Dollarway school comments sought
The Arkansas Department of Education is looking for community feedback over the coming weeks as the Arkansas State Board of Education prepares to decide the future of the Dollarway School District. All input is needed from parents, students, educators and other leaders in the Dollarway School District and surrounding communities.
The Dollarway School District was placed under the direction of the commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education on Dec. 10, 2015, because of academic distress. Shortly after, the district was classified to be in fiscal distress. Under state authority, the local school board was dissolved, and the commissioner appointed Barbara Warren as superintendent. The Arkansas State Board of Education is required by statute to annex, consolidate, or reconstitute if the district has not returned to local control by Dec. 10, 2020.
The Arkansas Department of Education partnered with WestEd and the Regional Comprehensive Center funded by the U.S. Department of Education to collect and analyze community input to inform the decision. Previous attempts to gather feedback were aimed toward the Dollarway community, but that effort resulted in a low community response of only 37 participants.
In the coming weeks, the state board will decide on one of four options for the future of the Dollarway School District and have offered three opportunities
for community involvement throughout the county.
Beginning today at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m.; one Monday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m.; and on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 12 p.m., participants can join a virtual one-hour conversation that will include a short presentation of the current options for the Dollarway School District.
Each participant will discuss his or her perspective on each option. Those interested can register to join in the conversation at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Dollar-wayFeedbackForumRegistra-tion. The second community feedback survey will open today through Nov. 29 at http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DollarwayFeedback2020.
Participants will complete a 10-12 minute anonymous survey regarding specific aspects of the presented options for Dollarway’s future.
Opportunity three will be open public comment. Starting today through Dec. 8, participants can share their opinion in a signed written response submitted by email or mail after reviewing a short video explaining the options.
The following short video and slides have been provided to assist stakeholders in providing feedback. While the video contains scenarios under annexation, consolidation, and reconstitution, the state board is not limited to these scenarios alone and may consider other options or suggestions.
The video can be viewed at: https://wested.ent.box.com/s/u0cwhkf1kmlk8x60n20tyaw7lqnn8ul5.
Comments emailed to DollarwayCommunityInput@wested.org will be accepted through Dec. 8 as well.
For those who cannot access the internet to participate, they may call (312) 6266799 and use identification number 96835284752 or they can mail their written public comment to AR Department of Education, Attn: Stacy Smith, 4 Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201.