Education notebook

Safety campaign geared to drivers

The seventh annual “Flashing Red, Kids Ahead” campaign to encourage all drivers to obey traffic laws — particularly around the more than 6,000 school buses that will be transporting some 350,000 students this school year — is underway.

The one-month safety campaign is meant to remind drivers that it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus when its red lights are flashing, as students are getting on and off the bus.

In April, Arkansas school bus drivers reported 884 instances in one day of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses.

“Student safety on and off the bus does not stop with bus drivers; every motorist has a responsibility,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

The Arkansas Department of Education will post video testimonials and graphics on social media accounts throughout August. School employees and students are invited to also post videos and pictures that promote school bus safety on social media using #2019FlashingRed.

More information about the campaign is available at www. flashingredkidsahead.org.

Eight teachers win scholarship grants

Eight Arkansas school teachers are the recipients of the 2019 Parsons-Burnett Scholarship Grants, which are awarded annually to working teachers to further their education.

The recipients are:

■ Perla Andrade, Little Rock School District.

■ Liseth Arana, North Little Rock School District.

■ Meagan Daley, De Queen School District.

■ Emily Smeltzer, Lake Hamilton School District.

■ Adam Eckard, Jon Newman, Keith Pringle and Rose Schmidt Riley, all of the Jonesboro School District.

The Parsons-Burnett Scholarship Grants are funded with contributions from members of the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association, the fourth-largest professional trade association in Arkansas, with more than 12,650 members.