Advisory board to weigh plans for 2 schools in LR district
Planning for the expansion of Pinnacle View Middle School and the enhancement of Hall High are on the agenda for the Little Rock School District’s Community Advisory Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.
The advisory board, which on a monthly basis reviews school district operations and makes recommendations as needed about the district to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, is returning to the district’s headquarters at 810 W. Markham St. for tonight’s session.
The advisory board has met for the past several months at the district’s Metropolitan Technical Skills Center in southwest Little Rock while work technology improvements and other renovations were being made at the downtown administration building.
Key, who acts in place of the school board in the state-controlled Little Rock district, earlier this month approved a district plan to close, combine, expand or repurpose about a dozen of the city’s campuses over the next few years.
The advisory board reviewed the facility proposal and forwarded to Key its recommendation for approval — with the exception of a provi-
sion regarding Hall High.
The advisory board did not think that the proposed enhancements to Hall, which included developing science and medical career opportunities, were sufficient to attract large numbers of families to the campus and to promote student success.
Members tabled the portion of the plan concerning Hall High until this month’s meeting.
“I accept the CAB recommendations for the LRSD Community Blueprint, including the tabling of … Hall High School,” Key said in a handwritten note to Superintendent Mike Poore.
The facility proposal sent to Key included a provision to add a ninth grade to the sixth-through-eighthgrade Pinnacle View Middle School in the northwest part of the city.
“I also direct the addition of the 9th grade, including the work to explore how to accomplish expansion to upper grades, consider student opportunities and flexibility for the participation in ac-
tivities and athletics,” Key wrote.
Key said later that he had included the note about student opportunities, activities and athletics because ninth grade marks the first year of high school, and rules about graduation credits and interscholastic activities come into play for high school grades.
Marvin Burton, the district’s deputy superintendent for secondary schools, said Wednesday that the work on Hall and Pinnacle View is still in exploratory stages, and he expects the district to form a couple of task forces to work through the planning processes for both campuses.
Discussion on Hall High will focus on the use of the High Reliability Schools’ instructional platform, career
academy options and marketing for the school.
The advisory board’s agenda for tonight also includes reports on the district’s literacy initiatives and results from the fall and winter administrations of the Northwest Education Association interim tests.
Those interim tests were given to students for the first time this school year as a way to determine student readiness for the state-required ACT Aspire exams in literacy, math and science that will be given in the spring.
The state-appointed advisory board’s members are: LaShannon Spencer, Maria Chavarria-Garcia, Melanie Fox, Jeff Wood, Anthony Hampton and Michael Mason. A seventh position on the board is vacant.