State Votes To Take Over Little Rock School District

Alexis Rogers with our content partner, KATV Ch. 7 News, reports:

The Arkansas Department of Education voted Wednesday to take over the historic Little Rock School District. The board voted 5-to-4 in favor of the takeover.

ADE’s Academic Distress Committee voted to dissolve the LRSD school board, but will keep Dr. Dexter Suggs as interim superintendent.

State Board Chairman Sam Ledbetter ensured the public, “Schools will still run tomorrow. Classes will still be taught.”

There are a total of 48 schools in LRSD. The takeover comes after six Little Rock schools were deemed to be in academic distress last October.

The following schools were deemed to be in academic distress:

· Baseline Elementary School
· Cloverdale Middle School
· Henderson Middle School
· Hall High School
· J.A. Fair High School
· McClellan High School

It was a packed house in the ADE building as people patiently waited for the final decision from the state.

Dr. Dexter Suggs said, “It will take a concerted effort by all levels of leadership to make hard decisions and to take some calculated risks.”

Politicians, parents, students and members of the community addressed the committed.

A group of Parkview and current and previous Hall students addressed the board in an effort to save the school district from the state’s hands.

“Looking at this board, there’s not a student representative. You don’t have a student council here to let you know what’s going on, on the ground in each and every classroom,” one Parkview student said.

Representative John Walker also addressed the board, specifically focusing on the achievement and expectation of students coming from lower income demographics.

“What has happened is that the people proposing the takeover have actually proposed the flight and now they wish the state to take it over because of the flight that they proposed,” Walker said.

“In the end, We’re the ones on the ground, we’re the ones living day-to-day in these communities. I hope that when you look at them or me, that you don’t see a set of test scores or statistics. That when you see those statistics you will think of the story behind the statistics. Think of the students that are working hard every day,” another Parkview student said.

Board Member Jay Barth proposed that the state have a partnership with the district and not take it over immediately. His proposal consisted of joint efforts and more time to assess growth in the district.

That vote was split on that proposal with a 4-4 vote. Ledbetter declined to vote. State board Vicky Saviers proposed to take over the school district, making the amendment of ensuring a community citizens committee to be a part of the improvement process. The motion passed 5–to-4 with Ledbetter breaking the tie.

Displaced school board members like Jim Ross were upset about Wednesday’s outcome saying, “The democratic process was not respected.”

“We will balkanize this city, tear it apart like Detroit did. We will not stand down,” Ross said. “This is a tragedy in Little Rock. This is a tragedy for black children, it is a tragedy for Latino children, it’s a tragedy for poor children. Because what got protected today were the rich white schools. You need to report that as clearly as you can. Today, Orval Faubus had a victory. We are going to keep fighting if it involves chaining ourselves to school doors.”

Hall High School Sophomore Kierra Hall said everyone has a responsibility.

“I am very disappointed because there’s things that I do want to change, but I am happy about the education that I am receiving,” Mitchell said. “We need to get more involved as a whole as a community and everyone in the community. We need to get involved and care about the education in our community and happening around us because that stuff really matters.”

Suggs did meet with the Ledbetter after the meeting. They will determine what comes next.

Click here to watch Rogers’ video report or to add comments at the KATV Ch. 7 web site.