Schools plan on LR board’s plate
City leaders to debate joining call for closings impact study
Little Rock city directors are considering joining parents and neighborhood activists in asking the Little Rock School District and the state commissioner of education to conduct a community impact study before closing three schools and repurposing another.
Vice Mayor and Ward 3 City Director Kathy Webb worked with state Sen. Joyce Elliot, D-Little Rock, to draft the proposed city resolution. Several other board members signed on as co-sponsors, including Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson, Ward 4 City Director Capi Peck and Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright.
Webb had planned to introduce such a proposal weeks ago, before the decision was made to close the schools, but she ended up postponing that at the request of a community member, she said.
When asked what impact Little Rock’s request would have now that state Education Commissioner Johnny Key has already accepted Little Rock School District Superintendent Michael Poore’s recommendation to close and repurpose certain schools, Webb said the city board’s support still matters.
“First, it tangibly demonstrates the commitment of our board to speak out for our neighborhoods,” Webb said. “Second, it adds additional voices, who represent almost 200,000 people, to those calling for an impact study. That the state would make these decisions without taking into account the impact on the neighborhood is a clear example of why local control is needed. While tough decisions do have to be made, and we acknowledge that, we as a city with an
elected school board need to be making those decisions.”
Key has acted as the decision-maker for the Little Rock School District since the state Education Board’s vote in 2015 to take over the district, removing the locally elected School Board.
Key said last week that the decision on school closures has already been made, and the city board’s proposed resolution would not change his mind.
“If they pass it, that would be their opinion, but I’ve addressed the issue of impact statements. I really don’t have anything else to add on that,” he said.
The city board plans to take up Webb’s resolution at its March 21 meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
It states that the Board of Directors “shares the concerns of the families, other residents, other stakeholders, and other supporters about the effects closures would have on the viability of their neighborhood” and says an impact study is merited to inform decision-making regarding schools and neighborhoods.
“The city supports residents and partnerships working together to restore and/or build a vibrant quality of life in marginalized neighborhoods and believes that strong neighborhoods are anchored by strong institutions, such as houses of worship, health care facilities, recreational outlets and neighborhood schools supported by the residents,” it says.
Last month, Key approved the school district’s proposal to close Franklin Elementary, Woodruff Early Childhood Center and the Hamilton Learning Academy. The district also will repurpose Wilson Elementary into Hamilton’s alternative-education program for secondary school students who are not successful in their regular schools.
The $3.8 million saved by closing and repurposing the schools is part of about $11 million in reductions planned for the district’s more than $300 million budget.
The cuts, which also include streamlining middle and high school staffing, reducing administrative positions, and cutting some school bus transportation expenses, are being combined with cuts made this year and in past years to offset the loss of $37.3 million a year in state desegregation aid. That special state funding will stop after the 2017-18 school year under a 2014 agreement to settle part of a now 34-year-old school desegregation case.
The Save Our Schools grassroots coalition has been actively opposing the school closures and lobbying for an impact study for some time. Some members have said the school district takeover and the school closures are based on racial bias.
Of the 585 students enrolled this year at the two elementary schools scheduled for closure, 445, or 76 percent, are black, according to Arkansas Department of Education data. Key and Poore are white.
The Save Our Schools group says there’s still merit in asking for an impact study, despite the fact that Key has made the decision to close the schools, because there is still time to complete that assessment before the closures take place at the end of the school year.
Save Our Schools leader and spokesman Anika Whitfield, who previously said she planned to attend every city board meeting until directors pass a resolution joining the request for a study, said it’s important for city leaders to publicly advocate for the community in this matter.
“It is our hope that as we move forward together, our city leaders will continue to more visibly engage in actions that are meaningful to the people with which they were elected to serve,” she said.