Little Rock School District, union talks will resume today

Negotiations between Little Rock School District and Little Rock Education Association leaders over a proposal to end some employment protections at 22 of the district schools are to resume today.

All-day negotiations Friday failed to produce an agreement.

The negotiating teams will meet again in the afternoon, association President Teresa Knapp Gordon and Little Rock district spokesman Pamela Smith said.

No other details of the closed discussions were provided by Gordon or Smith.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key on Oct. 22 directed Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore to seek the association's support for a proposed waiver of the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act in the district's 22 D- and F-rated schools.

Such a waiver would make it easier and quicker to fire an employee identified as performing poorly in the affected schools.

Key cited insufficient academic progress at the schools as the reason for the proposal.

Under Act 930 of 2017, the state Board of Education has the authority to waive laws regarding teacher dismissal for school districts that have been placed in the Level 5-Intensive Support category, which is the case of the Little Rock district.

Association leaders and members have voiced opposition to the waiver proposal but did agree to enter negotiations over it.

The expiration date for the current 2017-18 negotiated agreement has been extended to Wednesday night to allow for the bargaining to continue.

Metro on 11/11/2018

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