Visit schools, legislators urged

Participants benefited, says program’s House co-sponsor

The state lawmaker behind a September program to invite legislators to tour their local school districts said she hopes every member of the General Assembly will be able to participate next month.

Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma, said 100 of her 135 colleagues visited 120 Arkansas schools during last September’s “Take Your Legislature to School Month.” The annual program was initiated by a resolution sponsored by Douglas and Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, in 2015. The resolution sought to “foster positive working relationships between school officials and legislators.”

At a news conference Monday announcing the second year of the program, Douglas, a retired schoolteacher, said her connections with local schools in her district inspired her legislative work, and she wanted others in the Legislature to experience education issues first hand.

“They saw things in their schools that they had never fathomed were taking place for the good, and they got to ask schools what were the challenges,” Douglas said of the program’s first year. “I think legislation was born from those conversations.”

To participate in the program, schools invite their local lawmakers to conduct walk-throughs and meet with students, teachers and administrators. Douglas said some legislators have also participated in classroom instruction, such as discussions about lawmaking with high school civics classes or teaching Revolutionary War history to elementary school students.

The benefit is not just for the students and the educators, Douglas noted.

“It’s a great campaign tool, if nothing else, ” she said.

Also on hand to promote the program during Monday’s press conference were Clark, Education Commissioner Johnny Key and members of the Arkansas Education Association, the Association of Educational Administrators and the Arkansas State Teachers Association.

The General Assembly will begin meeting in regular session in January, the first regular session since the visiting legislator program began in 2015.