Dynasty No More...But Could be Again

Academics and extra-curricular involvement are not an either/or proposition. They are inextricably linked in the education of the whole person.

Just ask Dr. Fitz Hill about the role of athletics in Arkansas Baptist College's miracle turnaround of its school and community.

Think back to your own experience. It was the students who were engaged in sports, band, spirit groups, drama, choir, yearbook, student government, newspaper, clubs and/or any number of out-of-class activities who performed best in school. They were accountable - to their coaches, directors and sponsors and to each other.

Now think to your present. If you want something done, ask a busy person.

Apparently, the Little Rock School District still has athletics - that fundamental source of school and community spirit and support. But the elected and administrative leadership seems loathe to even nominally support it.

It took Dr. Drake Hawkins, Verizon Wireless and the private sector to put a new surface on the home field of the most famous high school in America. And yet, athletes can't even use Quigley Stadium's locker rooms because of mold and abominable disrepair.

Understand, this is the field of the vaunted Central High Tigers and their 32 state championships from 1907 to 2004. Even though it's been eight years since their last one, they're still 11 ahead of second place Pine Bluff and 24 above third place Barton. While recent years have been lean, the Tigers still hold the Arkansas record for most victories with 756 through 2010.

What does it say about priorities when the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau and Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism spend big bucks to market Central High National Historic Site as a major global destination, while its school's students can't even use its facilities?

And if that weren't bad enough, every single game the most storied team in state history from the richest public school district in Arkansas plays outside of Little Rock is at superior facilities.

I was always told, "If you're going to do something, do it well or don't do it at all." The Little Rock School District should decide if it's going to be competitive athletically. If not, admit it, and get out of the business. If so, get in it to win it. They can't blame the charters for this one.

What goes largely unsaid during the constant sports talk radio lament that Arkansas is not producing enough D-1 talent in football is that the state's largest and deepest pool of talent is being squandered by its school district's indifference. As we celebrate Little Rock's private school products Jake Bequette and Joe Adams, where are the public's Keith Jacksons and Marcus Elliotts? They're there. They're just being denied the opportunity.

This is a simple fix. No studies, no consultants, no strategic plan required. All it takes is will, and a little Friday Night Lights competitive spirit from the board and administration. So if you're reading, here are my top ten plays to return Little Rock - Central, J.A. Fair, Hall, McClellan and Parkview - to athletic glory, and thereby engender support and pride among students, parents and the community.

1. Allow athletics, including off-season training, as a class-time elective with PE credit;
2. Convert grades 6 - 8 middle schools to 7 - 9 junior highs;
3. Synch high school athletic programs with feeder middle school/junior high programs;
4. Empower head high school coaches to assemble staffs, including middle school/junior high assistant head coaches, and hold them accountable for performance;
5. Return coaches to the role of campus disciplinarians - in the halls, in the lunch room, on the grounds
6. Partner with City of Little Rock to share, enhance athletic facilities;
7. Seek district-wide uniform sponsor, with consistent design - Little Rock above number, school name below;
8. Host city-wide Homecoming, with all-school parade through downtown Little Rock and Battle of the Bands in War Memorial Stadium;
9. Establish Little Rock Booster Club to raise private sponsorships to provide matching grants to school-specific parent/fan booster clubs; and
10. Create, enhance spirit groups (e.g. marching band, cheerleaders, pom/dance squad, mascot, student booster club), then produce pep rallies before every home football game.

Instead of that next district-financed junket to the latest urban school district du jour, board members should get on a school bus and travel to the location of every Tigers away game outside of Pulaski County scheduled for 2012.  When they get home, they should get in a huddle and raise their seven hands to give their players the tools they need to succeed on the field and in life.

3/8 Planning, 5/8 Instruction and Veto Power

On its surface, I favor the proposed middle school change from block scheduling to eight periods. However, the process for this change begs closer scrutiny.

At the Monday, February 20th meeting at Forest Heights, it was stated by district leadership that in order to move from block to periods, the change must be approved by the Little Rock Education Association (LREA) (teachers' union) then the board.

When asked what happens if the teachers union doesn't approve, LREA President Cathy Koehler answered by saying that she felt that 80% of the teachers supported the change.

That's all good, but it didn't answer the question. The answer is: LREA has the power to effectively veto the will of parents and a policy decision by their elected school board.

A public employee union should represent its members in regard to wages, benefits and work environment. It should not be allowed to dictate the policy decisions of a public body.

Further, of the eight periods, one will be reserved for classroom preparation, one for subject collaboration, and one for grade collaboration. That's 3/8 of the day that teachers will not be instructing, but preparing to instruct.

I strongly agree with the need for dedicated time to prepare and collaborate, but couldn't the latter be consolidated into one period - say three days for grade collaboration and two for subject?

When I asked how the collaboration meetings would be conducted, we were told that there would essentially be a chairman, an agenda and minutes.

Every day?!

2/8 (or 1/4) of each day not in the classroom should be more than enough. One wonders if Ms. Koehler's 80% would be supportive of that change. Until they address the larger issue of the union setting district policy, all parents and their board need is one over 50%.

FOI You Too

I'm not a public official. I've got only nine followers on this blog. But evidently, full-time Joshua intervener and part-time state representative John Walker considers my windmill tilting worthy of his bully time.

I was recently on the receiving end of one of his fabled speaker phone calls, as he peppered me with questions about my alleged support for adding at-large zones to the Little Rock School District. Had he just been the tenth follower of my blog, he could have read for himself what my position is (and has been), instead of making one up and trying to tie me to it.

Here's the truth: School districts with 10% or more minority population must either be: 1) seven zones, 2) five zones, or 3) five zones and two at-large. Currently, incumbent school boards decide how the people will be represented. With Representative Barry Hyde, I proposed at the legislature that the people, not incumbent school board members, should be empowered to determine how their district will be governed.

Little Rock School District Attorney Chris Heller, evidently with carte blanche board authorization to speak for or against any issue he chooses, signed up to speak against it. Representative Walker actually did, and the Education Committee, despite some members' personal assurances of support, unanimously voted to send the issue to the legislative equivalent of Siberia - interim study. By the way, after a year of interim, where's the study?

Anyway, following my repeated clarifications to the speakerfied representative, the call ended. I immediately followed with an email asking him who else was in the room listening to the call, as I like to know my audience, even if after the fact. I received no response.

Later that day, I was told that Representative Walker - a public official - had submitted an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to all members of the Little Rock School Board for any correspondence from or with me. Understand, he can't FOIA me. I'm not a public official. So he backdoored it. And man, do some of those school board members jump when he says "Howdy."

I found the entire experience amusing until I considered the larger issue. If a state representative, 30-year intervener in the Little Rock School District federal case, and de-facto leader of the district chooses to use FOIA against a citizen parent communicating with his/her board members, imagine the chilling effect on citizen/parent involvement in the governance of their schools.

For the record, anything I write to an elected official I expect to be in the public record. Further, almost all of my exchanges with board members and Representative Walker are posted on this blog. To be fair, I never post private messages, but when a public official, including Mr. Walker, chooses to cc, I consider their communications public.

It does, however, beg the question: Why hasn't a reporter or reporters sent an FOIA request to Representative Walker and members of the board for release of all their communications over the past three decades? At the very least, I would like to see the one he submitted regarding me. I'm sure I'm not alone.

He's a smart and clever man, so I doubt a paper or digital trail exists on his end. Members of the board, however, could be a different story.

Sweet and Bitter Ironies

On the day North Little Rock voters chose to compete by overwhelmingly approving a game-changing, over quarter billion dollar capital investment in their 9,000-student public school district, the true leaders of the Little Rock School District (Attorneys Heller, Fendley and Walker) chose not to compete, but instead, blame others for their abject failure.

Because even they must know that the chances of passing a comparable (or any) millage in Little Rock is nil, don't be surprised if Little Rock's tricky trial triumvirate next target the will of the North Little Rock people as an unfair, discriminatory advantage. Excellence be damned, when it stands in the way of sameness.

In addition to ending new charter schools, Little Rock's attorneys seek to ban forensic audits of the district's books and consolidating, annexing or reconstituting the three Pulaski County districts.

What the Phils (Kaplan and Lyon)?! Didn't this lawsuit begin in the early '80s with Little Rock's suing North Little Rock and Pulaski County for consolidation?

And show of hands - How many Little Rock School Board members even read the 1,000+ pages before they were filed with District Judge Marshall?

In another outstanding report, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Cynthia Howell wrote about Little Rock's attorneys:

"They also said that the attorney general and 'other state actors' including the University of Arkansas departments in Fayetteville and 'private persons and entities have engaged in an orchestrated public relations campaign designed to discredit desegregation efforts in Pulaski County generally and LRSD specifically that has created something like the 'hysterical political atmosphere' surrounding desegregation reminiscent of the 1960s'."

To quote Seth and Amy, "Really?!"

So, while Little Rock attorneys supplant elected leaders, foment their conspiracy theories, and chase their latest Boo Radley, North Little Rock went to work.

If they think charters, the attorney general, state actors, our flagship university, private persons and entities, forensic audits, and potential consolidation are causing students to flee the district, wait 'til they get a load of what those shiny new North Little Rock public schools pull from the south.

While my money's in Little Rock, if I were a betting man, it would be on the North shore.

To borrow from Ross Perot, there are about to be two giant sucking sounds in Central Arkansas. One from North Little Rock pulling students, parents and citizens into their district. And the other, well, you know.

Until Citizens, Parents, Teachers Unite for Excellence...

Until all citizens and parents residing in the Little Rock School District take responsibility for the governance of their district, regardless of where their children attend (or attended) school - public, private, charter or home - the district will not become excellent.

Until teachers are afforded a level playing field when it comes to quitting the union (currently they only have an annual two week window to resign in writing by certified mail), the district will not become excellent.

Until principals are empowered to run their schools, then held accountable for their results, the district will not become excellent.

Until athletics, music and extra curricular activities are valued in the total education of students, the district will not become excellent.

Until the district becomes student-centered instead of employee-centered, the district will not become excellent.

Until community support is generated through neighborhood schools, the district will not become excellent.

Until all children, regardless of familial support, zip code, and/or financial means, are expected to learn, the district will not become excellent.

Until the anachronistic dogma of PINOs (Progressives in Name Only) and adult agendas of special self-interests are replaced by what's best for students, the district will not become excellent.

Until excellence is valued more than sameness, the district will be...the same.

Until. Until.. Until...