Education board approves teacher-law waivers

The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday voted to waive school employment protection laws in the Little Rock and Pine Bluff school districts, both of which operate under state control and are classified as systems in “Level 5 — in need of intensive support.”

In the Little Rock district, the waiver of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public Employee Fair Hearing Act goes into effect immediately for the remainder of this school year and through the coming 2019-20 school year, Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key said.

“Shame on you! Shame on you!” some audience members shouted at the Education Board after the daylong meeting ended about 6 p.m.

As many as 50 people — most of them Little Rock parents, educators and lawmakers — voiced to the nine-member board during the day their varying opinions on the employment protection waivers and other aspects of the Little Rock School District’s operations.

The Department of Education’s 100-seat auditorium, the agency lobby and an overflow room were filled most of the day with interested onlookers and staff members from the districts.

Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, one of the day’s speakers in opposition to the waivers, called teachers the most important public servants in society and superheros who should be given world-class support.

Earlier in the day, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin said students don’t have time to live in failing schools and that “you give up local control when you don’t get the job done.”

Other speakers during the day included Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore, Pine Bluff Superintendent Jeremy Owoh, Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington and Teresa Knapp Gordon, who is the president of the Little Rock Education Association.

During the eight-hour meeting, the Education Board defeated all but one of several motions made by board member Diane Zook of Melbourne and Little Rock regarding those operations.

Passed by the board was a call for the Department of Education to examine the district’s special-education program, including services for dyslexic students, for compliance with state and federal requirements.

Motions calling for a new kindergarten-through-12th-grade literacy curriculum, the restructuring of the district’s administration, the reconstituting of Hall High School, the redrawing of school attendance zone lines and the assurances of a high school program in northwest Little Rock were voted down or died for lack of a second to the motion.

In several of those cases, Education Board members concluded that the proposals overreached the board’s policymaking role or that the district was already addressing the matters.

The state’s long-standing school employment protection laws call for school leaders to do observations of employees at work, and provide them with plans and timelines for improving their deficiencies before making any recommendations for firing them.

The newly approved waivers of the laws in Little Rock and Pine Bluff are meant to make it easier and quicker to remove ineffective educators or support-staff members in the districts that were taken over by the state at least in part for poor academic achievement.

Key started Thursday’s meeting by saying that waivers and other measures considered by the board were in keeping with Arkansas law and the Arkansas Constitution that gives the state the responsibility for maintaining a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools.

He said any waivers of the employment protection laws would “be used judiciously with equity and integrity.” He asked that the waivers be limited to extend only through the 2019-20 school year. He posed that limit in response to teachers from a low-performing school who had come to him earlier with that request.

Back in October, Key had withheld approval of the 2018-19 Professional Negotiations Agreement between the Little Rock district and its employee union over the fact that 22 of the district’s 40 schools had just received D and F state ratings. Key directed that the district and Little Rock Education Association extend negotiations to include in their agreement support for a waiver of the school employee dismissal laws.

Key at the time said the progress in the 22 schools was inadequate and that the employment-protection laws were too cumbersome and time consuming.

He said he envisioned the waiver of the laws to be used as a scalpel rather than a chain saw and that the waiver would apply in school years after the current school year.

Representatives of the district and the association reached a settlement agreement last month that acknowledged the state’s authority to waive the laws but also included provisions calling for the grievance procedures to go into effect for those who are recommended for firing.

Additionally, a new due-process provision in the agreement stated that the district and union are committed to ensuring due process for all employees. No disciplinary action shall take place without just cause, the agreement says, and any disciplinary action shall be appropriate to the behavior that precipitated such discipline.

Poore reiterated that after Thursday’s meeting.

“I’m going to be fair,” Poore said, adding that he wanted teachers to know that. “I’m going to be really on top of looking at recommendations [for firing| to make sure there is cause. I want to do it right. If it’s not there, the recommendation won’t pass. I also believe our principals will do that as well.”

Education Board member Ouida Newton of Leola made the motion to waive the employment protection laws in the Little Rock schools.

Poore said he had believed and had prepared for a waiver of the law in the 22 schools — including three high schools — that had received the D and F state letter grades and not the entire district. He said that even if just one employee in each of the 22 schools was recommended for termination and exercised appeals, the time commitment for the administration would be considerable — even with the expedited process.

Poore also said he believed any waivers would be in effect not this year but would apply to schools that earned D’s and F’s after the spring 2019 administration of the ACT Aspire exams.

Key said language in the negotiated agreement — which acknowledges the state’s authority to waive the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act — is controlling or takes precedence over the terms of individual teacher contracts and the reliance of the contracts on the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act.

Newton said she wanted the waivers to apply to district administrators, including instructional specialists who supervise teachers and programs in schools, and are responsible for seeing that programs are properly carried out.

“Everyone must be accountable,” Newton said, adding that teachers are hardworking and did not by themselves cause the schools to earn D’s and F’s.

Board chairman Jay Barth of Little Rock, a tenured faculty member at Hendrix College, said the motion for the employment protection waivers puts teachers under attack at a time when the district needs unity.

“We talk about the most challenging districts need [of] the best teachers. This does not attract teachers,” he said, adding that he personally wouldn’t give up his tenure for the same job somewhere else that does not provide tenure.

He also said the proposal “knocks a hole” in any trust there is between the district and the Education Board.

Newton amended her motion to waive the laws in the D and F schools, and for program administrators and specialists districtwide.

Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, and a retired teacher, jumped out of her seat in the audience to object.

“Nothing you can do could be more unjust,” she told the board. “How do you have two classes of teachers in one district?” she asked, saying that the proposal would give different rights to teachers.

No one seconded Newton’s amended motion, so it died, raising applause from some in the audience.

Education Board member Sarah Moore of Stuttgart made the motion to apply the waivers districtwide, which passed with a 6-3 vote. Those in favor were Moore, Newton, Zook, Fitz Hill of Little Rock, Susan Chambers of Bella Vista and Kathy McFetridge of Springdale.

Those voting against it were Barth, Charisse Dean of Little Rock and Brett Williamson of El Dorado.

Earlier, the board had voted 8-1 to approve the waiver of the employment protection laws in the Pine Bluff district, which was just taken over by the state in September. Barth, who rarely votes except to break a tie, voted no.

The Little Rock district was taken over by the state in January 2015.