Today, January 10th, by a 6 – 2 vote, the State Board of Education affirmed the Charter Authorizing Panel’s unanimous approval of the open enrollment public charter application of Responsive Education Solutions’ Quest Middle School of West Little Rock.
Members voting for affirmation were Joe Black, Toyce Newton, Alice Mahony, Mireya Reith, Vicki Saviers and Diane Zook. Voting against were Jay Barth and Sam Ledbetter.
Interested, qualified and student-focused potential school leaders, faculty and staff should visit ResponsiveEd.com, where position openings will be posted.
Instructions on open enrollment will be shared when known.
The following are parents’ presentations of need to the State Board.
Gary Newton
Chairman Gullett, Members of the State Board, Dr. Kimbrell, I am one of 224 parents seeking public education for our children where none exists.
Because the fate of this application should be decided solely on its merits, here are facts regarding need, supported by the Department’s and other public data.
1. When it opened in 2010, Roberts was the first school built by the Little Rock School District west of I-430 since 1978.
2. At 900 students, it was immediately the largest elementary school in the District.
3. Roberts is the fifth highest performing elementary in the State of Arkansas.
4. Because need already exceeds capacity, PreK was cancelled at Roberts, forcing parents to send their four-year olds out of their attendance zone for their first public school experience.
5. The attendance zone middle school for Roberts is Forest Heights, which is in Zone 3, east of University Avenue.
6. On the Benchmark Exams, of 872 reporting schools in Arkansas, Forest Heights was 850th in Math and 846th in Literacy.
7. According to the Little Rock Police Department, there were 152 incidents at Forest Heights during the ‘11-‘12 school year.
8. Last night, the District’s Board voted 4 – 3 to convert Forest Heights to a K-8 STEM Academy, so next year, Roberts’ zoned middle school will be Zone 5’s Henderson Health Science Magnet.
9. Since 2011, Henderson has been designated by the Department as a Needs improvement Priority School, among the 42 lowest performing schools in Arkansas.
10. According to the Little Rock Police Department, there were 75 incidents at Henderson during the ‘11-‘12 school year.
11. Two of seven District middle schools are Needs Improvement Priority Schools.
12. The attendance zone high school for Roberts is Hall, which is in Zone 3, just west of University Avenue.
13. Hall is also a Needs improvement Priority School.
14. According to the Little Rock Police Department, there were 329 incidents at Hall during the ‘11-‘12 school year.
15. Three of five District high schools are Needs Improvement Priority Schools.
16. The District has no plans to build a high school in West Little Rock.
17. Of 106 fifth graders at Roberts last year, 35 remain in the District as sixth graders.
18. Over a two-year period, the District lost 588 students, 504 between the fifth and sixth grades.
19. Over a four-year period, the fifth to sixth grade exodus increased 460%.
20. The District has said construction of a West Little Rock Middle School is contingent upon the results of a just-begun facilities study, followed by a successful millage increase campaign.
21. The District already has the fourth highest millage rate in Arkansas.
22. Of the twenty-one zip codes in Pulaski County, three in West Little Rock account for 23% of the entire county’s public school property tax revenue.
23. A 5 mill increase was passed by District voters in May 2000 which funded $190 Million in construction bonds, of which $13.2 Million (6.95%) was used to construct Roberts.
24. The doors to Roberts didn’t open until over a decade after the millage election.
25. In regard to the Proposed Desegregation Settlement Agreement, the Attorney General said he agreed to allow the Joshua Intervenors’ attorney to negotiate with the District on the side, because the attorney specifically wanted a ban on construction of a West Little Rock Middle School as a condition for joining the Settlement.
26. Before joining the Settlement, the District Board passed a resolution prioritizing future state facilities funds from the Settlement for Southwest Little Rock and “Basic and Below Basic” students.
27. The District Board president said the resolution was an inducement to get the Joshua Intervenors’ attorney to join the Settlement, which he did.
28. Hundreds of West Little Rock students cannot attend the public schools closest to their homes because the state-appointed superintendent of the state-controlled Pulaski County Special School District and Little Rock exempted their districts from school choice.
29. The proposed location of Quest is as close or closer to five of the six County and Little Rock feeder elementary schools located west of I-430 than those schools’ currently zoned middle schools.
Today, fourteen months after our work on this charter began, you decide between the wishes of 224 parents and two school districts’ attorneys.
May the best interests of students guide your decision.
To share more about need, we have two of our long-time parent leaders, Rachelle Bloser and Pablo Valarezo.
Rachelle Bloser
Four years ago, our child was among the first students at Roberts, now the largest elementary school in the LRSD and fifth highest performing in the state.
Next year, we are supposed to bus her east of University to our zoned middle school, among the 3% lowest performing schools in Arkansas.
Our zoned high school? My alma mater. Just west of University, and now a Needs Improvement Priority School.
In other words, we are expected to leave Arkansas’s fifth best elementary and bus across town so she may attend two of the lowest performing secondary schools in the state. Schools that, according to the Little Rock Police Department, during the 2011-12 school year, had 152 and 329 police incidents, respectively.
Since the Quest application was approved, we’ve gone from bad to worse.
The Little Rock School District now proposes to re-zone us for a middle school, inexplicably called a magnet, which is also a Needs Improvement Priority School.
For four years, like waves of parents before us, we have begged our School Board to provide excellent, accessible public secondary education for our students. But it hasn’t.
No matter how you feel about charters in general or other charters specifically, please look at our issue with fresh eyes. If you vote to overturn the unanimous decision of the Arkansas Department of Education’s senior management, where are we to turn for public secondary education for our students?
And please know, if you affirm the Panel’s decision, the burden for the success of this school will not rest solely with the Department or this Board. We parents, who have come farther than any before us, will not allow Responsive Education Solutions and Quest to be anything less than excellent.
Pablo Valarezo
As you heard, of the 106 fifth graders at Roberts last year, only 35 remain in the District as sixth graders. Friendships forged over the years have been scattered among private schools, home schools, charter schools and other school districts, not because of choice, but because of moving out of the county.
Three of the five parents most involved in the selection of Dr. Suggs as the new Little Rock School District Superintendent are leaders of our charter school effort. One of those parents here today has led former Roberts parents in joining and supporting our zoned middle school’s PTA, even though none of us have children there. Already, that partnership has more than tripled PTA membership and fundraising over last year.
As evidenced by our actions, our parent initiators of Quest believe public education is not either/or, but all.
We are keenly aware that the success or failure of our entire community is contingent upon the success or failure of our school district. That is why we have and will continue to strongly support our district’s new leadership in putting children first.
As our new superintendent has said, “Parents should have the right to send their child to any school they deem best for their child.” As we continue to support his and our District’s work to become “a viable choice,” we respectfully ask that you approve our complementary efforts to become an “immediate choice.”
Over the past four years, all our parents have ever sought is fairness. Fairness in education from our public institutions. Then, when that is repeatedly denied, fairness in relief from our state government.
Members, the only hope for our students rests with your empowering our parents. Our institutions have not only failed us, but fight us in providing what is guaranteed by the Arkansas Constitution – “a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools.” It is now incumbent upon you to adopt “all suitable means to secure to (our) people the advantages and opportunities of education.”
The question of need has not been denied. The issue is, who can be trusted to provide immediate, accessible, excellent public secondary education for our children. The Districts have had decades. Give parents and Responsive Ed seven months.
Thank you for your time, consideration and service. We and our fellow parents look forward to answering any of your questions and/or addressing any of your concerns.