School chief search on Little Rock board agenda
The Little Rock School Board has scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to determine the next steps in its search for a new superintendent.
The special meeting comes in the aftermath of in-person interviews the board conducted Monday and Wednesday with each of two finalists for the job now held by Mike Poore.
The two finalists are:
• George "Eric" Thomas of Atlanta, affiliated with the University of Virginia's Partnership for Leaders in Education and formerly deputy superintendent/chief turnaround officer for the Georgia Board of Education.
• Jermall Wright, the state-appointed superintendent of the Mississippi Achievement School District, which is a combination of the Yazoo City and Humphreys County school districts.
Little Rock School Board President Greg Adams said the board could take action on possible next steps at the Tuesday session. The board also has a regularly scheduled monthly business meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Board association part of consortium
The Arkansas School Boards Association, which late last year severed ties with the National School Boards Association, has become one of 22 founding members of the Consortium of State School Boards Association.
The consortium is a voluntary, nonpartisan federation of state school boards associations, the organization's website says. It is "dedicated to sharing resources and information to support, promote and strengthen state school boards associations as they serve their local school districts and board members."
Tony Prothro, executive director of the Arkansas organization, announced the state's new affiliation in a recent email to members of the Arkansas association.
In December, the Arkansas organization's board and delegate assembly voted to end its membership in the Washington, D.C.-based National School Boards Association. That came after leaders of the national group sent a Sept. 29 letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal law enforcement -- including the FBI -- to defend against what it said were threats to local school boards and educators that equated to domestic terrorism and hate crimes.
Prothro has said that the contents of the letter -- sent without vetting it with the national organization's board of directors or with state associations -- brought to a head years of concerns the state organization had with the governance, finances, member services and communications of the national body.
LISA system set for festival in Little Rock
The LISA Academy charter school system is holding its eighth annual Arkansas STEM Festival on May 6 at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock.
The festival is open to the public and admission is free.
The theme of the event is "Green Initiative." Live, hands-on presentations and demonstrations from students across the state will explore the role of science in addressing global environmental challenges and securing a more sustainable future.
Presentations will focus on topics such as energy conservation, water quality and recycling improvement, as well as on relationships between dynamic environmental, energy and human systems.
More information is available at these websites: https://tinyurl.com/ARSTEMFestivaland LISA Academy Public Charter Schools: www.lisaacademy.org.
Episcopal school announces speaker
John Nagl, author of books on modern warfare and counterinsurgency as well as a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and a Rhodes scholar, will be the commencement speaker at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock at 9:30 a.m. May 21.
A 1988 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Nagl served as an armor officer in the U.S. Army for 20 years,
Nagl earned a doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. His dissertation on counterinsurgency, Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, is recognized for its influence on U.S. foreign policy and led to his role in authoring the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. Nagl's most recent book on wars of the past twenty years is titled Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice.
Nagl was the inaugural Minerva Research Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, studying the influence of culture on warfare, having previously taught at West Point and Georgetown University.
He currently serves on the board of advisers at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington, D.C., think tank of which he was the second president from 2009 until 2012.
Nagl recently served as the ninth head of The Haverford School, outside Philadelphia, and is currently serving as Visiting Professor of National Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College, according to information provided by Collegiate Episcopal School.
Farm Bureau award to nutrition teacher
Leslee Ann Tell of Clinton, an advanced nutrition and dietetics instructor at Conway High School for 12 years, is the 2022 Arkansas Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher.
Farm Bureau established the award in 2006 to recognize teachers who have exemplary programs that integrate agricultural concepts into their curricula.
Matt Jackson, Arkansas Farm Bureau's director of education, presented the honor to Tell at her school on April 18. Tell received a check for $1,500. This summer she will attend the National Ag in the Classroom Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., as the state's National Ag in the Classroom nominee.