Website outlines Poore's pay raise
Little Rock School Board members last week approved a $36,000 pay increase for Superintendent Mike Poore, describing it as his first raise since becoming the Little Rock School District's chief executive in 2016.
A check of Poore's salary history on the district's website, however, shows that Poore's annual salary that started at $225,000 in 2016-17 increased by $9,000 to $234,000 a year in the 2020-21 school year -- but so did his contracted number of workdays increase.
Poore's early contracts with the district called for a 250-day work year. That went to a 260-day work year in the 2020-22 contract signed by Poore and Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key on April 1, 2020.
Key, at the time, acted as the school board and Poore's supervisor in what was then the state-controlled Little Rock district.
Poore's pay increase last school year was the result of his unchanged daily rate of pay, $900, multiplied by the additional 10 work days.
The Little Rock School Board on Thursday approved an addendum to the 2020-22 contract that provides for an annual salary of $270,000 in this 2021-22 school year. All other provisions of the contract remain the same, the board decided.
The superintendent's new daily pay rate is $1,038.46.
Episcopal school selects Graham
Kellen Graham has been named to serve as Head of Upper School at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock, starting next July 1.
Graham is currently Upper School Division Director at the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio.
He previously was an academic dean at Cannon School in North Carolina and was an award-winning faculty member at The Haverford School in Haverford, Pa., where he worked with James "Jamie" Griffin, who became Episcopal Collegiate's Head of School earlier this year.
Graham has a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Temple University in Pennsylvania, where he also earned a master's degree in English. He has a bachelor's degree in English from Lafayette College, where he played Division I college football.
The new Head of Upper School was selected through a national search that included input from a search consultant partnership, search advisory committee and select parents, faculty, staff and students.
Educator White named covid hero
Katina White, who is the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences kindergarten-through-12th-grade Pathways Educational Coordinator, has been named one of 25 national winners of the Ford Freedom Unsung "Teacher Heroes of Covid-19" award.
The Heroes of Covid-19 awards recognize elementary and secondary school educators for extraordinary work on behalf of the Black student community during the pandemic.
The 25 winners of the honor sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. will receive $1,000 awards as well as resources for their classrooms.
During the 2020-2021 school year, White was a Project Lead The Way and robotics teacher for middle school students at Little Rock's Forest Heights STEM Academy. In her new position at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, White coordinates and creates culturally relevant K-12 STEM-Health curriculum for historically underserved or excluded populations around the state of Arkansas, according to the award announcement.
Through the pandemic, White reached her STEM and robotic students virtually, giving them hands-on projects to complete. She mailed supplies to the students to keep the hands-on learning going.
Managed and supported by the Ford Motor Co. Fund, the automaker's philanthropic arm, Ford Freedom Unsung is an annual award series that recognizes individuals for extraordinary acts for people who are Black.