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Home My WebLink About14587 1 RESOLUTION NO. 14,587 2 3 A RESOLUTION TO REQUEST OF THE ARKANSAS STATE BOARD OF 4 EDUCATION TO SET A DATE FOR AN ELECTION TO BE HELD FOR A 5 NEW LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD IN ACCORDANCE 6 WITH, AND UPON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF, ACT 930 OF 2017; AND 7 FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 8 9 WHEREAS, on January 28, 2015, the Arkansas Board of Education voted five (5)—four (4)to take 10 control of the Little Rock School District thereby immediately removing the elected members of the Little 11 Rock School Board and designating an Interim School Superintendent due to six(6) schools being placed 12 on the academically distressed list; and 13 WHEREAS, after departure of Superintendent Dexter Suggs, Baker Kurrus was named as the 14 Superintendent of the Little Rock School District, and immediately began working to improve the 15 academic performance of the District; and 16 WHEREAS, Mr. Kurrus's efforts included a community-involved facility review which resulted in 17 the opening of a new middle school in West Little Rock, and several recommended improvements to 18 existing school facilities including recommendations for the construction of a new high school in Southwest 19 Little Rock all designed to help achieve academic success for the District; and 20 WHEREAS, in July,2016,Michael Poore was named to replace Mr.Kurrus as the Little Rock School 21 Superintendent by the Arkansas State Board of Education, who in furthering these efforts,has consistently 22 espoused the importance of returning the District to local control by an elected School Board decided by 23 the citizens of Little Rock; and 24 WHEREAS,under the leadership of both Mr. Poore and Mr. Kurrus multiple efforts have been made 25 to enhance academic achievement including the creation of a detailed process to specifically address 26 academically distressed schools using the"Achieve Team"model which has been endorsed and supported 27 by the staff of the Arkansas Department of Education,and 28 WHEREAS,since the Little Rock School District was taken over by the Arkansas Board of Education, 29 three(3)institutions have been taken off the academically distressed list resulting in 94%of the schools in 30 the District performing satisfactorily, and 31 WHEREAS, Act 930 of 2017 allows the Board of Education, when determining a school district's 32 "level of support," to take into consideration not only performance levels on statewide assessments, but 33 also other criteria they deem appropriate; and [Page 1 of 4] 1 WHEREAS,historically the Little Rock School District has the most National Merit Semi-Finalists in 2 Arkansas; and 3 WHEREAS, according to the State-administered ACT Aspire Exam, twenty-seven (27) of the Little 4 Rock School District's elementary schools rank on the state's Top Ten list of achievement in at least one 5 category; and 6 WHEREAS,the 2017, Little Rock School District graduating seniors have garnered over$24 million 7 in scholarships; and 8 WHEREAS, the Little Rock School District garners significant community support with more than 9 $19 million worth of volunteer hours donated by community partners; and 10 WHEREAS,the Little Rock School District has achieved numerous additional positive accolades, of 11 which a selection are listed in Exhibit A to this resolution; and 12 WHEREAS, the Little Rock School District continues to progress and overcome the academic 13 problems which led to the initial action of the Arkansas Board of Education; and 14 WHEREAS,Act 930 of 2017 states that anytime during the second full year following the assumption 15 of authority or anytime thereafter the Board of Education has the authority to take any of a number of steps 16 to expeditiously return a district to local control;•and 17 WHEREAS,Act 930 of 2017, as one of the alternatives for a Level 5 School District,allows the State 18 Board of Education to set a date to call for the election of a new School District Board of Directors; and 19 WHEREAS, it is in the best interest for the positive growth of the City of Little Rock and all of its 20 citizens to come together and be involved in the decisions that must be made to ensure that the Little Rock 21 School District is an excellent choice for education in Central Arkansas this to be accomplished by the 22 Board of Education returning Little Rock schools to the control of a locally-elected School Board. 23 NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY 24 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: 25 Section 1. The Mayor and Members of the Board of Directors request that the Arkansas Board of 26 Education set a date for an election be held for a new Little Rock School District Board in accordance with, 27 and upon the effective date of Act 930 of 2017. 28 Section 2. The Mayor and City Clerk are directed to send a copy of this resolution, with any 29 accompanying letter,to the Arkansas Board of Education as soon as possible upon its adoption. 30 Section 3.Severability. In the event any portion of this resolution is declared or adjudged to be invalid 31 or unconstitutional, such declaration or adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of this 32 resolution, which shall remain in full force and effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or 33 unconstitutional,was not originally a part of the resolution. 34 Section 4.Repealer. All laws, ordinances, resolutions,or parts of the same,that are inconsistent with [Page 2 of 4] 1 the provisions of this resolution, are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency. 2 ADOPTED: June 6,2017 3 A APPRO . 5 Ai 6 S san *ley, City Clerk Mark Stodola,Mayor 7 • ' ' S 1 AS TO LEGAL FORM: e:;:74( OF ( 8 VAX_ 10 Thomas M. Carpenter,City for ey ice-Mayor phy Webb,Ward 3 11 "17LN___ 12 13 Director Ken Richardson,Ward 2 . Director Capi Peck,Ward 4 i 14 15 1:\ ;, r' -t/ �'Q 16 Director Doris Wright,Ward 6 Director'..J.Wy; ,Ward 7 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // [Page 3 of 4] 1 EXHIBIT A 2 3 • Little Rock School District (LRSD) is home to Arkansas's only National Council of Teachers of 4 English Writing Award recipient. 5 • LRSD produced two (2) Dell Scholars; one from J.A. Fair High School and one from Hall High 6 School. 7 • LRSD has produced Gates Millennium Scholars in back-to-back years. 8 • Central High School and Parkview High School each have national award-winning debate teams. 9 • LRSD is home to the USA Brain Bee Champion. 10 • LRSD is home to the silver medalist in the Genius Olympiad Competition,which is an international 11 science competition. 12 • LRSD's Teacher of the Year consistently lands among the top four (4) to five (5) finalists for 13 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. 14 • Little Rock Parkview Arts & Science Magnet and Little Rock Central High Schools were named 15 the 3`d and 6th best Arkansas schools,respectively,by US News and World Report. 16 • Gibbs Magnet Elementary, Forest Heights STEM Academy, Forest Park Elementary and Don 17 Roberts Elementary were named among the top performing schools in literacy and math in 18 Arkansas. 19 • Forest Park Elementary and Don Roberts Elementary are ranked as two of the highest performing 20 elementary schools in Arkansas. 21 • Terry Elementary was recognized as an Achieving School, meeting achievement and growth 22 targets for all students. 23 • Bale Elementary has been recognized for its After-School STEM Program. 24 • LRSD elementary and middle school students earned the right to represent Arkansas at the 25 Destination Imagination's Global competition. 26 • An LRSD teacher was named a Top Five Finalist in the 2017 National Teachers Hall of Fame. 27 • An LRSD teacher was named 2017 Teacher of the Year for the David D. Terry Chapter/Arkansas 28 Air Force Association STEM/Technology Award Recipient 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // [Page 4 of 4]