6 P.M. UPDATE:
The Arkansas Board of Education voted on Thursday to waive school employee-protection laws in the state-run Little Rock School District.
Some people in the audience shouted toward the state board “shame on you.”
The measure goes into effect immediately and continues through the 2019-20 school year.
A waiver of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act eases and quickens the process of firing employees deemed poorly performing.
Earlier Thursday, the Arkansas Board of Education approved the same waiver for the state-run Pine Bluff School District.
The issue about a waiver for Little Rock began Oct. 22, when Education Commissioner Johnny Key withheld approval of the 2018-19 Professional Negotiations Agreement between the district and its employee union over the fact that 22 district schools had just received D and F state ratings.
Key asked that the district and association extend negotiations to include in their agreement support for a waiver of the school employee dismissal laws.
At the time, Key said the progress in the 22 schools was inadequate and that the employment-protection laws — which set out a process for observing and attempting to correct poorly performing employees before firing them — were too cumbersome and time-consuming.
The state Education Board had classified the Little Rock district in July 2017 and the Pine Bluff district as being at Level 5 in the state’s school-accountability system.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-15-2916 says if a district is in Level 5, the Education Board may take a range of actions, including waiving education-related laws. Those waivers may include the application of both the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, which is Arkansas Code Annotated 6-17-1501, and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act, which is Arkansas Code Annotated 6-17-1701.
After the meeting, Superintendent Mike Poore said he wanted teachers to know, "I'm going to be fair. I'm going to be really on top of looking at recommendations [for firing| to make sure there is cause. I want to do it right. If it's not there, the recommendation won't pass. I also believe our principals will do that as well."
EARLIER:
The Arkansas Board of Education voted 8-1 on Thursday to approve a waiver of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act for the Pine Bluff School District.
A waiver eases and quickens the process of firing employees deemed poorly performing.
Jay Barth, a state board member from Little Rock, voted no.
Education Commissioner Johnny Key requested the waiver. The state took over the Pine Bluff school system in September, removing its former superintendent and eliminating its locally elected school board.
A month earlier, the Arkansas Department of Education had identified the district as being in “fiscal distress.” In September, as part of the decision to take over the district, the state board labeled the school system as being in fiscal distress because of spending practices that threatened to deplete all operating revenue before the end of this school year.
In November, the state board added low academic achievement, over-staffing and other problems to its reasons for assuming control of the Pine Bluff district. The board classified the 3,189-student district as Level 5, in need of intensive support — a category indicating the highest priority of need in the state’s school accountability system.
The state board has the authority to waive the school employee protection laws and take other steps in districts that are classified by the state as being Level 5, in need of intensive support, which is the case for the Pine Bluff system.
State board members are in the midst of a discussion on whether to take the same waiver action in the state-run Little Rock School District.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.