Report Card - Arkansas School Boards...

The Journal of The arkansas school Boards associaTion

March 2016www.arsba.org

Report Card

West Memphis: Delivering diplomas – and good jobs Thanks to West Memphis’ unique partnership with Arkansas State University Mid-South – and thanks to ASU Mid-South’s partnership with FedEx – Summer Abram will be ready for a job as a FedEx diesel mechanic when she graduates. She plans for that job to help her pay her way through college. Junior Jeremy Paige will work on an actual Boeing 727 his senior year and be on his way to a job as an aircraft mechanic, where he can make a six-figure salary. Can other schools that aren’t one mile from a community college, and 28 miles from one of the world’s largest companies, duplicate the model? West Memphis is ready to help them try.

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4 March 2016 Report Card

The Journal of The arkansas school Boards associaTion

R e p o r t C a r d

News and Features

DepartmentsASBA News and NotesASBA CalendarLetter from the Executive DirectorAdvertisers IndexCommercial AffiliatesJay Bequette’s ColumnMarketplacePresident’s Column

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26274447

Executive Session with Neal Pendergrass28

School funding would increase 1 percent19 As legislators prepare to meet in this year’s fiscal session, the Joint Budget Committee accepts an increase that was planned in 2014.14

Cover / Opportunity delivered

WESt MEMPhIS SuPERINtENDENt JON COLLINS poses in front of a plane donated by FedEx that his students will use to learn aircraft mechanics while attending class at Arkansas State university Mid-South.

March marked for school breakfasts9Campaign uses a variety of tools to help students start their day with breakfast.

Students build electric car, legacy20 At Bentonville High, students are transforming a gas car into an electric one, and learning engineering, business and project management skills.

8Three events will offer professional development opportuni-ties for school board members and educators.

Joint conference, Summer Leadership upcoming

14

New K-4 science standards taking effect23 For the first time, students will learn engineering principles starting in kindergarten, and earth and space science in high school.

10A year-and-a-half after voters overwhelmingly said yes to a new district, the vote to pay for a new high school was closer. But a win’s a win.

Jacksonville votes for new high school

13A computer science teaching license option has been added to the Arkansas Professional Pathway to Educator Licensure program.

Nontraditional teaching open to tech types

Students at the Academies of West Memphis spend up to six periods a day on the campus of Arkansas State University Mid-South, where they can attend college courses or learn skills in areas such as aircraft maintenance.

The Annual Conference was a reminder that school board members’ work makes a lasting difference in students’ lives.

Our work, students’ tomorrows32

Report Card March 2016 5

ASBA News and notesOfficers elected at Annual Conference

The following ASBA officers were elected at this year’s Annual Confer-ence: president, Brenda McKown, Beebe; president-elect, Sandra Porter, Bryant; vice president, Debbie Ugbade, Hot Springs; secretary-treasurer, Neal Pendergrass, Mountain Home; past president, Clint Hull, Pottsville.

McKown continues as president after serving the last part of the term of the previous president, Jerry Don Woods. He had resigned his position on the Dardanelle School Board because of the district’s potential employment of a family member.

McKown was first elected to the McRae School Board in 1993. She

helped guide the McRae school district through its annexation into Beebe in 2005, served on an interim board during the transition, and then was elected to the newly constituted Beebe School

Board. She currently is serving as president of that board for a second time.

She manages the 18-story Tower Building in Little Rock.

ASBA News and Notes continued on page 7

McKown

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ASBA calendar

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P.O. Box 165460 / Little Rock, AR 72216telephone: 501-372-1415 / 800-482-1212

Fax: 501-375-2454E-mail: [email protected] / www.arsba.org

R e p o r t C a r dThe Journal of The

arkansas school Boards associaTion

Board of DirectorsPresident: Brenda McKown, BeebePresident-elect: Sandra Porter, BryantVice President: Debbie ugbade, hot SpringsSec.-treasurer: Neal Pendergrass, Mtn. homePast President: Clint hull, PottsvilleRegion 1: Jerry Coyle, Prairie Grove Region 2: Steve Eastwold, FlippinRegion 3: Dr. tad Margolis, Valley ViewRegion 4: Jamie hammond, Van BurenRegion 5: Allan George, RussellvilleRegion 6: Keith Baker, RiverviewRegion 7: Gene Bennett, RivercrestRegion 8: Randy Goodnight, GreenbrierRegion 9: Rita Cress, StuttgartRegion 10: Deborah Smith, MalvernRegion 11:Jeff Lisenbey, SheridanRegion 12: Rosa Bowman, AshdownRegion 13: Mike Waters, MagnoliaRegion 14: Katie Daniel, McGehee

StaffExecutive Director: Dr. tony ProthroCommunications Director: Jennifer GeorgeMember Services Director: Abby CressBoard Development Director: Dr. Anne ButcherAdvocacy Director: Boyce WatkinsStaff Attorney: Kristen GarnerPolicy Director: Lucas harderSpecial Projects - Advocacy: Mickey McFatridgeFinance: Deborah NewellAdministrative Assistant: Angela EllisBookkeeper: Kathy IvyRisk Management Program &Workers’ Comp. Program: Shannon Moore, Director Krista Glover Amanda Blair Dwayne McAnally Ashley Samuels Jennifer Shook Misty thompson Melody tipton tiffany Malone LaVerne Witherspoon Michelle Burgess

General Counsel: Jay Bequette

tO CONtACt thE MAGAZINEPlease contact Steve Brawner, [email protected]

Report Card is published quarterly by the Arkansas School Boards Association. Copyright 2016 by the Arkansas School Boards Associa-tion and Steve Brawner Communications. All rights reserved.

Vol. 9, Number 1 March 2016

Letter from the Executive Director

Board harmonyhave different personalities. Some per-sonalities are not inferior to others; they are just a different category as noted by many of the personality tests. (Many of you may have taken a personality test that identifies your primary and second-ary personality colors.) It is important for individual board members to un-derstand the personality traits of their fellow members and to consciously react to embrace those different viewpoints. Practicing tolerance and goodwill posi-tively facilitates working relationships.

Probably the best advice I have ever received is to not lose focus on the students’ best interests. Board members who focus on the big picture and the eventual outcomes for students find it much easier to reach compromises on the “small stuff.” I have found that when board members have a conscious focus on students’ well being, the result is a board that governs and responds in a mature and tolerable manner.

We know that as parents our children watch and mimic our actions. The same is true of our students, whether in the classroom or at a board meeting. Board members should be conscious that their actions are setting the tone for the educational system and strive to develop positive working relationships with each other. I have worked with boards across the state, and I can testify that this is true of the vast majority of our school boards.

One of the paramount challenges faced by a board is to invite individual members to have their own voice and opinions, while simultaneously assur-ing the board as a whole remains on the same page and moving forward in a unified direction.

As with most things, this is much easier said than done. State and local newspapers, television stations and social media buzz with incidents where board members are in conflict with one another. This is partly due to the magnitude of the issues facing public education and the varying solutions and opinions expressed by school board members.

While it is healthy to have a hearty debate, it can be detrimental when board members are pitted against one another in open conflict. So how does a board manage these troubled waters? I surely don’t have all of the answers, but I have been fortunate enough to have had some good advice on this subject.

Many board members across our state have heard me liken boardsmanship to a marriage. It is an accurate analogy. If a board is in conflict, it seems to permeate the entire educational spectrum within the community, affecting administrators, teachers, patrons, and in some cases the students themselves. A first step is to re-alize that people have different ways of processing and reacting to situations, or to put it in another way, different people

by Dr. Tony Prothro


ASBA News and notes

Porter was elected to the Bryant School Board in 2006 and served as president in 2010-11 and is now vice president. She has spent 36 years in education, 25 of them in the classroom – most recently in Bryant as a business and marketing teacher. In 2004, she left Bryant to work for the Department of Career Education. She retired in 2015

hull

after serving as the agency’s career and technical education deputy director.

Ugbade has served on the Hot Springs School Board since 2001. She is currently serving as president for the third time. She is an instructor at National Park College teaching teenagers who are working toward their GEDs. She retired in 2013 from the U.S. Forest Service after 35 years, the last 21 as a public affairs specialist for the Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis National Forests.

Pendergrass, who was elected to the Mountain Home School Board in 1999, has served as president of

the board and is currently vice president. He also serves as a Baxter County justice of the peace. He is manufacturing superintendent for Baxter Healthcare, which manufactures medical devices and employs about 1,100 people. He manages the injection molding area, which makes plastic components for later assembly.

Pendergrass

Porter ugbade

Hull, who was ASBA president in 1999, was elected to fill the past presi-dent role because Woods’ resignation meant that spot would have been vacant. He served in that same position in 2015-16. He has served on the Pottsville School Board since 1982 and has been president seven years. In 1980, he started CH Equipment Services, a Dardanelle logging supply company.

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ASBA News and notes

Joint conference, Summer Leadership upcomingThree upcoming events will offer

professional development opportunities for school board members and educa-tors.

On April 28, ASBA and the Arkansas Association of Educational Administra-tors once again will team up for the an-nual Joint Leadership Conference at the DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock.

The conference features a busy and informative agenda. Dr. Tony Prothro, ASBA executive director, and Dr. Richard Abernathy, AAEA executive director, will highlight the 2016 fiscal session. Arkansas Education Commis-sioner Johnny Key will describe the fed-eral Every Student Succeeds Act. Robyn Keene, AAEA financial consultant, will present on the topic, “Looking ahead: planning now and taking actions for slimmer financial times.” Other topics will cover school facilities, leadership, and schools of innovation.

Registration is $150 per person through April 14 and $175 afterwards. Check-in and continental breakfast begin at 8 a.m. The conference starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Attendees will earn six hours of boardmanship training credit for all day attendance.

Summer LeadershipThe ASBA Summer Leadership

Institute will be held June 16-17 at the Clarion Resort on the Lake in Hot Springs. The event will cover leadership and governance as well as national and state issues, with time for networking with other board members and educa-tion professionals. Professional speaker Paul Vitale will be the keynote speaker and will discuss inspired teamwork and leadership.

The Southern Region Leadership Conference, a gathering of school board members from Arkansas, Louisiana and

Mississippi in New Orleans, will be July 31 – August 2. Planned by the Louisi-ana School Boards Association (LSBA), the event begins with an early bird workshop on Sunday, July 31.

All-day events on Monday, Aug. 1, are highlighted by a keynote address by Retired Lt. General Russell Honoré, who led the military’s response after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Tuesday’s events include two general sessions that end at noon.

Reservations can be made at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel by calling 504.561.0500. More information will be available at the LSBA’s website, www.lsba.com.

This will be the third year that the conference has involved the three as-sociations. Last year’s conference was in Mississippi. Next year’s event will be in Hot Springs.

March marked for school breakfastsSupporters of an effort to increase student participation in

school breakfasts say schools can use nontraditional serving methods and take advantage of a federal program to provide free meals to a school’s entire student body.

Arkansas has 286,000 students eligible for free and reduced meals. Only 62 percent of them take advantage of that op-portunity for breakfast, according to the Food Research and

Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard, a percentage that ranked Arkansas seventh best in the country, up from 10th the year before. West Virginia was tops with 82 percent of students participating.

Patty Barker, director of the Arkansas No Kid Hungry Campaign, said eating breakfast results in better concentra-tion, fewer missed school days, and fewer trips to the school nurse.

Barker made her comments during and after a ceremony at the Capitol March 2 where Gov. Asa Hutchinson proclaimed March as Arkansas School Breakfast Month. Hutchinson said increasing access to school breakfasts reduces childhood hun-ger and improves education performance.

“It’s hard to learn when you’re thinking about an empty stomach,” he said.

Barker said numerous barriers exist to keep students from starting their day with a school breakfast. High school students sleep late and arrive at school just in time for class. Younger students would rather play than eat. While lunches occur in shifts, everyone eats breakfast at once, leading to a lack of seating. Finally, many students don’t want to face the stigma of showing a card and paying less in the cafeteria.

Barker said nontraditional serving methods can remove those barriers. Those include “Breakfast in the Classroom,” prepared “Grab and Go” meals, and “Second Chance” break-fasts served after first period for students who didn’t make it to school on time to eat. Barker read a letter from Lee Ann Hampton, food services director of the Centerpoint School District, who said that when her district starting offering a


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NO KID huNGRY. Gov. Asa hutchinson proclaims March as Arkansas School Breakfast Month during a press conference at the Capitol while Kathy Webb, executive director of the Arkansas hunger Relief Alliance, looks on.

“breakfast after the bell” program, par-ticipation increased from 85 to 200.

The No Kid Hungry campaign provides technical assistance and grants funded by the nonprofit group Share Our Strength for schools to purchase equip-ment such as thermal bags and breakfast carts.

Grants would serve all studentsMeanwhile, federal Community

Eligibility Provision grants allow every student in a school to eat breakfast and lunch for free. Twenty-two districts and 70 schools are participating out of the 400 Arkansas schools that potentially are eligible based on their percentage of students qualifying for certain govern-ment benefits. A list of eligible schools will be released in April.

Barker said the program removes stigmas for poor children and reduces paperwork and administrative over-head. Jim Loyd, superintendent of the Two Rivers School District, said his district’s participation has increased its

percentage of students eating breakfast and lunch. Teachers are reporting better concentration and less absenteeism.

Barker encouraged school districts to invite members of the community to the

cafeteria to see the positive aspects of nutritious meals.

Loyd said that, in his rural communi-ty, which lacks restaurants, 20-50 adults eat in the cafeteria every day.


Fifty-five percent of Jacksonville voters approved a 7.6 mill increase Feb. 9, allowing the district to build a new high school and elementary school and improve other schools.

Meanwhile, millage requests passed in two other districts and failed in two others.

The Jacksonville increase raises the millage rate to 48.3 mills. That amount makes possible a $46 million bond issue to help fund $80 million in construction for a new Jacksonville High School, a new elementary school to replace two

existing schools, and multipurpose rooms added to four other elementary schools. The district also is seeking state partnership funds and money from the Department of Defense to help with the cost of educating students from the Little Rock Air Force Base.

The vote was 2,094 for and 1,702 against. With 55 percent support, it was a smaller margin of victory than sup-porters had hoped to see after voters in September 2014 voted 95 percent in favor of detaching the Jacksonville and North Pulaski County schools from the rest of the Pulaski County Special School District. School board members were elected last September, and Tony Wood, the state’s former education com-missioner, was hired as superintendent.

The detachment – the first in Arkan-sas history, Wood believes – will be completed July 1.

School officials say new facilities are needed because of the current facilities’ poor condition and to enable the district to be declared racially “unitary.” The oldest building was constructed in the early 1950s, while the newest was built in 1980. As a former part of the Pulaski County Special School District, Jack-sonville is still a part of the long-running school desegregation case, and the judge in the case has said the district must improve all its facilities.

“We’ve got to check this box, facili-ties, so we can move on and focus on our students. … It’s like building an airplane while you’re flying it,” said Daniel Gray, the school board president who was elected in 2014.

The new high school should open in 2019. In the meantime, Jacksonville High and North Pulaski High will be combined at Jacksonville High in 2016-

Millage elections

Jacksonville votes for new high school

By Steve BrawnerEditor

A year-and-a-half after voters overwhelmingly said yes to a new district, the vote to pay for a new high school was closer� But a win’s a win�

WE DID It. Jacksonville School Board President Daniel Gray, center, congratulates political consultant Bobby Kelly of turtle target while Mayor Gary Fletcher celebrates the passage of the millage request.


17. The district’s middle school will be moved to North Pulaski High.

Wood said that construction on the high school will not begin until the district knows exactly how much state partnership money it is receiving. He expects tax assessments to increase and that the district will not have to return to voters any time soon.

“I think the community is so hungry to do this,” he said. “We wanted to put a plan forth that was bold, that would ac-complish a lot, but at the same time, I as a taxpayer, I don’t want to pay any more taxes than I have to, and I think we need to be fiscally responsible as a school district, and I think this plan is a happy medium.”

Jacksonville has been working 30 years to have its own district and sepa-rate itself from the doughnut-shaped Pulaski County district, which includes communities as different as Maumelle, Sherwood and southern parts of Little Rock. Backers were prepared when a

settlement began appearing more likely in the Pulaski County desegregation case.

“We were ready with our feasibility studies, and then that happened, and we were able to seize the moment, and it all fell into place,” Gray said. “And then now we’re here today.”

The millage effort was led by Educa-tion Corps of Jacksonville/North Pu-laski, which offered information as well as video testimonials from community members at its campaign website. The effort won the support of the Jackson-ville City Council, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, which said stronger schools would help protect the Little Rock Air Force Base from military cuts. Political strategist Turtle Target was hired to conduct the campaign. About $50,000 was raised. There was no organized opposition.

“Our entire school board was behind this a hundred percent,” Gray said.

“We’ve all campaigned and helped hold signs and talked to our friends, and we’ve really gotten behind this. It’s a united effort by the school board for sure.”

Crossett, harmony Grove say yesElsewhere in Arkansas, voters in

Crossett and in Harmony Grove in Ouachita County approved millage increases, while voters in White Hall and De Queen voted no. In Harmony Grove, voters approved a 5.6 mill increase, 422-365, to build a multipur-pose center with a gym, six classrooms and a 2,000-square-foot digital learning computer lab with two classrooms. The increase also will help fund electrical improvements to a digital learning cen-ter at the district’s campus on Sparkman.

The 57-vote margin followed an election in September on the same issue that failed by 25 votes. Superintendent Walter Pigott said a number of patrons

Continued on next page

In Arkansas, contact Mickey McFatridge at 870.926.9250.


said they skipped the election because they were sure it would pass and asked the district to try again. The district didn’t change anything about its pro-posal but did take a different approach to its outreach efforts. Last year, it relied on word of mouth and conducted public forums in both communities that didn’t attract many attendees. This time, its ar-chitect produced a brochure with details and drawings that was mailed to all the district’s registered voters.

In Crossett, voters approved a 4 mill increase, 1,476-736, to build a new high school with preliminary plans to build a media center, cafeteria, and a 1,500-seat arena. Voters said no to a similar pro-posal in 2014. Superintendent Gary Wil-liams said the district provided the same information but shortened its campaign and took a humble approach.

“We made sure our voters knew that we realized it was our job to identify a need, and it was their job to approve it,” he said, “so we were going to respect the voters’ will regardless, and that we were going to work hard if they approved the building or not. … We never tried

to pressure them in a way that they felt like they were being made the bad guy if they voted against it.”

The request passed despite the fact that voters also were asked to continue a countywide quarter-cent sales tax and continue a quarter-cent city sales tax for economic development. Williams said some advised the district not to try to pass an increase along with those measures, but he believes the combina-tion of the three presented a persuasive quality-of-life argument that helped each of them pass.

Others can’t overcome climateMeanwhile, voters in De Queen

turned down an 8 mill increase, 704-1,209, that would have increased the state’s lowest millage, 27.3 mills, to 35.3 mills. The increase would have replaced a high school built in 1969 that was built for 200 students and now houses almost 500. It also would have paid for a middle school roof, a primary school P.E. facility, four classrooms, a school farm and a multi-purpose facility. If money were available – and it wouldn’t

Millage electionshave been, said Superintendent Bruce Hill – the increase also would have funded athletic improvements such as an artificial surface on the football field. Hill said opponents focused on that one aspect of the proposal.

“We’ve got a boys and girls soccer team and a boys and girls track team that don’t have a place to dress,” he said. “So it’s just a matter of whether you think dressing facilities are important or not, and we do. But probably if you wanted to get it passed, then you probably have to leave that stuff off there and hope someday you could build it yourself.”

Hill said the district tried to lay the groundwork for the millage request by hosting two public meetings and visiting civic clubs. Teachers knocked on doors, and a parent group printed and distrib-uted literature.

The school district was asking for a sizable increase in a lower income com-munity. However, Hill said even a 2 mill increase may not have passed.

“I think a lot of it is that everybody is mad at the government right now, and everybody pays too much tax, they think,” he said. “I think the political climate, it’s just a very bad time.”

Larry Smith, superintendent of the White Hall School District, also noted the political climate in his district’s unsuccessful attempt to pass a 5.7 mill increase for a high school auditorium and fine arts center, classrooms, and a multipurpose sports facility. Voters said no, 598-1,240. A group of older commu-nity members actively worked against the effort.

“That was what we heard back most from the community was, one, no tax, period, and two, if it’s related to athlet-ics, we’re not doing it,” he said.

This is the district’s second failed attempt in a year to pass the same mill-age request. Supporters increased the amount of yes votes, but the opposition also increased.

The board has not decided what to do next but may wait to see what happens with a proposed $3.7 billion industrial gas-to-liquids processing facility that would be located within the district’s boundaries. If it’s built, there will be no need to ask the voters for a tax increase, Smith said.

VOtE tOtALS. Jade Goffe of Jacksonville records election results with a little help from her father, J.C.


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option has been added to the Arkansas Professional Pathway to Educator Licen-sure program.

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Participants can teach while they complete the coursework and are

granted a permanent license when they pass the required certification test.

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Academies at West Memphis

Opportunity deliveredBy Steve BrawnerEditor

Students at the Academies of West Memphis spend up to six periods a day on the campus of Arkansas State University Mid-South, where they can attend college courses or learn skills in areas such as aircraft maintenance�

Senior Summer Abram and junior Jeremy Paige know what they’re going to do when they graduate from the Academies at West Memphis: Use the

skills they have learned to, in Summer’s case, immediately enter the workforce as a FedEx diesel mechanic while going to college, and, in Jeremy’s case, further his education and make a very good liv-ing as a FedEx aircraft mechanic.

The two students have these op-portunities because of West Memphis’ unique arrangement with Arkansas State University Mid-South, a commu-nity college 1.3 miles from the school. Under a conversion charter granted by

SuPERINtENDENt JON COLLINS poses in front of a plane donated by FedEx that students will use to learn aircraft mechanics.


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the state in 2014, the high school and the college are more than partners. In the eyes of the Arkansas Department of Education, they’ve effectively merged.

Out of 1,180 West Memphis students, 522 this fall travelled back and forth be-tween the high school and the college to study career skills classes or college aca-demic courses. The arrangement exposes students to higher education while they are still in high school, creating a seam-less experience. In fact, because some of those classes start first thing in the morning, some sophomores have their first college experience before they’ve ever sat in a high school classroom.

For Abram and Paige, the arrange-ment offers an opportunity to earn a living immediately or soon after high school. Asked what interested her in becoming a diesel mechanic, Abram was blunt: “Money, honestly. And then I got in the program, and I liked it, so I continued to work with it.” A basketball point guard and shooting guard, she had intended to attend college on a basket-ball scholarship and study psychology, but a knee injury curtailed those plans. She still intends to be a psychologist, but now she’ll work her way through school while playing basketball at ASU Mid-South.

Paige, meanwhile, will earn his certification in airframe mechanics (the body of the aircraft) while still in high school and then continue his education in powerplant mechanics (the engine)

after he graduates. In his senior year of high school, he’ll be able to practice on an actual Boeing 727 plane donated to Mid-South by FedEx. Once he’s earned both certifications, he can take his skills to FedEx and earn a six-figure salary working for a company with operations all over the world.

Paige said the opportunity to be a college student while still in high school adds another level of interest to his edu-cation – for him and for others.

“I’ve got a couple of friends that take the computer engineering, who they’re not doing as good in school as they are in college,” he said. “They’re making straight A’s at college, but at school, it’s just like being in a different environment helps them.”

Pathways to a brighter futureA student’s journey through the

Academies at West Memphis starts with a yearlong freshman seminar – a local credit but not a state one – that Superin-tendent Jon Collins calls “career orien-tation on steroids.” As ninth-graders, students spend one class a day learn-ing about West Memphis’ three career academies: the Academy of Technology and Transportation; the Academy of Arts and Communications; and the Academy of Health and Human Services, the most popular of the three. Then they declare a pathway – or more than one – dur-ing their sophomore or junior years. Students still take their core academic

courses, of course, but they also take electives based on their pathways from a menu of courses not unlike a college course catalog.

The pathways offer students a variety of opportunities. The Academy of Arts and Communications includes perform-ing arts, communications, and visual arts. Its classes take place entirely on the high school campus. The Academy of Health & Human Services includes business administration and “protection service” – criminal justice and JROTC – on the West Memphis campus, and food service management and medical profession courses at ASU Mid-South. The Academy of Technology & Trans-portation includes a variety of skill sets. Students take classes in construction technology and automotive services on the West Memphis campus. On the ASU Mid-South campus, they take courses in agriculture/natural resources, computer engineering, diesel technology, aviation mechanics, machining, welding, and mechatronics, which involves various mechanical and electrical engineering skills.

Some students earn a certificate as they earn their high school diploma. For example, West Memphis has had a 100 percent pass rate on the welding exam. Lead welding instructor Ed Cook said that, last May, five high school students received their certifications and then went to work at TrinityRail Maintenance



Services in Jonesboro making $17.58 an hour. Two have been promoted to more than $18 an hour.

“Kids are leaving high school and going into the workforce and making $17-$18 an hour,” Collins said, “and depending on where they’re at, some of them try to re-engage in college pro-grams like this to add to that skill, and some of them look at you like, ‘What’s the need? I’m already making a pretty good wage.’”

The school day is divided into eight periods so students can be bussed to the college, a trip that takes only eight minutes, and spend two straight periods there taking college classes. In fact, students can spend up to six periods a day at the college. As with other college courses, some classes meet five days a week for four credit hours, and some meet three days a week for three credit hours.

Career coaches float back and forth between the two campuses and help students with their soft skills and mis-sion. According to Dr. Glen Fenter, who was ASU Mid-South’s chancellor when the program was created, “We knew that these students needed much more counseling, advising, hugging, loving, hand-holding, if we’re going to put them

in an environment that encourages a different level of academic achievement than maybe they had been in before.”

Finding the money for that support has been a challenge. The Academies at West Memphis has five career coaches, but part of that is funded by a year-to-year Walton Family Foundation grant. Money isn’t really available at the com-munity college level either. Fenter said both institutions have had to be creative.

“You just rob Peter to pay Paul,” he said.

Students can take college prep courses on the ASU Mid-South campus without paying tuition or fees thanks to the Thomas Goldsby Scholarship, which was created in 2001 by a gift by local oilman Goldsby. The scholarship – which was used by 56 of the 57 students taking college prep courses – is avail-able to all students of Crittenden County schools, including Marion and Earle. Students can earn an associate’s de-gree while they are still in high school, though to make their schedules work, they’ll probably have to forego extra-curricular activities such as athletics, band and choir. Because of agreements made by ASU Mid-South with four-year schools, it’s possible for a student to earn a college degree in numerous

majors, or even a master’s, without ever leaving West Memphis.

Career-oriented classes are funded through a pass-through funding model that the Department of Career Education provides all schools. Instead of offering those particular courses, the high school reimburses ASU Mid-South.

how the charter beganMaking it all possible is the dis-

trict’s conversion charter, the only one of its kind where a district is paired with a local community college. The charter waives seat time requirements and allows students to take classes in evenings. The state granted the district $660,000, while the Walton Family Foundation chipped in a quarter of a million dollars.

The process for creating the district started in the mid-2000s, when Crit-tenden County twice was in the running for a huge Toyota auto manufactur-ing plant but lost both times – to Blue Springs, Mississippi, and San Antonio. Meanwhile, Collins, then the high school principal, had an experience on graduation night where a young student wept when she received her diploma. It turned out that she was the first member of her family to graduate. Afterwards,


APPLIED PhYSICS. From left, West Memphis students O’Connell Brown, Jeykian Bradford, James Nelson, and Allen Wear are taking a class in blueprint reading that will serve as an introduction to airframe and power-plant mechanics, allowing them to become FedEx mechanics if they further their education in that area.


he challenged his counselors by asking them what the district was providing its students.

Collins noted that the district gradu-ates about 330 per year. Twenty-eight percent of them will go to college. Another 3 percent will enlist in the mili-tary. Less then 1 percent will transition straight into a family-run business. Then there’s everybody else.

“What we’re trying to do with this whole model is really add value to the high school diploma,” he said during a presentation to a visiting delegation from Harrisburg Feb. 18. “Make those students a lot more employable so folks like you all at your businesses will say, ‘Hey, I’m going to hire that person,’ because at the end of the day they want to make more money.”

A conversation began between West Memphis and the previous Mid-South administration led by Dr. Fenter, a for-mer high school principal. Both boards of directors were involved, as was the community, including the mayor’s office, city government, parents and students. Tours of Mid-South were given for eighth- and ninth-grade students and for high school teachers, some of whom had never been on the campus.

For years, the college has hosted a monthly Mid-South Business and Indus-try Council meeting where an industry representative has spoken about their employees’ skill sets and the current and projected labor shortage. The school

district collected labor information and worked with the state Department of Career Education to determine which pathways would best help students succeed. One obvious opportunity was in diesel mechanics. West Memphis is located at the crossing of two major interstates, I-55 and I-40, and the region includes the headquarters of several major national trucking companies.

“We’re not putting kids out there to work on black-and-white TVs and Weed Eaters,” Collins said. “There’s not a demand for that. So when you talk about high-skill, high-wage, high-demand, we’re trying to link our kids into pro-grams through this conversion charter partnership with ASU Mid-South with specifically programs that are going to lead to employable skills at the end of the road.”

Working with FedExThe relationship with FedEx, located

just across the river in Memphis, was a natural. The multinational company is always in search of qualified workers, and its founder, Fred Smith, has been outspoken in saying that public schools should focus on producing employ-able graduates. Fenter said the college reached out to the company several years ago because it was aware of the company’s need for trained airframe and powerplant mechanics. A program was developed over a period of years. In 2012, FedEx donated a Boeing 727

plane, which had to be dismantled by a Stuttgart company and transported to the campus. When the number of stu-dents outgrew the facility, FedEx made an investment of $250,000 in a new 22,000-square-foot facility, the FedEx Aviation Technology Center, which when completed this year will include aircraft hangar space and classrooms.

The college had to be flexible to make it work, said ASU Mid-South Associate Vice President Pete Selden. It had to educate its own faculty about what the change would mean. Classes had to be added, and full-time instruc-tors and adjuncts had to be hired for not high salaries. Most instructors have come from industry and didn’t have classroom management skills. Space had to be found, and classrooms turned into labs. Classes previously created alongside the Arkansas Department of Higher Education had to be aligned with the Arkansas Department of Educa-tion’s frameworks. The college had to make accommodations for students with disabilities and those with an individu-alized education program. Afternoon classes had to be changed to 1:15 p.m. so high school students didn’t have to choke down lunch on the bus. Because the Goldsby scholarship only covers so much of the costs, the college has been footing some of the other expenses on the college prep side – up to $200,000 a year this past fall.



A key to the effort’s success has been the cooperative spirit between the insti-tutions, which had already been nurtured by the experiences the two have had with the Goldsby Scholarship. The two institutions hold joint Friday sessions and offer shared workshops for teachers and instructors. They also coordinate in tracking attendance to ensure students are attending classes in both locations.

Collins said the cooperative spirit comes in part from a shared commit-ment to their community.

“Our doors are open for them pretty much 24 hours a day, and they wel-comed us 24 hours a day, so it’s been a really good partnership,” he said. “And unlike a lot of my colleagues, our partnership has been smooth. I would say it’s been a lot smoother than a lot of other places, and I think that’s just through communication. I think it’s through necessity. I think it’s through just our geographical area and a need to understand that in order for northeast Arkansas and the Delta to stay alive and survive and to continue to thrive, I go back to, you’ve got to be all singing from the same hymnal.”

Yes, the faculty had concerns, Col-lins said. It was difficult for some high school teachers to accept that their stu-dents might arrive a few minutes late to English class because they were at ASU Mid-South. Some lost their best students to a college campus. To help teachers understand the mission, the district hired substitutes and, over a three-day period, brought them to the college so they could see what their students would be doing.

Both the school and the college have been generous with their time. On the day Report Card visited, a large contin-gent from the Harrisburg School District and the Harrisburg community were there as well. School board member Fonda Eaton was impressed.

“It’s very inspiring after looking at it today and the information that we received,” she said. “I think it looks like a viable prospect. We don’t have the closeness of the facility like they do here just being down the road, but (Harris-burg being) 15 minutes away from ASU, I think it could work. … As a board, you always have to be kind of looking

toward the future a little bit, and I think that’s kind of where it’s going. I think you have to be open to that prospect.”

Collins acknowledges that the West Memphis School District has advan-tages not available to others. What about schools that aren’t located so close to a community college? Collins said they should see what they can offer on their campus and partner with local industries to meet local economic needs. Because he said these programs are “not cheap to install and they’re not cheap to sustain,” school districts should try to obtain as many grants and as much state funding as possible by working with the Arkan-sas Department of Education and the Department of Career Education.

Ultimately, it’s worth the effort, said both Collins and Fenter, who now leads the Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce. Too often, he said, the educational system is designed to serve old educational strategies rather than students. Meanwhile, college degrees remain out of reach for many students who, even if they receive a full scholarship, lack the resources to com-plete college, such as a car, money for food and clothes, and other supports.

The good news, he said, is that the right packaging of educational technol-ogy can change a student’s life quickly and dramatically, perhaps like never before.

“The most powerful model for combatting the lingering vestiges of poverty in this country is to speed up the educational process, particularly for poor students,” he said. Fenter later added, “That doesn’t mean they have to stay in that job. It just means that that job can be a stepping stone to a career or a stepping stone to further education. They’re not limited to no future when they come out, which is basically what they have now.”

For Collins, the Academies of West Memphis serves both his students – the ones like the young lady weeping because she was the first in her family to graduate – and his community, which twice missed out on a Toyota plant that would have provided thousands of jobs. Because of its educational model, stu-dents like Summer Abram and Jeremy Paige won’t have to wonder how they’ll find a job. Jobs will be waiting, and they’ll have the skills to fill them.


StuDENt WELDER. Senior Nick thornton practices his skills at ASu Mid-South. Stu-dents from the Academies at West Memphis have a 100 percent pass rate on the welding exam, enabling them to go straight into the workforce to a job paying about $18 an hour.


Fayetteville High School West Campus

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School funding would increase 1%


As legislators prepare to meet in this year’s fiscal session, the Joint Budget Committee accepts an increase that was planned in 2014�

General revenue funding for pub-lic education would increase by less than 1% in fiscal year 2016-17 under a recommendation that was accepted by the legislative Joint Budget Commit-tee during a pre-fiscal session meeting March 9.

The recommendation by the execu-tive branch and the legislative adequacy committee would be to spend $2.987 billion on K-12 public schools for fiscal year 2016-17, compared to the $2.944 billion authorized in fiscal year 2015-16.

Legislators will vote to fund public education and other state agencies dur-ing a fiscal session that begins April 13. They do not have to follow the recom-mendation. However, they likely will not stray far.

That’s because state funding for school districts is determined by a process that occurs every two years. An adequacy committee composed of members of the House and Senate Education Committees spends much of a year trying to ensure enough money is spent to avoid the state running afoul of the Supreme Court’s Lake View deci-

ADE COMMISSIONER JOhNNY KEY testi-fies before the legislative Joint Budget Committee March 9 about funding for K-12 public schools during the 2016-17 school year.

sion requiring all students to receive an adequate and equitable education. The funding for this year’s budget came about as a result of adequacy committee meetings that ended in the fall of 2014 for the two-year biennium.

Education Commissioner Johnny Key told legislators the increase will be enough to fulfill the state’s “adequacy” requirement.

Legislators March 9 accepted the recommendation but removed one line

item from the final request: $250,000 spent on home school testing that was made unnecessary by a 2015 law ending the testing.

Prior to the vote, Gov. Asa Hutchin-son had requested about $900,000 in additional funding for teachers who par-ticipate in the National Board of Profes-sional Teaching Standards program; for additional money for “panic buttons,” which is a phone app school districts use in emergencies; and for a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pilot program. Legislators accepted those additions.

The largest public school funding increase would come in state founda-tion funding, the primary school funding mechanism. It is based on the district’s average daily membership. Under the recommendation, that amount increases by $43.754 million to $2.053 billion.

The state also would increase fund-ing to districts based on the number of students receiving free and reduced price lunches under the National School Lunch Act. That state money, which is meant to address achievement gaps among lower-income students but which is spent by districts in a variety of ways, would increase by $11 million to $235.5 million. Funds for teacher retirement would increase by $1.073 million to $11.8 million under the recommenda-


A dozen juniors and seniors at Bentonville High School are spending their seminar periods and their Satur-day mornings converting a 2002 Chevy Malibu into an electric car.

The students are trying to finish the project for an April contest in North Carolina sponsored by the electric vehicle company EVAmerica. Students from across the country will compete to see which car can maintain the longest charge, has the best acceleration, and competes best in a slalom course.

The Technical Student Association Club project began when teachers chal-lenged students to pick a project with

an engineering slant. Students decided on the engine conversion and then researched the project using YouTube videos and other online resources.

The 12 students all plan to have en-gineering careers. All have taken classes through Project Lead the Way, a national STEM-based (science, technology, engi-neering, math) program. Students work in groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays during their seminar periods – the dis-trict is on block scheduling – and then meet every Saturday morning from 8:30 a.m. until noon. They are not receiving class credit for the project.

Kelly Parker, who teaches two classes, Principles of Engineering, and Intro to Engineering and Design, said the adults facilitate and offer guidance, but the project is student led.

“They’re learning about design,” she said. “They’re learning about project management, and it’s their idea, and because of that, we’re able to add in

that instructional piece, and they don’t even realize that they’re learning. … They have become their own advocates, which is really all I could hope for my students.”

Mechanical engineering skills are only part of the project. To manage the work flow, they’re practicing project management skills such as using Gannt charts, which are work timelines that help teams stay on schedule. The charts are important because students don’t all work on the project on the same day, so they must communicate. Students created a business plan so they could market the project to the community. They approached community partners with help and guidance from Parker and Tye Killingsworth, who teaches Digi-tal Electronics along with Engineering Design and Development. Crain Hyun-dai of Bentonville promised to give the students a future trade-in it couldn’t sell and then soon delivered the Malibu.

Students build electric engine, legacy


At Bentonville High, students are transforming a gas car into an electric one, and learning engineering, business and project management skills�

ELECtRICAL CONVERSION. Students Kyle Watson, left, and Steven Douglass, right, work on a soon-to-be-removed gas engine with help from teacher tye Killingsworth.

Bentonville high


Keith Brown, owner of Brown’s Col-lision Center across the street from the high school, let the students work on the car at his shop and also provides exper-tise.

To raise money for the conversion, the students met with Tom Douglas, director of Wal-Mart’s Lab 415-C, which provides grants for innovative technolo-gies. It gave them $9,000. Douglas said that although Killingsworth was present, the students performed the entire presen-tation and then provided him a one-pager that he could take to his leadership team.

“The fact that they came fully pre-pared – business plan, this is what our end goal is – showed me that they really cared and were passionate about what they were doing, and that provided us an avenue to be able to say, ‘Hey these guys are really entrepreneurs, and we want to encourage entrepreneurship at every point,’” he said.

Douglas said his Lab 415-C’s role is to research technology that can help Wal-Mart beat its competition. Wal-Mart won’t be selling electric cars, but that’s not the point.

“What’s important is to understand how energy and sustainability work,” he said, “and to encourage people to be involved in STEM, and to understand what the results of those kind of tests and what that kind of experimentation can be. … Hopefully what we get out of it is a bunch of encouraged students that move on into STEM and eventually can

come back and work for Wal-Mart and do what I do.”

The students are aware that they’re learning important skills that will serve them well after graduation.

“It’s one thing to say we’re going to come in here, and we’re going to

convert the car, but it took months of preparation before-hand, talking to people and reaching out to the commu-nity to get support before we could even get the car in here to start tearing it apart and converting it, so it’s been a learning experience,” said senior Kyle Watson.

Students are also getting help from Jeff Amerine, the founding principal of Startup Junkie Con-sulting, which offers consulting services for entrepreneurial ventures. He’s help-ing them through the process as if they’re running a startup company. Amerine has answered the students’ questions while peppering

them with questions of his own, such as whether car conversions could be a viable business venture.

Amerine said Startup Junkie had 900 engagements last year with en-trepreneurs of all ages. He sees plenty

StuDENt tYLER SCIFRES removes a tire with help from Keith Brown, owner of Brown’s Collision Center.


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of potential in today’s students. “The young people are really interested in doing their own thing,” he said. “It’s like anything else – it’s not all of them. But there’s a lot of them that view their real-ity as being one where they’ve got to be kind of the master of their own career, and entrepreneurship is a means to that end.”

Killingsworth said the students are improving at their people-oriented “soft skills.” They ask teachers to proofread emails and practice phone calls before they make them.

“Kelly and I from the beginning said we’re going to let the kids handle this,” he said. “It’s going to be their thing. And if they fail, then they’re all right. We’ll try to dust them off and put them on the right path to being successful. But failure is never a bad thing as far as this stuff goes.”

On the day Report Card paid its visit Feb. 9, seniors Watson and Tyler Scifres and junior Steven Douglass worked on the car in the shop. The gas tank was re-

moved thanks to Brown, the shop’s own-er, who did much of the work because of the task’s inherent dangers. The project is a perfect one for Watson, who hopes to be a mechanical engineer designing a Chevrolet truck powered by alternative energy. Scifres is already working at Sand Creek Engineering, a local electri-cal engineering firm. He works on cars at home in his free time. Douglass wants to manage his own aerospace engineer-ing firm – an entrepreneurial interest he said has been encouraged by this effort.

Idealistic motivationsThe students naturally have idealistic

motivations for taking on the project. They want to help develop a sustainable, renewable resource. They also hope to “establish kind of a legacy” for future students, said Watson. According to Douglass, “The thing that I really enjoy about it is knowing that we are chang-ing our community – you know, just something as simple as taking any car and converting it to electric and showing

Bentonville high

NO GOING BACK. the removed gas tank sits next to the Chevrolet Malibu – an important step in converting the car to an electric engine. Pictured are, from left, student tyler Scifres, teacher tye Killingsworth, student Steven Douglass, and student Kyle Watson.

our community that it’s possible. And also something I get from this is that young engineers in the school district are capable of doing things bigger than just something in the classroom. We are learning in the classroom, and we are applying our skills outside the classroom to make big changes in our community and just all around town and how people view us.”

The students are on a bit of a tight schedule. As of February, they still had a lot of work left to do. Completing it on time is a goal but not an obsession. If they miss the deadline, they intend to finish the car regardless. If it’s not done by April, then they’ll keep working on it. There’s always next year.

“By us taking on this challenge, we kind of signed an agreement saying, ‘We’re going to do this for the com-munity. We’re going to do this for the school. We’re going to do this for the engineers in our school,” Douglass said. “So we’re going to finish it regardless of if we meet that deadline or not.”


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LITTLE ROCK CONWAY HOT SPRINGS NW ARKANSAS JONESBORO MEMPHIS

WE TURN MAJOR DISASTERS INTO MINOR SETBACKS.

The new Arkansas K-12 Science Standards, which for the first time include engineering practices from kin-dergarten through the 12th grade, will be introduced this August in grades K-4.

The Next Generation Science Stan-dards will be introduced in Arkansas middle schools in 2017-18 and in high schools in 2018-19. The state adopted the internationally benchmarked stan-dards for grades K-8 last year and is in the process of writing them for high school courses.

The standards were published in 2013 after being created with input from teams from 26 states, including educa-tors, higher educators, and stakeholders, along with 40 writers. The process was managed by Achieve, a nonpartisan edu-cation reform organization that helped develop the Common Core. The stan-dards are aligned with Common Core literacy and math.

After they were published, the states customized them to fit their own man-dates. The standards were “grade-band-ed” – covering high school in general, for example – so Arkansas has been in

the process of dividing them by specific grades.

Michele Snyder, science curricu-lum advisor, said the science standards haven’t been controversial despite their similarities to and associations with the Common Core. According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, 18 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards, and South Dakota adopted standards that are very similar. There currently is no common assessment for the science standards across state lines.

Snyder said teachers will have to change how they instruct students. Instead of emphasizing regurgitating information on an assessment, the focus will shift to students learning to apply problem-solving skills in the real world. She said that “these standards really put the role of being a scientist into the hands of students.” Students will be expected to ask questions, make obser-vations, and gather information to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

One example of how the new stan-dards work is that kindergartners will analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull. Meanwhile, first grade

students will design a solution to a hu-man problem by mimicking how plants and animals use their external parts to survive – for example, deterring intruders by mimicking animal quills or thorns.

Meanwhile, the new standards in-clude earth and space content throughout grades K-12 – a change from Arkansas’ previous standards that ended instruction in those areas in the eighth grade.

“That’s going to be a big game-changer because geoscience careers in Arkansas are very plentiful and ex-tremely lucrative with just a bachelor’s degree, and those careers funnel into agriculture, forestry, the petroleum (in-dustry), aeronautics,” she said. “It really feeds into a lot of the STEM industry here in our state.”

“STEM” is an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, math.”

One challenge in implementing the model is that teachers are not trained in engineering design cycles. Snyder said colleges have begun adjusting their programs of study to fill that need.

Snyder said schools should create en-gineering partnerships with local indus-tries where students can solve real-world problems. Such a partnership exists in Camden, where Lockheed Martin has been working with the Camden Fairview School District.

New K-4 science standards taking effectFor the first time, students will learn engineering principles starting in kindergarten, and earth and space science in high school�

An interview with Dennis Hunt, Executive Vice President and Manager of Stephens Public Finance

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION FINANCING IN ARKANSAS

STEPHENS INC. • MEMBER NYSE, SIPC • 800-643-9691 STEPHENSPUBLICFINANCE.COM@Stephens_Inc

With Decades of Experience, Stephens Helps School Districts Find Opportunities in Evolving Bond Business

Many Arkansans are familiar with the Stephens name but may not be aware of the firm’s long history in the state’s municipal bond business, the founding segment of the firm back in 1933.

Dennis Hunt, Executive Vice President and Manager of Public Finance at Stephens Inc., said the segment’s endurance reflects Stephens’ commitment to long-term relationships. “That tradi-tion continues today with a strong focus on relationships be-tween our school districts and the public finance department,” Hunt said.

Over the years, Stephens has become more involved as what is typically known in Arkansas as a fiscal agent or financial advisor and now, with new regulations, known as a municipal advisor to those school districts.

Hunt shares the foundation of Stephens Public Finance’s suc-cess and what makes the firm a good partner for Arkansas school districts.

Information and outreach seem to be a recurring theme in Stephens’ relationships with clients. How does this theme play a part in the firm’s relationship with Arkansas school districts?We work closely with and educate both school boards as well as school administrations on assessing their financing options to address their capital improvement needs.

We also provide general informational trainings for school boards, not so much as it relates specifically to a financing that a school board might be involved in but by offering a general understanding of how school financing works. At a minimum, we educate school boards on the general process of financing school facilities in Arkansas.

What impact have low interest rates had on school financing?The low interest rate environment has been very favorable for school districts to refinance their existing debt. The lower in-terest rate market has resulted in achieving significant savings

for school districts. Over the past five to seven years, most of the municipal finance activity for Arkansas school districts has involved refunding their existing debt. On the other hand, the major reason we had the low interest rate environment was be-cause the country was experiencing a significant economic re-cession. As such, it was very difficult for school boards to ask their patrons to pay more taxes for new capital improvements while at the same time those patrons were personally experi-encing difficult economic times. As the economy continues to improve, we are beginning to see more districts seeking voter approval for millage increases to finance new capital projects.

What kind of considerations go into a district deciding to refinance or refund existing debt?There are certain refunding limitations imposed by the Ar-kansas Department of Education, but quite honestly those are typically very low requirements. The most important consider-ation, based upon our fiduciary duty as an advisor to the school district, is to advise the district when we believe refunding an outstanding bond issue will achieve a significant savings and that the refunding will be in the best interest of the school district. In essence, we are attempting to refund the district’s outstanding debt in order to maximize savings to the district while concurrently evaluating how the refunding will impact the district’s future capital financing needs.

Are there still opportunities to refinance, or have districts already taken advantage of this?Refunding opportunities remain prevalent in the current interest rate environment. Generally speaking, Arkansas school districts’ outstanding bond issues will continue to be viable candidates for refunding to achieve economic savings. Hence, having a profes-sional financial advisor to monitor and recommend appropriate refunding opportunities is critically important.

After the slowdown of capital projects during the economic downturn, are you seeing activity pick up?You can imagine during 2007 to 2010 many school districts did not feel comfortable that they could garner voter support for any kind of millage increase. Even with very low interest rates.

As a result, districts were hesitant to move forward even if there was a pressing need for a capital project. In my opinion, there seems to be an increasing trend for districts to move forward on millage increases for new capital facilities. As each year passes from the so-called Great Recession, it seems that there is more and more of a positive attitude on the part of school districts to finance new projects.

Can Stephens provide any assistance to school districts seeking additional millages?Definitely, we work very closely with districts during a millage campaign. Over our long history, we have assembled a consid-erable amount of information relating to past millage elections. We share this information with school districts so they can have a better idea of campaign strategies that have been suc-cessful for other school districts. In addition, we often attend public meetings to educate voters on the millage campaign. Our role at these meetings is to explain the finance structure for the proposed bond offering and explain the current interest rate climate for the district’s proposed bond issue. Often a school district will also request we prepare an economic impact analy-sis that reflects the economic impact on various property own-ers based on the proposed millage rate increase. This analysis is a useful tool for districts to educate their voters about how each property owner will be impacted.

What trends are you seeing in the municipal bond market that could affect Arkansas school districts?There is currently a significant focus from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on school districts providing continuing disclosures to the investment community. When a school district issues bonds, it is required to enter into what is known as a Continuing Disclosure Agreement (CDA). The CDA requires each school district to provide annual information to the investment community about current enrollment, assessed valuations, millage and collection rates, and other statisti-cal data. The district’s annual audit must also be provided to municipal bond investors. For a number of years there was not a concerted effort to comply with the requirements of the continuing disclosure agreements. However, with SEC’s strong emphasis on issuers providing information it is extremely

important that districts comply with their continuing disclosure obligations. At Stephens, we are working very closely with our school district clients to assist them in complying with these regulations.

How will new regulations from the Dodd-Frank Act impact school districts?I am not certain if any Arkansas school districts will be notice-ably impacted by the Dodd-Frank Act. The Act provided that a municipal advisor has a fiduciary duty to its client. At Stephens, we have always taken the position that we put our clients first and that we have a fiduciary duty to our clients. Apparently there were some advisors that did not take that position. As such, all advisors are now legally required to be a fiduciary to their clients. We are also legally required to provide far more disclosure information to school districts regarding any poten-tial conflicts of interest.

I believe Arkansas school districts have strong representa-tion from their municipal advisors and that those advisors are trying to do what is in the best interest of their clients. So it is not a huge paradigm shift from where we have been in the past to where we are going with the new requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act. Although the legal technicalities are going to change: the language in agreements and how disclosures are made will be the most significant changes that school districts will experience.

Dennis Hunt is Executive Vice President and Manager of Stephens Public Finance. You may contact him at 501-377-2041 or [email protected]


Commercial Affiliates Contact Phone Email WebsiteA.D.E.M./Federal Surplus Property Kathryn Mahan-Hooten 501.835.3111 [email protected] www.adem.arkansas.govACE Sign Company Mark Bridges 501.909.9173 [email protected] www.acesigncompany.comAdvancED Arkansas Kenny Pennington 888.413.3369 [email protected] www.advanc-ed.orgAll-Clean uSA Hayden Finley-Berry 870.972.1922 [email protected] www.allcleanusa.comAmerican Bus Sales Pam Lewis 918.205.5000 [email protected] www.americanbussales.netApptegy Jeston George 501.553.1941 [email protected] www.apptegy.comASBA Workers’ Comp & Risk Management Shannon Moore 501.372.1415 [email protected] www.arsba.orgBaldwin & Shell Construction Company Bobby Gosser, Jr. 501.374.8677 [email protected] www.baldwinshell.comCapital Business Machines, Inc. Byron Rogers 501.375.1111 [email protected] www.capbiz.comCentral States Bus Sales, Inc. Mike Wingerter 501.955.2577 [email protected] www.centralstatesbus.comChartwells School Dining Verdelle Bowie 615.374.8464 [email protected] www.chartwellsk12.comCobb and Suskie, LtD Michael Cobb 501.225.2133 [email protected] www.cobbandsuskie.comCromwell Architects Engineers, Inc. Jennifer Southerland 501.372.2900 [email protected] www.cromwell.comCrossland Construction Company, Inc. Chris Schnurbusch 479.464.7077 [email protected] www.crosslandconstruction.comCrow-Burlingame Co. Thomas Martin 501.375.1215 [email protected] www.bumpertobumper.comCurtis Stout Paul James 501.372.2555 [email protected] www.chstout.comDatek, Inc. Michael Sills 501.945.0907 [email protected] www.datekcorp.comDavid h. Frieze and Associates, Inc. Paul Frieze 501.922.9704 [email protected] Imaging Darriell Mathis 479.424.1616 [email protected] www.techassuranceit.comDLR Group Troy Wade 913.897.7811 [email protected] www.dlrgroup.comEast-harding Construction Christina Murphy Lusk 501.661.1646 [email protected] www.eastharding.comEntegrity Energy Partners Rob Guthrie 501.414.0058 [email protected] www.entegritypartners.comFisher tracks, Inc. Victor Quiroga 515.432.3191 [email protected] www.fishertracks.comFreedom Roofing Solutions, Inc. Brian Kirk 501.796.2061 [email protected] www.freedomroofingsolutions.comFriday, Eldredge & Clark, Attorneys Christopher Heller 501.370.1506 [email protected] www.fridayfirm.comGCA Education Services, Inc. Jim Heatherly 888.736.0863 [email protected] www.gcaservices.com/k-12Government Supply Services Cynthia Means 855.477.5528 [email protected] www.governmentsupplyservices.comGym Masters Basketball Courts Dean Stanley 501.279.3799 [email protected] www.basketballcourts.netharrison Energy Partners Morgan Adams 501-661-0621 [email protected] www.harrisonenergy.comhight-Jackson Associates Liz Cox 479.464.4965 [email protected] www.hjarch.comJackson Brown Palculict Architects Misty Snell 501.664.8700 [email protected] www.jbparchitects.comKLC Video Security Bill King 903.792.7262 [email protected] www.klcvideosecurity.comLifetouch National School Studios, Inc. Patrick Hand 501.664.5550 [email protected] www.lifetouch.comLifetrack Services, Inc. Cassie Dunn 800.738.6466 [email protected] www.graduate-surveys.comMid-America Sports Construction Brock Wilson 816.524.0010 [email protected] www.mid-americasportsconstruction.comMidwest Bus Sales Tim Toolen 479.474.2433 [email protected] www.midwestbussales.comMilestone Construction Company Kelli Gemmell 479.751.3560 [email protected] www.mstonecc.comNabholz Construction Corporation James McBryde 501.217.5546 [email protected] www.nabholz.comNational Playground Compliance Group Janna Sharp 515.989.0829 [email protected] www.playgroundcompliance.comNE-ARK Adjustment Company Mike Brigance 870.838.0097 [email protected] of Arkansas Ron McCarty 501.350.5420 [email protected] www.powersar.comPreferred Meal Systems, Inc. Tom Romano 717.321.4141 [email protected] www.preferredmeals.comPro A/V Solutions, LLC Mark Taylor 870.275.7797 [email protected] www.proavsolutionsjonesboro.comPro Benefits Group, Inc Gary Kandlbinder 501.321.0457 [email protected] www.pbfsi.comRaymond James David Fortenberry 501.671.1238 [email protected] www.raymondjames.comSouthern Bleacher Company David Norman 800.433.0912 [email protected] www.southernbleacher.comState Systems Inc. Sandi Scott 501.374.2251 [email protected] www.statesystemsinc.comSubteachuSA Tammy Winn 870.239.6608 [email protected] www.subteachusa.comtrammell Piazza Law Firm, PLLC Chad Trammell 501.371.9903 [email protected] www.trammellpiazza.comu. S. Biz Solutions Stacey McPherson 870.239.8328 [email protected] www.usbizsolutions.netVan horn Construction, Inc. Chad Weisler 479.968.2514 [email protected] www.vanhornconstruction.comVirco, Inc. Bruce Joyner 501.908.9461 [email protected] www.virco.comWitsell Evans Rasco Kate Dimitrova 501.374.5300 [email protected] www.werarch.comWittenberg, Delony & Davidson, Inc. Glen Woodruff 501.376.6681 [email protected] www.wddarchitects.com

Premier Partners Contact Phone Email WebsiteAEtN Jessica Keener 501.682.4193 [email protected] www.ideas.aetn.orgBancorpSouth Insurance Services Bill Birch 501.614.1170 [email protected] www.bancorpsouthinsurance.comEducational Benefits, Inc. Lisa Boone 501.212.8926 [email protected] www.ebi-ar.comFirst Security Beardsley Public Finance Scott Beardsley 501.978.6392 [email protected] www.fsbeardsley.comStephens Inc. Jason Holsclaw 800.643.9691 [email protected] www.stephens.com/public-financethe Interlocal Purchasing System Mickey McFatridge 870.926.9250 [email protected] www.tips-usa.comthe Learning Institute Lisa Walker 501.760.5525 [email protected] www.tli.net

ASBA thanks its premier partners and other commercial affiliates for their supportCommercial Affiliates


transgender issues: students and staffIssues: restrooms, dress codes, harassment and insurance

by Jay BequetteASBA General Counsel

Editor’s note: References reflect the gender to which the individual identi-fies. For example, a person born female who identifies as male is referred to as a “transgender male” and as “he.”

Currently, no state or federal laws expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of a student’s transgender status.

Federal agencies have recently, however, begun extending the scope of civil rights laws to transgender students. The U.S. Department of Education’s Of-fice of Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly concluded in 2013 that discrimination against students because of transgender status violates federal anti-discrimination laws. In that case, it was determined that a California district wrongfully pro-hibited a transgender male from using restrooms and locker rooms consistent with his identity. In 2014, OCR inves-tigated a complaint filed by a transgen-der female against another California district. She complained that school officials failed to respond to students verbally harassing her and that teach-ers disciplined her for wearing makeup. OCR found that the district violated federal law. Last November, the OCR concluded a transgender female was discriminated against when the district failed to provide access to any part of the girls’ locker rooms and required the student to use a private changing area.

Some federal courts have disagreed with OCR’s interpretation of the ap-plicability of federal law to transgender status. For example, a Virginia court dismissed a transgender male student’s claim that he was discriminated against by being excluded from using the boys’ restroom based on his gender identity.

However, the Maine Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that state law was violated when a district required a transgender female to use a private staff restroom because of complaints from other stu-dents’ parents. The court said the district treated her differently from others solely because she was a transgender girl.

Student-related issues commonly faced by school districts involving transgender issues include: (a) what restroom facility a transgender student will be permitted to use; (b) the impact of dress codes on the rights of trans-gender students; (c) severe peer-to-peer harassment against transgender students at school; and (d) whether state or federal law requires schools to change a transgender student’s permanent record to reflect a change in gender status.

Meanwhile, with respect to trans-gender issues in the workplace, federal agencies, including the Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Commission and the

Department of Justice, have taken the position that federal law prohibits dis-crimination against transgender people. However, the Americans with Dis-abilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 currently exclude transgender persons from coverage.

Employee transgender issues that school districts may begin to encoun-ter as the law evolves are availability of restrooms for employees and health insurance coverage. Access to rest-rooms is a condition of employment. If any employer denies a transgender employee access to the restroom that matches the employee’s gender identity, requires the employee to use a private facility, or conditions access on receipt of a doctor’s note or proof of genital surgery, it could be found to be subject-ing transgender employees to disparate treatment compared to non-transgender employees. The choice of choosing health insurance plans that deny health insurance coverage for the basic and es-sential medical care transgender persons need, such as hormone therapy, counsel-ing, and surgery, may violate state and federal laws prohibiting gender identity, disability or sex discrimination.

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E X E C U T I V E S E S S I O Nwith

Neal PendergrassBy Steve BrawnerEditor

In his day job, Neal Pendergrass is manufacturing superintendent for Baxter Healthcare, which manufactures medical devices and employs about 1,100 peo-ple. He manages the injection molding area, which makes plastic components for later assembly.

He has two other jobs. One is being a 17-year Mountain Home School Board member, and the other is serving as a Baxter County justice of the peace.

Pendergrass was on the school board in 2003 when the district became an early adopter of the career academies model. Students at Mountain Home High School Career Academies choose between one of three career paths: ACME, or Agriculture, Construction, Manufacturing and Engineering); CAB, or Communications, Arts and Business; and HHS, or Health and Human Ser-vices. The academies provide specific training relative to the students’ potential career goals, while common material learned by all is taught within a context that fits an individual student’s interests. Students can switch academies if they change their minds partway through their high school careers. Members of the business community are heavily involved.

The one-on-one interview with Report Card was conducted from an unusual place: inside his red 2015 Dodge Challenger, which he had driven to Little Rock with his wife, Devona, a high school library media specialist who was attending an event.

What made you decide to run in the first place?

“Oh, had two kids in school. And really, when you look back at it, that’s probably about why 90 percent of peo-ple run is their kids are in, and of course once you get in there and you see things changing, and seeing those kids coming across that stage and get that diploma, it does something to you. Early on in my career as far as being on the school board, we started the Career Academies,

and I’ve gotten heavily involved in that. Be hard to let that go.”

Did you ever have an opponent in your races?

“The only opponent I had (was in my first election), believe it or not. I am very blessed in this regard, that (it) was an empty seat when I initially ran. So in the first election, I filed against someone for that seat, and I’ve been unopposed now for four straight elections.”


Your profession is manufacturing supervision. How do you use that as a school board member?

“Oh, there’s a lot of ways to use that as a school board member. I think from a budgetary part, I think you’re a little more tuned into it than people coming from other professions because you do have to maintain your budget and understand long-term strategic planning, where a lot of other people may not have to do that routinely. I think everybody has to do it some, but routinely they don’t have to as much.

“The other thing about that is being from that manufactur-ing sector, you see that need for technical people – not neces-sarily four-year engineers. While we don’t have plumbers (at Baxter Healthcare), per se, we do have technical levels where they work on equipment, a lot of associate’s degreed people that do electronic stuff with equipment, small robot program-ming and things like that, which is not necessarily a four-year degree thing. So you see that technical need out there that I think a lot of schools aren’t addressing at this point.”

Do you think at times schools can say, “Well, we’ll plug this person into this job, and they’re good enough?” And do you think maybe your experience says, no, we need to make sure the right person is in the right job?

“It’s the first question I ask is, ‘Are they certified in the field we’re hiring them for?’ And I think that should be the first thing any school board member asks. It is granted that you can’t fill every position because of shortages here and there – for example, language and counselors and things like that, it’s incredibly difficult to get people that have that cer-tification. The ones that work with the hearing-impaired, it’s incredibly hard to get and recruit those people because the out-side market is so high. The hospitals and such will buy them up at such a higher salary that you can’t get those, and so then you’re going to end up having to contract with someone else for those services sometimes. But in my case in our district, I’ve not seen that much of it.”

So is there a difference between the kind of managing you do at work, and the kind of managing you do as a school board member?

“Well, sure, because really you’re turning the keys over to the superintendent. And I think it’s good that maybe you chal-lenge the superintendent a little bit one on one, but you sup-port him in public, or her. You know, I’ve seen other districts where that wasn’t the case, and it never ended well. So yeah, it is a little bit different because you’re not that hands-on person day to day.”

Do you ever have to restrain yourself from putting the hands on a little bit?

“Absolutely. And I think we all do. You know, you get that phone call at home, and you get your ears laid back, and yeah, you need to take a little breather from it, sit back and think about it. You know, now, really, this is a five-minute phone call. Do you really want to tear up somebody’s career because you heard from the caller five minutes, when these are the people that are in that building with them every day?”

Mountain Home has a very large retiree population. What kind of challenge is that for a school board in that type of community?

“It was an issue for the school board a few years ago. Seven or eight years ago, we tried to pass a bond issue, and imme-diately got defeated. I mean, these people didn’t have school kids in our district. And so, you fail on the first attempt, you go right back out and you try it again and you beat the dirt, so to speak, and knock on doors and let them become a little bit more aware of the issues that you’re having space-wise. Once you get them informed, they’re all on board. I mean, they’re good community partners, but without that direct contact, it’s hard to keep them informed.”

So is it hard also just to get them involved, coming to football games, that kind of thing?

“You know, believe it or not, we get a ton of volunteers. We do. These people are volunteering at school all the time. As far as ball games. I don’t see very many of them at the ball games, but they’re at school quite a bit.”

Does the school district go into things knowing that this challenge will be there, so you have to be a little slower to ask voters for things like millage increases?


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I think if I wanted to get rid of the Academies, there would be a challenger knocking on the door at the next election cycle� The community itself has really bought into it, and the parents have bought into it, too, because they reap the benefits from it when that child goes to college, or whatever they’re going to do after school�

“

”

Executive Session

“While I’ve been on the board, we’ve only went for a millage increase once. So we took it out there. It was defeated very soundly. Part of why it was de-feated was certain objections that that community had for one of the specific building projects, and we removed it and made sure we got out there and did our best to get them informed.”

So did you do a second election?“Yes. Passed. Narrowly, but it did.”

Tell me about the Academies.“I’ll just throw a few benefits out

there of it. First off, the kids are go-ing to … do their own assessment as to what academy fits them best. And so if you want to think about it, what you’re really trying to do with that is you’re trying to make learning relative to what their future career path may be, and what interests them. They are becoming more involved in that whole learning process than they were before, a little bit more hands on. The other thing is, it lets you reach out and actually pull the community in, both as mentors and sort of actually in an instruction role. For example, in ACME Academy, you may go out to Baxter Healthcare and pull an engineer in and let them teach a little bit or at least mentor the kid a little bit. And that’s been really good. Before any stu-dent follows a career path, I think they should get out and job shadow and see if that is really what they want to do, and it provides that opportunity also. …

“The students can change paths midway any time they want to. So for example, as a sophomore, they may want to be in ACME and decide, well, you know, really, I’d rather go into busi-ness, and so as a junior they can switch

academies and go into stuff that’s more business-related. One neat way of look-ing at it is it’s better than changing your career path in college, right?”

Why did you all make that move?“Our then-assistant superintendent

had found it, and we actually went to South Grand Prairie, Texas, which was doing career academies at that point, and used them sort of as the benchmark.”

So was that a hard switch to go to that method versus the old traditional teaching?

“It was, and we decided to go wall to wall with it in high school, so there’s no conventional high school per se. There everybody’s in an academy one way or the other. We already enjoyed the benefits of being on block scheduling, and block scheduling fits that a little bit better because of the long class periods.

“Let’s get back to that relative and relevant thing just a minute. If you’re teaching English, why would the essay assignment be on Shakespeare if your kid is going to be a car mechanic? Why wouldn’t you do it on Henry Ford? … If the class assignments for English

and math and history could be done on things that were of interest to the kids, then they’re more involved.”

So what went into choosing those three different academies?

“Part of it was that need for these technical people to support not only Baxter Healthcare, but there are some other industries there that benefit from that, too. Health and Human Services, for example, the nurses coming through HHS are going to the hospital, (which) is the largest job provider in the county.”

What were some of the challenges?“Mostly, it was getting the parents in-

formed or on board with what was going on, and that initial feeling that maybe students weren’t going to be able to take certain classes because of the academy concept, which has never, ever been a problem, but initially that made it a little bit of a difficult sell.”

Were there concerns that you’re going to trap my child into a path at age 15, and then they won’t be able to do anything different?

“Sure, and that’s why you have to let them know, say, ‘Hey, if they want to change, we’ll allow them to change.’”

How long did it take to overcome these challenges?

“We overcame them really quickly. I will say this, and I told you earlier, I’ve been unopposed for four straight terms. I think if I wanted to get rid of the Academies, there would be a challenger knocking on the door at the next elec-tion cycle. The community itself has really bought into it, and the parents have bought into it, too, because they reap the benefits from it when that child goes to college, or whatever they’re going to do after school. So you want them prepared. If they’re going to go get an associate’s degree, you want them prepared for that. If they’re going to go to college, you want them prepared for that. If they’re going to do welding, you want them prepared for that.”

You were really early adopters in this model. Did that make it a bigger challenge?


“It is because if you needed that help, basically, we were falling back on South Grand Prairie every time that we needed it. So we were actually kind of going out of state on it initially for help tweaking things, if you will.”

Is there something about Mountain Home that makes this easier?

“(Pause) I’m going to have to think about that a minute. (Laughs.) Because I don’t want it to sound like it was ‘easy easy.’ Obviously it wasn’t.”

Let’s use the word “conducive” then.

“Yes. Community involvement and business involvement. If the businesses weren’t involved in it to come in and help mentor those students and partici-pate in that, I’m not sure that the Acad-emies would work that well.”

Is Mountain Home a close-knit community because there’s such a geographic distance to the next population center that you do things yourselves?

“Yeah, I believe you could state that pretty easily. The other thing that we’ve enjoyed, too, especially with the ACME, is the growth of ASU-Mountain Home. It hit and actually began to grow, and the campus was constructed at just about the onset of the Career Academies. So it’s grown together, and that’s a pretty tight-knit thing.”

More than a lot of communities, does your workforce come from the Mountain Home School District, so businesses have to train their home-town students?

“That would be ideal … (but is) not necessarily the case. Baxter Healthcare is still having to go out and get engi-neers, for example, and that may always be the case. I’m not sure. The interesting part of it is I work with engineers now that came through the Academy, went on to college, got their degree, and now they’re employed with Baxter Health-care. So here you have this where their mentor now in a lot of cases is their boss or their co-worker, and that’s really a neat thing to see. I can think of at least three examples of that right now.”

If you had to give any kind of ad-vice to a district that’s thinking about going to the academy model, what would you tell them?

“The first thing they’ve got to do, I think, is they’re going to have to find that pro, that supporter, that person that’s really going to take it on and ring the bells, if you will … is going to cham-pion it from the get-go. We were lucky enough that our high school principal took that to heart, and she has champi-oned it since day one.

“That, and having someone else to benchmark against because initially early on, you’re going to have to fall back into somebody with experience there to help you tweak it.”

You’re also a justice of the peace. As a school board member, you’re supposed to see yourself less as a constituent representer and more as a policymaker, and as a Baxter County Quorum Court member, it’s both. Do you have trouble going back and forth between those two roles?

“Not really. There’s not been a con-flict between those two roles yet, and it is something that I had to ask for that opinion about … before I ran for the Quorum Court. And had there been, then I wouldn’t have done that.”

As a school board member, if some-one calls you and begins to complain, you’re kind of supposed to say, ‘Take it to the next level’ or “I can’t know anything about this until there’s a hearing.’ Whereas as a JP, you’re supposed to be totally interested in what they have to say. So do you have trouble going back and forth between those two roles?

“No. No, I’ve always referred them off to the superintendent or at least a building supervisor when it comes to school. Yeah, you’re more deeply involved in it (on the Quorum Court). I mean, if you have your neighbor call and somebody’s dog is out, you’re pretty much going to have to do some-thing about that. Whether that’s call the county judge and have him do some-thing about it or whatever, you are more responsible to take action, I guess I should say.”

Does anybody ever call with a complaint involving both roles in the same call?

“They haven’t yet. (Laughs.) But I’ve been expecting it.”

Editor’s note: Executive Session is a regular feature in Report Card. All conversations are edited for clarity and language usage.


Annual Conference

thEY AYES hAVE It. Randy hutchens of Springdale, left, and Ross Moore of Lonoke vote on a resolution at ASBA’s 2015 Delegate Assembly.

Our work, students’ tomorrows


The Annual Conference was a reminder that school board members’ work makes a lasting difference in students’ lives�

Annette Emerson was a shy and emo-tional girl who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in a small town. She couldn’t read or write when she first went to school and had no self-esteem or motivation – plus she hated how her voice sounded.

But she ended up with the right first grade teacher and learned to read with “Dick and Jane” books, said Miranda Beard, National School Boards As-sociation president-elect and a keynote speaker at the ASBA Annual Conference Dec. 10. Reading made her feel like she

wasn’t dumb, and she dreamed that she would someday speak before crowds.

“That little girl, Annette Emerson, is the Miranda Beard you see standing before you today,” she said to applause. “I used to cry a lot as a child growing up because I felt I had no value. But as I told you, I stand before you today, it is a miracle, really, because I was so shy and my self-esteem was so low that I never thought I would be able to stand before anybody in a group and say anything of importance to them. That’s why, ladies and gentlemen, I am so passionate about what I do for public education, because I know and I understand the impact that it had on my life. It literally saved my life. It changed my life.”

ASBA’s 62nd Annual Conference was about a lot of changed lives. The theme was: “Student-focused leadership:

Our work today defines their tomorrow.” More than 600 school board members attended.

Beard asked attendees why they had become school board members. Laura Whitaker of the Drew Central School District said she wanted to give children a voice. Clyde Williams from Marvell-Elaine wanted to bridge the gap between those two communities when they consolidated. Joe Wishard of Bryant summed up his motivation by saying, “I love children.”

Beard told board members that what-ever they focus on, they will magnify, a point she illustrated with a zoomed-in photo of a grain of sugar that looked nothing like sugar.

“Our minds are almost like binocu-lars. We hone in on things, and we focus on things and we tend to magnify things,


SuPER SChOOL BOARD MEMBER. Miranda Beard, National School Boards Association president-elect and a school board member from Mississippi, tells school board members they can be heroes through their work in the boardroom.


but let’s magnify our goals,” she said. She later added, “Some-times we can get in the weeds, and we lose focus on why we do what we do. You say you love children, then our focus and our attention should always be on them and not on us.”

Public schools don’t have a choice but to try to educate all students, she said. However, school boards can choose not to renew the contracts of underperforming educators.

“I don’t care if it’s your brother. I don’t care if it’s your sister, auntie or uncle. If they’re not getting the job done and they’re in your school district, we cannot be afraid to move them out,” she said to applause. “I say we should expect great-ness from everybody.”

On the other hand, a skillful teacher can do much to help a student reach their potential. She showed a video of a teacher to whom a student had made a sexually suggestive remark. Thinking fast, she realized that he needed positive attention, so she made him the class greeter – a first step in his becoming a motivational speaker as an adult.

Beard said she wanted to die empty, giving all of her talents away, and she encouraged school board members never to

quit. As she closed her remarks, she showed a clip from the original “Superman” movies and donned a Superman t-shirt.

“When we come out of that boardroom, we want our communities to see us as super school board leaders wanting to make an impact on the children of our districts, to see as many as possible go across the finish line, educating them where they are and then moving them to the next level,” she said.

Governor speaks about security, computersIn his address Dec. 11, Gov. Asa Hutchinson urged school

board members to “ask the right questions on security,” say-ing that parents must be confident their children are safe.

Hutchinson’s comments came the day after a suicidal man drove onto the campus of Arkansas State University with a shotgun, resulting in a lockdown and a police standoff that ended peacefully. Hutchinson told reporters afterwards that society must find the right balance between freedom and se-curity. He said the state must be ready to respond to violence and must better deal with mental health issues.

Hutchinson touted the success of his initiative to require all high schools to offer a computer coding class. He said almost 4,000 students have enrolled in such courses, with the largest increases over last year involving female students and

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Annual Conference

AROuND thE CONFERENCE. Above left, Gov. Asa hutchinson addresses the conference. Above right, Arkansas Educa-tion Commissioner Johnny Key declares January to be School Board Member Recognition Month. With him from left are State Board of Education member toyce Newton; Dr. tony Prothro, ASBA executive director; and Brenda McKown, ASBA president. Bottom right, Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock; and Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, participate in a panel discussion.

minorities. However, despite the state offering $5 million in grants for teacher training, many schools don’t offer the courses locally, instead taking advantage of the state’s Virtual Academy while using a local teacher facilitator who is not a coding expert. A couple of districts have zero students taking a coding class.

Hutchinson also emphasized the importance of coordinating job skills training between high schools, two-year colleges and industry.

Mike Poore, Bentonville superinten-dent, praised Hutchinson for those ef-forts but told him the ideas have not all filtered down to the practitioner level. He said one student ranked 800th in a class of 1,000 had learned eight com-puter languages in less than a semester and will be offered a $50,000-a-year job when he graduates. Poore said he had to break the rules regarding the student’s pre-requisite courses in order for him to take that class.

“I encourage you to break more rules,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson spoke the day after the State Board of Education voted to take over the Dollarway School District,

making it at the time the fourth district under state control. On March 10, the State Board released the Pulaski County and Helena-West Helena districts from state control.

“There’s not any way around that,” he told school board members. “If a school is not performing academically, that means that the children of that school are not having an adequate and equal opportunity as other children in the state for a good education.”

Legislators talk choice, teachersSchool takeovers also were a topic in

a legislative panel following Hutchin-son’s remarks. Sen. Linda Chesterfield,

D-Little Rock, said the state’s record regarding those takeovers has been poor. She pointed out that this is the second time Dollarway has been in state take-over. Those schools can spend five years without parental involvement or ac-countability, with the education commis-sioner invariably upholding his appoint-ed superintendent when the community disagrees with a decision, she said.

“I don’t believe that you eliminate the public from being involved in public education, and in essence, when you do that takeover, that’s what you do,” she said.

Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, said he supports giving families choice in


thIS StuFF IS COOL. Springdale Associate Superintendent Megan Witonski, second from right, plays with a robot that was being demonstrated by students from the Nash-ville School District. Susan Pack, a school board member with the Arkansas School for the Deaf and the Arkansas School for the Blind, looks on. Also pictured are students, from left, Caleb Newton and Victor Motta.

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education. He said that, as a retailer, he thinks choices and competition make people better, and schools should see competition the same way. The son and son-law of educators, he said he has 15 school districts in his legislative district. Educators often tell him, “If you can remove the bureaucracy from what we do, we can compete with anyone.” Ches-terfield, however, said letting charter schools siphon students from traditional schools will make the system “unable to educate those children who are left behind.”

Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marian-na, said traditional schools should be given a chance to compete on a level playing field with charter schools, which is why he sponsored Act 1240, which

lets traditional schools have the same waivers as charters that draw students from the district.

“I want you to prove the challengers to Act 1240 wrong,” he said. “Because there’s belief that if you’re given that authority for that type of discretion, that you may not treat your teachers and your certified people well. I say this to you in front of you, that I believe that you will do better than what’s been pro-scribed to me.”

Chesterfield, however, questioned allowing districts to have waivers – for example, from minimum salary sched-ules and minimum standards, which she said helped create a more level play-ing field for all districts. “Just to waive things because they are inconvenient, it

seems to me, sends us back to the pre-Lake View time, when everybody just did things willy-nilly,” she said.

A response to a question from the audience about finding teachers elicited a number of responses. Murdock said certain parts of the state can’t always hire certified teachers but can get qualified teachers, so the state must be flexible. Clark said recruiting teachers is important and that successful districts “are bringing hometown people back home.” Rep. Michael John Gray, D-Au-gusta, said communities need certified, invested teachers who are given incen-tives to stay longer in the profession and awarded bonuses if they choose to teach in struggling areas. Poindexter sug-gested providing housing for teachers willing to move to hard-to-serve areas. She expressed appreciation for the Teach for America program, which trains and sends non-educators to lower-income areas for two-year stints, but said that short amount of time doesn’t build a sense of community. “I stayed in one


Annual Conference

ASBA LEADERS. Pictured are ASBA’s board members and officers. Front, Dr. tad Margolis, Valley View, Region 3; Katie Daniel, McGehee, Region 14; Sandra Porter, Bryant, president-elect; and Rosa Bowman, Ashdown, Region 12. Second row, Gene Bennett, Rivercrest, Region 7; Rita Cress, Stuttgart, Region 9; Deborah Smith, Malvern, Region 10; Jeff Lisenbey, Sheridan, Region 11; Steve Eastwold, Flippin, Region 2; and Keith Baker, Riverview, Region 6. Back row, Debbie ugbade, hot Springs, vice president; Brenda McKown, Beebe, president; Randy Goodnight, Greenbrier, Region 8; Clint hull, Pottsvile, past president; Jamie hammond, Van Buren, Region 4; and Allan George, Russellville, Region 5. Not pictured are Neal Pendergrass, Mountain home, secretary-treasurer; Jerry Coyle, Prairie Grove, Region 1; and Mike Waters, Magnolia, Region 13.

place for 30 years. All of my children knew me, their parents knew me, and their children’s children knew me,” she said.

Clark, however, said teachers may come for two years but end up stay-ing longer. In one community, a Teach for America teacher is now on the school board and started a community foundation.

The legislators called for school board members to be more active in the legislative process. Murdock said, “We need your input because your input is so vitally important to what we decide for you – and we decide some stuff for you – so I want you to feel engaged and will-ing to participate in the process, come to the Capitol, be a part of committee meetings, have representatives at the

educational committee meetings when we’re in session. Be a part of the process as best you can because when you’re at the table, then you can help be a part of what happens. When you’re not at the table, then you’re susceptible to what-ever decisions others make for you.”

Gray called for a more restrained, less active Legislature.

“Sometimes we in Little Rock get caught up in thinking we know how to solve your problems out there. And I think sometimes if we just stopped meeting, stopped passing laws, sit back, let this thing develop, listen to you guys, listen to the teachers, listen to the par-ents, school board members, take some time to let this thing flesh out and not think that every two years we’ve got the magic wand to fix this thing, we’d be

a lot better for all of us,” he said to ap-plause. “So it is not my goal to propose any broad, sweeping legislation.”

Johnny Key, Arkansas’ education commissioner, said schools in Arkansas should move from “adequacy” to “ex-cellence.” He touted innovative districts like Warren, which has moved beyond grade levels, and West Memphis, where students are learning basic aviation math and physics through a partnership with FedEx.

“There’s nothing basic about aviation math and physics, folks,” he said.

Key said he is saddened when he hears parents say their school was “good enough” for them and should be good enough for their children.

“Good enough? Is that really what we want to focus on is ‘good enough’ for


Marshall Elementary Classroom Addition | Approach

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our kids? Generations upon generations have always said, we want things to be better for our kids than they were for us. That applies to schools just like it ap-plies to any other facet of life,” he said.

Key said that he has heard preach-ers say a person’s heart can be seen by looking at their checkbook registry. The same can be said about board meetings.

“Do your board agendas, do your board minutes reflect where your heart is? Is it on the academics and the achievement and those learning

experiences of your students? I hope so. Does it reflect solving kid problems, or does it reflect solving grown-up prob-lems? Because there’s a difference.”

Key presented a resolution passed that morning by the Arkansas State Board of Education declaring January as Arkansas School Board Member Recog-nition Month, along with a proclamation from Gov. Hutchinson doing the same.

School board members also heard a report from ForwARd Arkansas, an education reform effort convened by the

State Board of Education, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Jarrod Hen-derson, the key staff person who also is executive director for the Teach for America program in Arkansas, said the state has had some recent successes, including increasing access to pre-K classes and increasing Advanced Place-ment participation. “That didn’t just happen,” he said. “Again, a group of Arkansans, probably some of the people in this room, got together and said, ‘This is important for our kids. How do we make it so?’ And we’ve made incredible progress.”

However, the state still has progress to make, including improving test scores and raising its ranking of having the na-tion’s second lowest college completion rate, he said.

The group set out a vision, not a specific plan, because success depends on local leaders applying the vision to their local situations, he said. Goals include improving pre-K performance for kindergarten readiness, closing

This year’s Dr. Daniel L. Pilkinton Award for outstanding public school leadership went to John Edwards, a school board member and military veteran from Gravette who has been on the board since 2003 and served three terms as president.

During his tenure, the district has remodeled its middle school, designed and constructed a new high school,

Edwards wins Dr. Dan Award

WELL DESERVED. ASBA President Brenda McKown congratulates John Edwards, this year’s Dr. Daniel L. Pilkinton Award winner for outstanding service to public education. Sandra Porter, ASBA’s vice president, looks on.

and developed a vocational school. He regularly visits the middle school to help special education students build and maintain flower gardens, butterfly gardens and birdhouses. He helped de-velop a program called “Stuff the bus” to provide school supplies for stu-dents. He also organized 13 golf tour-naments raising more than $120,000 for extracurricular programs.


EXhIBIt hALL. top left, Bill Birch, senior vice president, center, and Dusty Jolly, assistant vice president, with BancorpSouth Insurance Services discuss their company’s risk management of-ferings with Dr. Brad Baine with the Greene County School Board. Middle left, Paul hull, CEO of Van horn Construction, discusses his company’s contracting and design build offerings with Jerry Owens, Dover superintendent. Middle right, Bill King with KLC Video Security talks about his company’s security offerings with Rebecca Powers with the Bentonville School Board. Bottom left, Glen Woodruff with Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson Architects talks about his firm with David Waller of Berryville. Bottom right, Sam hollis, left, president of Milestone Construction Com-pany, along with Scott Jones, chief estimator, and Kelli Gemmell, direc-tor of business development, talk with Jeff Lisenbey of the Sheridan School Board.

Annual Conference


the achievement gap, improving test scores, and improving the state’s college graduation rates. To achieve those goals, ForwARd Arkansas has created 95 rec-ommendations, some of which are par-ticularly relevant for school boards, he said. Those included revamping school board training and providing mentor programs for school board members and

superintendents to more systematically teach them about best practices around Arkansas and the country. Another rec-ommendation was moving school elec-tions to November, which he acknowl-edged is controversial.

“We want to make sure that com-munities in the state have a debate over this,” he said. “There’s a real healthy tension between increasing involvement in school board elections but also risk-ing increasing partisanship, and there could be different answers for different communities, and we just want to make sure that that debate happens and that communities come to the right answer for them after the right debate.”

During the annual Delegate As-sembly, ASBA’s executive director, Dr. Tony Prothro, said 100 percent of school boards are once again ASBA members. The 258 member districts in the work-man’s comp program will receive a reserve distribution credit on their work-man’s comp bill for 2016, though there will be a slight decrease in the front-end discount due to rising claims and medi-cal costs. However, the state’s rates have also decreased, so schools may see no additional overall cost. The risk man-agement program has 171 participants, while 187 participate in the legal liabil-ity program – two more than last year. That program now includes out-of-state

general liability coverage that cov-ers negligence such as hotel damages caused by students. Nine hundred of the state’s 1,400 school board members participated in regional meetings this year, he said.

Brenda McKown of Beebe was elected to continue serving as president. She took over the post after the previous president, Jerry Don Woods, resigned his position on the Dardanelle School Board to avoid nepotism issues be-cause of the possible hiring of a family member. Sandra Porter of Bryant is now president-elect, Debbie Ugbade of Hot Springs is vice president, and Neal Pen-dergrass of Mountain Home is secretary-treasurer. Clint Hull of Pottsville, a former president, for the second year in a row will fill the vacant position of past president.

McKown announced that, beginning in December 2016, ASBA will present a new annual award: the School Board of Excellence Award, to be given to districts above and below 900 students whose boards demonstrate a positive impact on students.

APPLE A DAY. Above, Apple field representative Brad Bohannon shows Watson Chapel School Board members Kevin Moore, center, and Mack Milner how an iPad can be used in a classroom during a breakout session at the Annual Conference. Below, Dr. Keith Williams, a consultant and retired superintendent, discusses school board ethics dur-ing a breakout session.

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COMMERCIAL AFFILIAtES. top left, Jason holtzclaw, vice president of Stephens Inc., helps lead a breakout session about complying with tax rules in working with municipal bonds. top right, Baldwin and Shell’s Mica Strother, left, chats with Moun-tain home School Board member Lisa house about Baldwin and Shell’s design and construction services offerings. Middle right, Entegrity Energy Partners’ director of business development, Rob Guthrie, right, talks with hope School Board member Wil-lie Buck about how his company can help districts save money on lighting. Bottom left, EBI’s Shane Pennington talks with Ze-meria Newton of Mineral Springs about his company’s financial tools for school dis-tricts. Bottom right, Bandi Roe and Jeanne Raymond with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management wait for visitors to hear about ADEM’s Federal Surplus Property program.

Annual Conference



MORE FROM EXhIBIt hALL. top left, Mickey McFatridge, left, and David Mabe man a booth in Exhibit hall, where they explained how the Interlocal Purchasing System, or tIPS, can help school districts save money on their purchases. Middle left, Liz Cox with the hight-Jackson Associates architectural firm chats with tim hudson of the Fayetteville School Board. Middle right, Mary harvey-Evans with SubteachuSA visits with Raymond Latson of the Ashdown School Board about her company’s substitute teacher services. Bottom left, Dr. Don Love with AdvancED, right, talk about his company’s educational resources with Michael O’Leary, a board member with the Academics Plus Charter School. Bottom right, Verdelle Bowie with Chartwells discusses her company’s school dining services with Bill Jackson of the Searcy County School Board.


AWARD WINNERS. top left pho-to, Debbie Briscoe of Augusta and James Baker of Osceola received the President’s Award, the highest achievement among individual board members, for accruing at least 500 hours of boardsmanship credit. top right photo, the Platinum Award is presented to board members with 400 hours of boardmanship credit. Pictured are, front, Jean-nie Cole, Fort Smith; Briscoe and Baker. Back, Joe Wishard, Bryant; Bob Warren, Elkins; and Steve Percival, Fayetteville. Middle right, the Pinnacle Award is given to board members who achieve 300 hours of boardman-ship credit. Pictured are, front, Clyde Williams, Marvell-Elaine; Donnie Wright, Gosnell; Felix Bell, DeQueen; Maggie Ware, hamburg; Loddie Green, Lake-side - Lake Village; Gene henton, Blytheville; and Barbara Wells, Blytheville. Back, Richard Liv-ingston, Lakeside - Lake Village; todd Bartholomew, harrisburg; Napoleon Davis, Stuttgart; John-ny Brown, Lafayette County; and Randall hutchinson, Springdale. Bottom right, the Master Award is given to board members with 50 hours of boardmanship credit. Pictured are, front, Lisa Parks, Searcy County; Eddie Cooley, Newport; Richard Ray, Brinkley; Elbert Bradley, Fore-man; Mike Dugan, trumann; and Carl Puckett, Poyen. Back, Wesley Gates, hoxie; Freddy Ware, Rivercrest; tim harvey, Brinkley; Brenda Smith, Shirley; Billy Allen, Corning; and Larry harvey, Centerpoint. Photos by LifeTouch.

Annual Conference


RuthIE JOhNSON of Star City received the 30-Year Award for 30 years of school board service. Photo by LifeTouch.

MORE AWARD WINNERS. top right photo, more Master Award winners included, front, Rozanne Sterling, Greenwood; Keith Baker, Riverview; Lisa Anderson, Rogers; Lee Lane, Valley View; tad Margolis, Valley View; and Michael Ephlin, Osceola. Back, Mark Belk, Nettleton; Sterling Wilson, Rogers; Adam Jones, trumann; Jason Rhodes, highland; Greg Oaks, Greenbrier; John Priebe, Poyen; and Darrell Park, Lonoke. Middle left, more Master Board winners were tony May, Southside - Batesville; Donnie Earnest, Glen Rose; and Chris Graddy, Valley Springs. Middle right, Southside-Batesville received the Master Board Award after all of its board members became Master Award recipients. Pictured left to right are Superintendent Roger Rich and school board members Vonda Crowl, Fred Denison, tony May, Brad Cummings and Janice Fuller. Bottom left, the Malvern School Board also received the Master Board Award. Pictured are Janet Blair, assistant superintendent; Jesse Clark; Brian Coston; Kevin Carr; Connie Bane; and Deborah Smith. Bot-tom right, the Wynne School Board also received the Master Board Award. Pictured are Neall Jackson, Stacy Schlenker and Spencer Parker. Photos by LifeTouch.


The latest news from Report Card’s advertisersMarketplace

Southern Tire Mart, LLC is now a TIPS vendor, servicing Arkansas with competitive tire pricing.

With eight locations throughout Arkansas, Southern Tire Mart commits itself to customer service in commercial and government sales. In the past 12 years, it has expanded its business to operate 15 Bandag manufacturing facili-ties and 63 commercial service locations while employing more than 2,000 em-ployees in nine states with annual sales exceeding $700 million.

Arkansas Federal Surplus Property’s annual Donee Appreciation Day will be Thursday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For one day only, Arkansas Federal Surplus Property will be offering a 50 percent discount on all property in stock more than 30 days, excluding overseas property. Fish will be served for lunch, door prizes will be given, and winners of the refurbishment contest will be an-nounced. RSVP for this event by email-

Chartwells K12, a school nutri-tion partner with the Lakeside and Hot Springs School Districts, worked with those districts to cater meals for the 5A State Basketball Tournament March 1-5 in Hot Springs.

The hospitality suite featured meals for school administrators and coaches throughout the event. Menus featured a Chicago-style hot dog bar and house-made oven-baked chicken with a honey mustard glaze.

Chartwells K12 also catered the VIP room for the 4A State Basketball Tour-nament, held in Malvern March 2-5, in conjunction with the company’s partners at the Malvern School District.

The new 63,855-square-foot, two-story Cyclone Arena on the Russellville High School campus opened this fall to rave reviews from students, administra-tors, athletic staff, and local fans.

The facility was designed by Hight Jackson Associates in Rogers and constructed by Van Horn Construction of Russellville. The facility includes a 2,350-seat competition gymnasium with all support spaces for girls’ and boys’ basketball and volleyball, hospitality room, concessions area, and restrooms.

The focal point of the main entry and monumental stair is a three-dimensional cyclone sculpture highlighted by colored LED lighting.

Arena designed by Hight-Jackson, built by Van Horn opens

Is your district’s budget tight? Has it been able to give raises lately? Educa-tional Benefits can bid employee ben-efits to save the district and/or employ-ees money. Renegotiating benefits gives employees additional dollars. For more information, call 800.824.5022 and ask for Lisa Boone.

The Springdale School of Innova-tion this August will move into the first phase of a 144,000-square-foot campus on 42.5 acres on Hylton Road.

Baldwin & Shell has partnered with the district and WD&D Architects using a fast-track approach to deliver the ini-tial phase to accommodate grades 8-10.

More of the project will be completed by year end 2016, allowing the school to continue growing, with the balance com-pleted by the fall of 2018 and serving grades 8 through 12.

The School of Innovation is a technology-rich STEM School in which students have the option of earning an associate’s degree or industry-level certification by the end of their senior year. It embraces flexible and blended learning, allowing for a self-paced and project-based learning environment that promotes student success.

East Harding has completed two proj-ects for the McCrory School District. The first project was a complete HVAC, lighting and data upgrade for McCrory High School. The second was a new FEMA-rated safe room that will hold

East Harding finishes safe room, upgrades for McCrory district

Baldwin & Shell fast-tracking completion of Springdale school

Southern Tire Mart,in eight state locations, now is a TIPS vendor

Chartwells a partner with state 5A hoops tourney this year

The Interlocal Purchasing System has added companies that provide business products and fitness equipment at a discount to TIPS members.

In business since 1981, B&B Solu-tions provides HP printers, Troy MICR toner cartridges, tax forms and other supplies.

Second Chance Fitness, a full service fitness equipment company in business since 1989, can assist districts with facility layout and design, purchase of new or refurbished equipment, installa-tion and repair, and other services.

For more information about TIPS, go to www.tips-usa.com or call Mickey McFatridge at 870.926.9250.

TIPS adds two firms offering business, fitness services

Federal Surplus offering discounts during one-day event

ing [email protected] or calling 501.835.3111.

Educational Benefits can bid employee benefits to save money


Marketplace continued on next page

SubTeachUSA has added three Arkansas school districts as of April: Greenland, Lead Hill and Newport.

The company, which started in Para-gould in 2003, provides school districts trained substitute teachers in grades pre-K through 12. It handles scheduling for districts, recruits teachers throughout the year, and trains substitutes in classroom management, lesson plans and other skills. It also handles all payroll respon-sibilities.

For more information, go to sub-teachusa.com or call Tammy Winn at 800.641.0140.

SubTeachUSA adds Greenland, Lead Hill and Newport districts

AdvancED STEM Certification affirms a district’s commitment to STEM education by providing a proven, research-based framework and process to assess its STEM program.

To earn the certification, the school completes an internal assessment us-ing AdvancEd’s diagnostics. Trained reviewers conduct an on-site review to determine how students are engaged in collaborative, hands-on learning that

Arkansas Tech University – Ozark Campus held classes in January in the new Health Sciences and Wellness Building designed by Crafton Tull.

Included in the 20,273-square-foot facility are offices for faculty, class-rooms, lab spaces, and a fitness center. Medical students will now have access to the best technological capabilities available to them. A public grand open-ing ceremony was to be held March 17.

Visit craftontull.com for more.

AdvancED offers STEM certification for state school districts

Modus Studio along with C.R. Craw-ford Construction have completed work on a 4,500-square-foot multipurpose FEMA shelter for the Flippin School District and the surrounding community. The $1.5 million project will be used primarily for physical education and elementary level athletics. Meanwhile, it can house nearly 900 people in a natural disaster or emergency and is one of the only shelters of this type in Marion County.

For more about Modus Studio, go to www.modusstudio.com or call 479.455.5577.

Modus Studio finishes safe room, gym for Flippin school

The Women’s North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Olympic Qualification Tournament was played Jan. 7-9 in Lincoln, Nebraska, on a Sport Court volleyball court. The USA won the tournament and the right to compete in the Olympics.

Sport Court has been the official court of USA Volleyball the past 25 years and has been used for USA Vol-leyball Olympic Qualifiers three of the last five Olympic years.

For more information about how Sport Court can serve school districts’ court needs, contact Patti LaFleur at 501.316.2255, or email her at [email protected].

Sport Court serves needs of Olympic qualifying tournament

College has classes in building designed by Crafton Tull

Entegrity generates $53,000 rebate for Searcy County

Entegrity Partners, an energy services company based in central Arkansas, co-presented a rebate check of approxi-mately $53,000 from Entergy Arkansas to Searcy County Schools at the dis-trict’s January board meeting.

The check is part of Entergy Arkan-sas’ CitySmart Program for its public customers. It will offset the costs of a districtwide HVAC and LED lighting project, which Entegrity Partners com-pleted in December 2015. The project is guaranteed to save over $89,000 in annual maintenance and energy costs.

510 people and also will serve as the band room.

For more information about East-Harding, go to www.eastharding.com or call 501.661.1646 or, in Northwest Arkansas, 479.717.6485.

centers on solving open-ended problems with real-world connections. Schools that have completed the process say it is rigorous, thorough and completely worth the effort.

For more information, call Ad-vancED Director Kenny Pennington at 888.413.3669, ext. 5620, or Associate Director Dr. Don Love at ext. 6907.

BIG GIFt. Rob Guthrie, Entegrity Partners, right, helps present a $53,000 check from Entergy. From left are heather Nelson of Entergy Arkansas, Searcy County School Board President talitha hardin, and Alan Yarbrough, superintendent.

JBP Architects helps Heber Springs pass millage, designs facility

Students at Heber Springs have ac-cess to a new $8.7 million Fine Arts Building thanks to Jackson Brown Palculict Architects, which not only designed the building but also helped the district pass a millage increase request.

After previous attempts had failed, the district in 2013 enlisted JBP’s help in passing a 3.4 mill property tax in-crease, of which the Fine Arts Building was the centerpiece. The firm has helped other districts pass millages in the past. It helped define what the school needed and what the community expected and produced a comprehensive graphic report that the administration used to run a successful campaign.

The building contains a 1,000-seat audience chamber with two storm shel-ters below the rear seating, a band room suitable for 100 students, and a black box that seats 75. The black box also can be used as a choir classroom and as a green room.

For more information about Jackson Brown Palculict Architects, go to jbpar-chitects.com or call 501.664.8700.

A Conference for School Board Members, Superintendents, and

Education LEaders in Arkansas, Louisiana, and MississippiHosted by:

ContinuedMarketplace

The Arkansas A+ model uses creative activities and project-based learning.

Such was the case recently at White County Central Elementary School.

It started when fourth grade teacher Lucelena Luttrell found a tarantula in her driveway that her mother killed. Lut-trell brought the spider to school.

Like her, the students didn’t know tarantulas were in Arkansas. They were so excited that they asked to bring it to the science lab, where they used a mag-nifying camera to look at its fangs. They conducted research to find its species and determined its gender based on its size. (Presumed to be male, they named it Hershey.) They then created posters with the many facts they learned.

The class decided to have a celebra-tion of life to bury Hershey and picked a Day of the Dead theme. They used sur-face area equations to determine the size of the casket. They wrote stories about Hershey visiting a haunted house and used clay to mold him from memory.

Luttrell and teacher Tracy Donitzen connected these activities to standards. Luttrell said she has a deeper under-standing of what A+ is after this experi-ence. For more information about the model, go to arkansasaplus.org.

Spider helps students lead learning at Arkansas A+ school

A-PLuS. Paul Leopoulos, executive director of the thea Foundation, of which Arkansas A+ is part, is pictured with students.



I cannot believe we are already in March of 2016. It seems that just yesterday we were attending our ASBA December Conference.

For those of you who did not attend, you missed a very informative event. The programming changed a little this year with additional hours available for board members on the opening Wednes-day of the conference session. Work-shops were available on Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. on varying topics such as “Fundamentals of School Finance” and “Social Media: Friend or Foe.” There were also other informative breakout sessions in the afternoon avail-able for our membership.

Thursday morning started with a great general session featuring the for-mer president of the Mississippi School Boards Association and the upcoming president of the National School Boards Association, Miranda Beard, who gave

a heartfelt presentation on the school board member’s role in taking care of all the needs of students. The Thursday Awards Luncheon was a huge success where the highlight was the honoring of fellow board members for outstand-ing service. The afternoon once again ended with a variety of topics to explore through breakout sessions.

Friday morning started with a presen-tation from ForwARd Arkansas, a joint venture of the Walton Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, along with key stakeholders to improve education in our great state for long-term solvency and sustainability. Next, we were ad-dressed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who outlined his platform and views for the future. The day ended with a conversa-tion with a legislative panel of diverse viewpoints.

For those who did attend, I’d like to thank you for your continued support. Several school board members indicated that this was one of the best conferences in ASBA recent history. I would have to concur. I’d also encourage you to check our website, arsba.org, for upcoming events, and don’t forget our annual December 2016 conference. And from me – a sincere, yet belated, Happy New Year!

Annual Conference one of best

by Brenda McKownASBA President

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