Asa Hutchinson's directives for physical distancing to contain the spread of the disease.

Proposal is made for teacher leaders

The new certified Personnel Policy Committee of teachers in the Little Rock School District has proposed that district policy enable teachers who are elected to be president of state and local associations and unions be temporarily released from their district responsibilities.

The proposed policy language was considered at length last week by the Community Advisory Board but was sent back to the committee and district staff for clarifying language and legal citations.

The policy would enable Little Rock teachers who are chosen to head the Little Rock Education Association, the Arkansas Education Association and the Arkansas State Teachers Association to be released from district responsibilities for the duration of their terms. The organizations would reimburse the district for the salaries of the teacher leaders, who would be able to return to district work when their terms end.

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