Education notebook
Parts of director’s lawsuit dismissed
U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. last week granted in part and denied in part the Little Rock School District’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed last year by the district’s director of planning, research and evaluation.
Karen DeJarnette sued Superintendent Dexter Suggs and the Little Rock School Board, arguing that district leaders eliminated her staff and her supervisory duties, hired someone with lesser qualifications for a new testing and evaluation department, tried unsuccessfully to not renew her contract, and ultimately, she said, demoted her to a staff training position.
DeJarnette, whose attorneys are state Rep. John Walker and Austin Porter Jr., said the district actions came after she filed a 2012 worker’s compensation claim because of health problems and after she told Suggs that schools with predominantly black enrollments were inferior to other schools in terms of facilities and academics. In her lawsuit, she accused district leaders of retaliation and of health, sex and age discrimination.
Moody dismissed DeJarnette’s claim against the School Board because the elected board was dissolved by the state Board of Education in a Jan. 28 state takeover of the district.
The judge also dismissed the claims regarding sex and age discrimination but is allowing the retaliation and race discrimination claims to proceed.
A jury trial in the case is set for the week of Dec. 7.
UTeach awards 3 seniors for videos
High school seniors Lauren Bradley of eStem Public Charter High School in Little Rock, Miriam Gonzales of Rogers High and Erica Savage of Cabot High are the winners of UTeach Arkansas’ $5,000 scholarship packages for their online videos that demonstrate a math, science or technology concept.
Each award includes a $2,500 tuition credit at a participating UTeach Arkansas university — University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Little Rock or University of Central Arkansas. The package also includes a laptop, a graphing calculator and a book voucher.
In the winning videos of no more than 15 seconds each, Bradley prepared dry-ice ice cream, Gonzales demonstrated an iron oxide and aluminum reaction, and Savage showed an iodine clock reaction.
“We were impressed not only by our three winners, but by all the videos submitted, which showed the depth of creativity among high school students throughout the state,” said Lisa Palacios, chairman of the UTeach Arkansas board.
UTeach Arkansas combines in-depth science or mathematics education with teacher preparation. Students can graduate in four years with both a bachelor’s degree in mathematics or science and a minor in education.
Students completing the UTeach Arkansas program are recommended to the Arkan- sas Department of Education for their teaching certificates in science or math for grades seven through 12.
Family starts fund at Spa City school
The Clifford O. Happy Memorial Endowment has been established to provide financial assistance to needy students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs.
The endowment honors Happy, a retired U.S. Marine Corps member and humanities instructor who joined the faculty of the residential public high school in August 2006. He died in September.
The endowment — started with a gift of $20,000 by Happy’s family, including his wife, Georgia — will enable the school to offer confidential financial assistance to needy students throughout the school year. Gifts to the endowment will be accepted.
Search for leader topic of session
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board will conduct a work session with Keith Williams and Andrew Tolbert of the McPherson & Jacobson superintendent search firm at 7 p.m. Monday at the Jacksonville Police Department, FEMA Room, 1400 Marshall Road.
The board will work with the consultants to set timelines, identify selection criteria and discuss advertising for the search to replace Bobby Lester, who agreed to be superintendent of the new district for only a short time.
The Jacksonville Education Foundation will provide a meal for the board at 5:45 p.m. before the work session at the same location.
Board reprimands PB superintendent
PINE BLUFF — The president of the Pine Bluff School Board has issued a letter of reprimand to Superintendent Linda Watson for insubordination and failure to follow a board directive, according to information released by the district Thursday through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
In his letter to Watson dated Dec. 15, board President Harold Jackson wrote: “Following the October 2, 2014 board meeting, you were instructed by the board to make all necessary arrangement to issue a payment to a district employee Dr. Michael Nellums to resolve a contract dispute. You refused the board directive and you did not authorize the payment.”
Nellums is the Pine Bluff High School principal and a former member of the Little Rock School Board. Watson is a former Little Rock School District superintendent.
The letter continued, “In defiance of the board directive you resisted and personally issued a public statement to support your position. Further, without board knowledge or approval, you sought and published an opinion from your personal lawyer to support your position.”
Jackson further wrote that Watson’s “behaviors not only embarrassed the board, but it eroded the public’s confidence in their elected representatives.”