With fewer than four months to go before the Arkansas Board of Education must decide on the future of the state-controlled Dollarway School District, state leaders are asking a federal contractor to develop scenarios from which the board can choose.
Arkansas Secretary of Education Johnny Key said Thursday that WestEd, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization with a contract with the U.S. Department of Education, has been called in -- at no direct cost to the state -- to provide an independent review and options regarding the Dollarway system.
WestEd, a research, service and development agency, works with education and communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youths and adults, according to its website. The organization is the successor to some of the regional education laboratories that were established by the federal government in the mid-1960s to aid in education improvement -- to bridge the gap between research and practice. Arkansas routinely worked with the Southwest Regional Education Laboratory
The 960-student Dollarway district is nearing its fifth-year anniversary under state authority for academic and financial problems. State law directs that after five years, a state-controlled district must either be returned to local governance or, if not prepared to do that, must be annexed or consolidated to one or more other districts or reconstituted -- a term that is not defined in law.
"We are soon approaching a time when a decision will need to be made -- in December -- and we don't want you to have to wait until December for the information you need," Key told the Education Board.
"There's a lot of information you are going to need. I expect you will have a lot of questions over the next few months. We want to make sure you to get the answers to the questions that you have. We also want to make sure the communities are very involved and understand the process. That's part of what we are doing with WestEd because this isn't just about the state board. It's also about the patrons of the district -- the parents and residents."
Stacy Smith, a former assistant education commissioner for learning services and now the new director of the state Office of Coordinated Support and Service, told the board that WestEd has been digging into Dollarway's finances for the past five years, identifying trends forward, examining industry and business, and crime rates in the district, and researching the surrounding districts "to make sure we have a full picture."
The Dollarway district borders the Pine Bluff School District. Pine Bluff's district is also operating under state control -- but has been under state control for a shorter time. As of July, Barbara Warren, who has been the Dollarway chief executive for several years, is now the state-appointed superintendent for both of the Jefferson County districts.
The next step for WestEd, Smith said, is to organize small, online focus groups of Dollarway community members, teachers and others so that people feel comfortable speaking out about what is important to them regarding schools and the Dollarway School District.
"The plan is for WestEd to come back to us" with the pluses and minuses of consolidating or annexing the district to others or reconstituting the district, Smith said, adding that she is pushing the WestEd team for information on what the organization has seen work in other parts of the country.
"What is something that we haven't thought of yet? What could this look like -- to honor the work that they have done if they are not to go back to local control?" she said she has asked the team.
"And there are financial reasons that going back may not be the best," Smith said about Dollarway, adding that while the district has clean, safe buildings, a stable student body and teaching staff, a viable curriculum, and teachers trained in best instructional strategies, the academic rigor is not what it should be.
WestEd is to present its findings to the state agency leaders so they in turn can present different scenarios and issues to the Education Board and to the community focus groups by early November for their input "so that when you are making the decision it has been built so that you can have a consensus or at least so you can make a decision knowing all the facts," Smith told the Education Board.
Smith and Key provided the Education Board with the plan for Dollarway as part of reports given on each of the five school districts that are under state authority. In addition to Dollarway, those are Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Lee County and Earle.
The Education Board voted in late 2019 to return the Little Rock School District -- with conditions or "guardrails" -- to the governance of a nine-member school board to be elected in November. In response to questions about the timeline for transitioning the district, Key said the possible need for runoff elections and training would affect that date but he said it would be by the first of the new year.
Smith was complimentary of the Little Rock School District's opening of this new 2020-21 school year and the district's independent efforts to meet its goals. She said she had received complaints about a lack of sanitation and cleanliness at the schools. Her unannounced visits to the schools showed that all but one were in good condition and the problems at one were resolved over a weekend.
Education Board member Sarah Moore of Stuttgart said that elementary teachers in the Little Rock district appear to be "incredibly challenged" with the dual jobs of teaching virtually and in person.
Smith said that the Earle School District with about 470 students last year is down about 75 students. Its biggest concern is financial and is closely monitoring local tax collections out of concern about its ability to meet its expenses.
The Lee County district, based in Marianna, is coping with significant turnover of administrative staff and generally getting its staffing ratios right, Smith said. Smith gave points to Lee County Superintendent Willie Murdock for dressing up in a Superwoman costume on the first day of school to celebrate teachers as superheros.