Report Card December 2021 www.arsba.org
The Journal of the Arkansas School Boards Association
Ag Academy
At the Centerpoint Academy of Agriculture & Skilled Trades, students like Jadon White raise farm animals and follow agriculture and skillsbased programs of study. The school has the state’s only on-campus meat processing facility where students harvest and process meat. A greenhouse produces lettuce that is served in the cafeteria. Even core courses have an agriculture base; in math, for example, word problems call for determining the acreage of a plot of farmland. Students learn about skilled trades at local businesses. And it’s all tied into the district’s larger agriculture program, in which the majority of students take classes.
Setting goals
As I reflect on my year as ASBA president, I am proud of how public educators have continued to focus on the needs of all children, despite the vast challenges that the past year presented. Zig Ziglar once stated that, “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” It is my belief that despite the current difficulties that we are facing, public educators WILL continue to guide our students to the beautiful destinations ahead. It is truly an honor to know that we, as board members, are part of that journey. Previously, my articles focused on hope, compassion, and goal setting, and now I feel that it is appropriate to acknowledge the challenges that are faced by our students, communities, and public educators. Over the past year, students, parents, educators, and even board members have faced political
ALL ROADS LEAD TO COMPLIANCE...
by Rosa Bowman ASBA President turmoil, a health crisis, and various other unprecedented challenges. During these times of great trials, our public educators embodied the essence of a statement by Roger Crawford, a tennis player with a disability: “Challenges are inevitable. Defeat is optional.” I am proud to proclaim that public educators have refused to be defeated in
their quest to ensure that students recognize and achieve their goals! Instead of succumbing to such difficulties, public educators elected to channel their energy toward ensuring the well-being of their students via hope, compassion, and goal setting. Collectively, the compassion and determination of every public educator continue to drive the success of our children and our communities. To me, one of the greatest blessings is our ability to help students succeed. As public school board members, we are granted the challenge and opportunity to make a positive contribution in the lives of our students. While it has been a pleasure to meet those challenges as a veteran board member and the 2021 ASBA president, I am truly humbled and honored to call myself a lifelong public educator. May God continue to bless the work that we are allowed to do.
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Jerrod Williams Sheridan School District Superintendent Partnering with Chartwells has been a great business decision. Five years ago we ran our foodservice program in-house and we were significantly in the red. Today, we are significantly in the black. There have been many benefits besides financial that make this a win for Sheridan School District. • More students eating - over 25% increase in lunch and 19% in breakfast since we started, and continued growth year over year • Environment has a collegiate, inviting feel • Implemented School Garden to Table program • Coffee shop serves reimbursable meals, froyo and a la carte items that students love • Students have a place where they can eat, connect with others, recharge, and enjoy a sense of happiness in their school • Fresh, made-from-scratch food and tons of daily options that students and staff enjoy
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• Internal and external catering • Adult participation increased by 31% • Concessions has become a food destination for the community each week • Our District Food Service staff now has the tools, resources and training to be successful
Sheridan Schools and Chartwells, a partnership that serves the students
Report Card
The Journal of the Arkansas School Boards Association
News and Features 12
Relationships influence lawmakers
20
Cabot’s Saum is Teacher of the Year
22
Cover / Ag Academy
emy of Agriculture & Skilled Trades learn agriculture and workforce skills as part of their curricula. It has the state’s only certified, school-based meat processing plant.
Departments President’s Column Letter from the Executive Director ASBA News and Notes Calendar Jay Bequette’s Column Advertisers Index Commercial Affiliates Marketplace
4 December 2021 Report Card
How does a school board handle a meeting when members of the public have strong opinions about a particular issue, such as masks? By being prepared beforehand. That was one of the messages at ASBA’s regional meetings this year – and it will continue being a message in trainings at the Annual Conference and elsewhere.
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22 Students in the Centerpoint Acad-
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How to let patrons have their say
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School board members and superintendents can influence state legislators by first developing relationships. Two former speakers of the House and one current legislator told attendees of the Northeast Arkansas Fall Leadership Institute in Jonesboro Oct. 1 that legislators deal with so many issues and so many people that having a prior relationship helps break through the noise.
Jessica Saum, a K-4 special education teacher at Stagecoach Elementary School in Cabot, was named the 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year Oct. 13. The Air Force spouse’s focus is on inclusion and support for military families.
At Centerpoint Academy of Agriculture & Skilled Trades, classes – including core academic ones – have an agriculture-based focus. Students engage in five programs of study to prepare them for the workforce or an agriculture-related college major. They spend eight Fridays learning hands-on at local skilled trade businesses. They can even raise an animal on the school’s 98-acre farm and new barn, slaughter it, butcher it in Arkansas’s only school-based meat processing lab, and take it home. Or they can butcher meat raised by community members for those members’ consumption, or meat grown from U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved growers that the school then sells.
Executive Session with Tad Margolis
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Bryant High School, Bryant, AR Don Tyson School of Innovation, Springdale, AR
Sylvan Hills High, Sherwood, AR
Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, AR
EST.
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Letter from the Executive Director
by Dr. Tony Prothro
Our members are our higher loyalty
Loyalty is a trait that we all wish to embody as human beings. Loyalty can be a characteristic that brings stability, character, and positive outcomes to a person or organization. However, at times, loyalties may conflict and must be prioritized so an association can continue moving forward in a positive direction. ASBA’s primary loyalty is to its members who serve the children of Arkansas. This loyalty has come in conflict with ASBA’s membership in the National School Boards Association (NSBA). I have encountered difficulties in our affiliation with NSBA since I first came to ASBA. Associations should, as one aspect of their inherent goals, exist to serve and meet the needs of their membership. They should model the policies, practices, and governance they wish their members to replicate. However, I feel that NSBA has not fulfilled this essential requirement. The recent letter from NSBA to President Biden has raised major controversy for state associations. While all state associations would want all parties (students, staff, board members, parents, and patrons) to be safe in any meetings or interactions, the letter went too far in asking for federal intervention on behalf of states and local boards of education. ASBA firmly believes in local control, and it should be the local board and administration that determine what, if any, security measures are needed to protect all the parties involved. The letter is not the sole reason to consider a separation from NSBA. Instead, it is only a reflection of the association’s many issues. There are many other considerations in moving forward with ASBA’s continued affiliation with NSBA. Among them are: • Lack of fiscal solidarity. NSBA has a recent history of financial issues. In the 6 December 2021 Report Card
last 10 years, it experienced deep problems due to an employee pension plan problem that was not addressed in a timely manner. This along with other financial issues resulted in NSBA selling its building headquarters in Washington and subsequently renting from the new owner a part of the building to host its office needs. • Governance. NSBA has been repeatedly urged by its member states to change its governance structure and work toward a more effective model to address past and current issues. • Communication. NSBA’s members have expressed disgruntlement because of the NSBA’s lack of transparency and failure to communicate with them. A point of reference is the recent letter to President Biden. NSBA later apologized and issued a retraction, but it did not come until more than two weeks after the letter was released. During that elapsed time, many state associations were suffering greatly due to the pushback resulting from the letter. Also, most of the NSBA board members were not involved in writing or approving the letter and knew nothing of the content until it was published. Member states also were not consulted about the letter or given any input into the content before it was sent. • Value of membership. NSBA has been questioned by many states about its services to its membership. The amount of dues paid by member states compared to the services rendered has been a point of contention. A part of this conversation reflects dissatisfaction in that it seems NSBA might be duplicating its member states’ services and being a competitor instead of a supporter. State associations do not want to compete with services offered by the national organization. So, what does this mean for ASBA’s future affiliation with NSBA? Due to the
Please see NSBA, on next page
Report Card The Journal of the Arkansas School Boards Association Vol. 14, Number 4
December 2021
P.O. Box 165460 / Little Rock, AR 72216 Telephone: 501-372-1415 / 800-482-1212 Fax: 501-375-2454 E-mail: arsba@arsba.org / www.arsba.org
Board of Directors President: Rosa Bowman, Ashdown President-elect: Dr. Tad Margolis, Valley View Vice President: William Campbell, McGehee Sec.-Treasurer: Randy Hutchinson, Springdale Past President: Randy Goodnight, Greenbrier Region 1: Travis Warren, Farmington Region 2: Mitchell Archer, Bergman Region 3: Dr. Julea Garner, Highland Region 4: Kyle Cannon, Mena Region 5: Clint Hull, Pottsville Region 6: Nikki King, Pangburn Region 7: D’James Rogers, West Memphis Region 8: Jereme Carter, Carlisle Region 9: Joey Astin, Forrest City Region 10: Mark Curry, Lake Hamilton Region 11: Carl “Buddy” Puckett, Poyen Region 12: Laura Clark, Blevins Region 13: Doris Parham, Bearden Region 14: Jerry Daniels, Warren
Staff
Executive Director: Dr. Tony Prothro Board Development Director: Dr. Anne Butcher Incoming Board Development Director: Tammie Reitenger Governmental Relations Director: Dan Jordan Finance Director: Diana Woodward Communications and Technology Director: Sherri Fite Staff Attorney: Kristen Garner Policy Director: Lucas Harder Database Administrator: Kathy Ivy Commercial Affiliates/Board Liaison Manager: Angela Ellis Bookkeeper: Kayla Orr TIPS-TAPS Project Manager: Mickey McFatridge General Counsel: Jay Bequette Risk Management Program & Workers’ Comp. Program: Shannon Moore, Director Krista Glover Dwayne McAnally Misty Thompson Melody Tipton LaVerne Witherspoon Linda Collins Lisa Wigginton Kara Quinton Julianne Dobson
TO CONTACT THE MAGAZINE
Please contact Steve Brawner, Editor 501.847.7743; brawnersteve@mac.com Report Card is published quarterly by the Arkansas School Boards Association. Copyright 2021 by the Arkansas School Boards Association and Steve Brawner Communications. All rights reserved.
ASBA News and notes
NSBA Continued from previous page
ongoing issues above, ASBA did not pay its NSBA dues on July 1, 2021 (long before the recent NSBA letter in question), and has not paid those dues to date. The ASBA Board was scheduled to vote on the question of continued membership in NSBA. On Dec. 8, school district delegates from across Arkansas were to be asked at the Annual Conference’s Delegate Assembly to vote on amendments that would decide any future affiliation with NSBA in relation to the ASBA bylaws. ASBA does not wish to repeat the mistakes of NSBA. Our desire is to be transparent as we make major decisions concerning affiliation with NSBA. Editor’s note: After this column was written, ASBA’s board of directors and Delegate Assembly voted to withdraw from NSBA on Dec. 8.
Fort Smith student Nguyen wins ASBA speech contest
Suppertime not only brought Tu Nguyen’s family together, but it also helped her earn a $1,000 award from ASBA. Nguyen, a junior at Fort Nguyen Smith Southside High School, won the award for placing first among 19 students in the 2021 ASBA Student Essay/Speaking contest. Students were asked to write an essay and deliver a short, recorded speech on
the topic, “Individual rights vs. the common good: What is the proper balance?” The photo of Nguyen at left is taken from a screenshot of her speech. Nguyen shared how, growing up in an immigrant Vietnamese family, she and each member of the family contribute to her mother’s homemade meals, and all benefit from it. Her mother bans cell phones, requires all members to help cook and clean up, and doesn’t allow the meals to be skipped. “What we all get in exchange is a traditional dinner with food nowhere else to be found, surrounded by the people we love most,” she said. Nguyen said sometimes she might not want to eat with her family, but her mother insists that she do so because her absence would take away from the others’ experience. Likewise, she said individualism is one of the nation’s founding principles, but Americans pay
Continued on next page
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Report Card December 2021 7
ASBA News and notes taxes for services that benefit the greater good, like parks, national defense and schools. “I remain an individual, but one who thinks about others when I make my choice,” she said. Katie Prejean, a junior from Joe T. Robinson High School in the Pulaski County Special School District, placed second and was awarded $750. Celia Mayfield, a senior at Jonesboro High School, was third and won $500. Richard Liu, a senior at Little Rock Central High School, placed fourth and won $250. Nguyen spoke at the ASBA Annual Conference’s Awards Luncheon Dec. 9. Prejean and Mayfield spoke at the conference on Dec. 10.
Bergman’s Archer elected ASBA Region 2 director
Mitchell Archer, a member of the Bergman School Board, was elected ASBA Region 2 director during the regional meeting Archer Oct. 7. Archer has served for 15 years on the Bergman School Board and was re-elected to a five-year term in May. He has served three times as board president.
ASBA calendar Feb. 8 ASBA Law Seminar DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Little Rock May 3 ASBA/AAEA Joint Leadership Conference Wyndham Riverfront North Little Rock June 23 New Board Member Institute DoubleTree by Hilton Hot Springs
He retired last December after working thirty-five-and-a-half years as a civil engineer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation. He and his wife, Michele, raise cattle, sheep and chickens on 600 acres. He is a 1980 graduate of Bergman High School. His daughter, Grace, is a graduate. His son, Paul, is a senior this year. “I’ve always enjoyed working with the Bergman school,” he said. “The administration has always been through the years good to work with. The current administration is fantastic. Really have the kids in mind, at heart. I look forward to being the ASBA delegate and working with you and Tony and everyone down there. I think that Arkansas is a great state, and we have great schools.”
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8 December 2021 Report Card
Millage proposals pass in Little Rock, Pulaski, Southside
Voters in the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special School Districts approved school funding proposals Nov. 2, while voters at Batesville Southside approved a millage increase. Voters in the Little Rock School District extended a 12.4 debt service mill levy by 19 years to 2052 to raise $300 million. The vote was 5,736-1,866. The extension will pay for an $85 million school that will serve grades K-8 at the present site of the vacant McClellan High School. It will serve grades currently served by Baseline Elementary, Meadowcliff Elementary, and Cloverdale Middle School. School board member Greg Adams said the plans are to change Baseline into a pre-K center, while Cloverdale will be closed and Meadowcliff most likely will be closed. An $85 million, 1,200-student high school will be built in northwest Little Rock. It will be the first time a traditional high school will be located in west Little Rock. Classrooms will be expanded to replace more than 20 portable classrooms at Central High School, and there will be improvements at other facilities. This was the third time Little Rock voters were asked to extend the millage. Requests in 2017 and 2020 were defeated. But this was the first election since the district was removed from state control and placed under the governance of an elected school board, which had advanced the proposal on a 9-0 vote. Adams, who served as a liaison with the campaign, said having an elected school board was Adams a key factor in passing the request. “They felt like that they had a line of accountability there that wasn’t there when the state was in control of the district,” he said.
Please see MILLAGE, page 11
What if a board member is FOIA’d?
Don’t respond to it yourself. Stay out of trouble in the first place by knowing the law.
We’ve been seeing a lot of schoolrelated Freedom of Information Act requests lately. A number of board members have even directly received FOIA requests related to personnel records, investigation reports, emails and texts. Board members who receive such requests shouldn’t respond directly. Instead, they should submit them to their superintendent or another central office administrator so the district can respond. Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act is one of the nation’s most expansive public records laws. There’s nothing school board members or districts can do to reduce the number of requests; you’re at your patrons’ mercy, as long as their requests comply with the law. You can, however, reduce the chance that you’ll violate the law, which starts with knowing what it says.
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by Jay Bequette ASBA General Counsel Unless you are a brand-new board member, you should be somewhat familiar with FOIA. All board meetings are to be public. A meeting occurs when two or more board members discuss school business, even if it’s unplanned. A twohour notice must be given to all county media outlets, as well as outside outlets who regularly cover meetings. Media outlets include newspapers and radio and TV stations. Fail to do this and, legally, the meeting didn’t happen. That two-hour notice applies to all circumstances. If a meeting starts at 6 p.m. but a quorum is not present, don’t adjourn until more board members arrive. Doing so triggers the FOIA’s notification requirements. Instead, recess the meeting. Board members’ emails, texts and other written or recorded communications related to school business – including those communicated via a private device – are subject to FOIA and discoverable in court. Don’t send anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. FOIA allows for employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, or resignation to be discussed in executive session. But only specific people, not policies, can be discussed. You may discuss whether or not to hire Mary as a bookkeeper, but not whether to hire a second bookkeeper. Executive sessions are not a refuge. Under FOIA, you can legally discuss topics that will nevertheless get your district sued. You can be required to testify about what was said. Let’s discuss some real-world situations. Let’s say a superintendent routinely calls or meets with board members individually to discuss the board packet.
Is this OK? Yes, because it’s an informative discussion meant to expedite the board meeting, and only one board member is participating. What if two board members grab coffee with a contractor in charge of a new junior high construction project because they want to know why the project is delayed and over budget? Don’t do that. It’s an illegal discussion of public business. Instead, have the board president place the contractor on the agenda to discuss the project and ask questions in an open session. What if the contractor wants to take the board and administrators on an early walk-through of the building to see progress and then buy everyone dinner afterwards? As long as the gathering is merely informative in nature and school business is not discussed – or is discussed only intermittently and incidentally – then this does not violate the Freedom of Information Act. However, it can be difficult to avoid crossing that line once you’re all together. Moreover, the optics are bad. I’m a lawyer, not a public relations professional, but we all know the appearance of wrongdoing can be just as damaging as actual wrongdoing. With the walkthrough, solve the problem by simply informing the media beforehand. It likely would generate positive coverage about the progress being made on the new school. As for the dinner afterwards, school board members may not accept any gift over $100. You should strongly consider not accepting any. Finally, what if a school district employee makes a formal request to meet with the school board in executive session to discuss “some concerns”? It doesn’t violate the FOIA, but it’s a bad idea. The board doesn’t exist to negotiate working conditions with individual employees. The grievance process should be followed without deviations or exceptions. Meeting with an employee undermines the district’s administration and will lead to a long line of others seeking the board’s attention. The board has plenty else to worry about.
ASBA News and notes
Millage Continued from page 9
Adams said a broad coalition supported the request, ranging from the Little Rock Education Association teachers union, the Chamber of Commerce, the Realtors, the mayor and the city board of directors. Baker Kurrus, a respected former school board member who served as superintendent while the district was under state takeover, voiced his support. There was no organized opposition. Adams said another factor was the district’s list of projects that made it clear how the money would be spent, with the school board’s vote required to make changes. Elsewhere, patrons of the Pulaski County Special School District voted to restructure existing debt and issue new bonds while not extending the district’s 14.8 debt service millage past its current
2048 expiration date. The restructuring will raise $80 million to construct an arena at Mills High School, expand Joe T. Robinson High and Baker Elementary, and renovate two other schools. The vote there was 1,559-871. Voters in the Southside School District approved a 4.8-mill increase that will raise about $5 million. The millage increase, along with $22.7 million in state partnership funding and $10 million in bond restructuring, will fund $39 million in additional space. The vote was 441-217. On Sept. 14, voters in the Batesville School District rejected a 5.9-mill increase that would have built and renovated classrooms, added safety rooms to all campuses, and expanded the senior-junior high cafeteria. Voters in the Pocahontas School District that day rejected a 3.44-mill increase that would have paid for a new high school. The proposal had failed by 37 votes in September 2020.
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ASBA Regional Meetings
How to let patrons have their say School boards should prepare beforehand to balance the need to conduct orderly meetings with free speech concerns
How does a school board handle a meeting when patrons have strong opinions about a particular issue, such as masks? By being prepared beforehand. That was one of the messages at ASBA’s regional meetings this year. At the Region 8 meeting in Greenbrier Oct. 18, Dr. Tony Prothro, ASBA’s executive director, told attendees that school boards are experiencing heated debates about controversial societal issues that have crept into public schools. Those issues not only divide communities but also school boards as well. “To say the least, there are things going on in board meetings now that we’ve never experienced before,” he said. “I’ve talked to board members that have said our board has been together 10 to 15 years for the most part on just about everything. We’re seeing 2-3 and 3-4 split votes that we’ve never seen before on a lot of these other issues that really don’t have a lot to do with the students’ learning.” Prothro later emphasized to Report Card the importance of getting community input, saying, “School boards are elected by parents and patrons to make good decisions on students’ behalf. It is absolutely necessary for board members to hear through various venues important information and opinions from the constituents of the district that might impact important decisions of the board. To this end, school boards need policies and protocols in place in order to have an organized meeting that respects the rights of everyone concerned.” At the regional meeting, Prothro said school boards should review their policies beforehand to see if they comply with the law and current needs. Procedures shouldn’t be so specific that they hinder boards from reacting to changing situations. When controversial items are discussed, more formality is needed. Boards should consider how they handle public comments. They should 12 December 2021 Report Card
DR. TONY PROTHRO told Region 8 attendees that more formality is needed when topics are more controversial.
answer beforehand such questions as whether comments will be allowed, what kind of timeline and process will be involved for getting a spot on the agenda, how many will be allowed to speak, and what happens when a speaker doesn’t adhere to the rules. Boards have several options when it comes to public input. On one end of the spectrum, they can allow patrons to speak without restrictions. That option provides the most opportunity for unrestrained public input but also has the most liability, as speakers could discuss personnel and other inappropriate or prejudicial subjects. On the other end of the spectrum is not allowing patrons to speak at all. That carries the least liability but would not be popular with the public. In between are options requiring patrons to sign in to speak before the meeting, to complete a speaker request form immediately prior to the meeting, or to complete a form days in advance. Boards should consider if controversial topics would be better suited for a regular or special meeting, and they should decide where such items should be placed on the agenda – at the beginning, for example, or at the end. The amount and kind of security is another consideration, with the goal being to protect everyone’s safety and at the same time not inhibit free speech. When the meeting begins, the president should set expectations with a welcome speech. Boards should obtain a legal opinion about the wording, or else
they risk a free speech violation. The school’s attorney or ASBA Staff Attorney Kristen Garner can offer a template. School boards should prepare before the meeting how they will respond if a member of the public becomes disorderly. Policies should be in place regarding why, when and by whom a patron can be removed. The board president can adjourn or recess a meeting – the difference being that adjournment requires boards to comply with the Freedom of Information Act’s press notification requirements before gathering again. “The school board meeting is a meeting that’s held in the public, but it’s not a public meeting. The board is in control at all times,” Prothro said. Seventy-plus moving to zones ASBA staff members also provided an overview of redistricting issues related to the U.S. census. More than 70 districts – more than 25% of all school boards – must move to zones because they’ve reached 10% minority populations. They must create either fivemember zoned boards with substantially equal populations, or boards with five zoned members and two elected at large. Those boards must adopt resolutions, create new maps, and submit redistricting plans to county clerks. Deadlines depend on whether school elections are held in May or November. For districts holding spring elections, most of the deadlines have already passed. Districts holding fall elections must adopt resolutions by April 13, 2022, and they must create their new maps and submit their redistricting plans by May 13. The process means some school board members will be participating in several elections in succeeding years. Each board member representing a newly created or altered zone must be elected following the redistricting. They’ll also draw lots to see when they must run for re-election, and some must run the following year. No more than two positions can be up for election in any subsequent year. ASBA has tried to amend the law to reduce the number of elections – so far
without success. A bill that would have amended requirements for previously zoned districts was sent to interim study this year. When the Legislature reconvened in September to consider redistricting legislation, ASBA tried to pass another bill, but it was ruled not germane to redistricting. In that bill, in previously zoned districts only the following board members would be up for election: those whose term had expired, those appointed to fill a vacancy; and those whose zone boundaries had been redrawn because of the census. For newly zoned boards, the following positions would be up for election: those whose term had expired unless the board member was drawn to serve at large; those appointed to a vacancy; those in newly created zones where two or more current board members reside unless all but one board member was selected to serve atlarge; and those in newly created zones with no current board members or only those serving at large. ASBA was trying to include the bill in a special session on tax cuts called for Dec. 7. If not successful then, Prothro vowed to try again in 2023. A good legislative session for schools Regional meetings also included an overview of the 93rd General Assembly, which ASBA considered a successful one. ASBA tracked 189 education bills over the course of the session, and 121 of those became law. Among the highlights was a 2.33% funding increase in per pupil foundation funding for fiscal year 2022 and a 2.32% increase in fiscal year 2023. Those amounts were larger than funding increases going back at least to fiscal year 2012. “Look and see if they voted for it, and then thank them,” Prothro said. “Show them. Bring them to your school. Here’s what we’re doing with it. Show them your progress. Show them your average teacher salary. Show them the things that that money did for you. Brag on them for that.” Another new law reduced the ways schools can use Enhanced Student Achievement money. It now must be used for hiring teachers and enhancing salaries; academic supports and interventions; social, emotional and behavioral supports; physical and mental health resources; early intervention resources; and access to postsecondary opportunities. Districts must create a three-year plan justifying the expenditures, with the initial plan delivered to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) by July 1, 2022. Districts must review their plans annually and submit an updated three-year plan to DESE along with their annual budgets by Sept. 30. Act 610 eliminated the requirement that a special millage election take place before the annual school election, and it set four times per year when millage elections can be held. In odd years, that’s the second Tuesday of February, May, August or November. Even-year elections are dependent on the gubernatorial and presidential elections. Another noteworthy law was Act 688, which requires schools to start the year no earlier than the Monday two weeks prior to Labor Day. It also allows districts to convert the number of required instructional time from 178 days into six hours x 178 days, or 1,068 hours. Schools can shorten the number of school days by lengthening the number of hours in their days. Adding half an hour can reduce the school year by 13 days;
adding two hours shortens it to 134. A similar law in Missouri led some school districts to move to a four-day week. That arrangement can save transportation and utilities costs, and it provides a day for athletic travel, teacher preparation and professional development. It’s also one less day for schools to worry about COVID. Districts in Missouri that have adopted a four-day schedule have been at a competitive advantage with their neighbors in recruiting teachers, Prothro said. Prothro asked attendees to make suggestions for ASBA’s legislative package. The association tries to sponsor bills that have a chance of passing. He said ASBA doesn’t take a position on bills where the membership is split. For example, a survey about mask mandates found that about 50% wanted school boards to have local control. A later survey found it was 70-30 in favor. When members were asked if they supported a mask mandate in their districts, about half did and half didn’t. As a result of this split membership, ASBA did not take a position on masks. Prothro said ASBA needs individual school board members to contact their legislators and advocate for schools. Doing so makes it easier for ASBA to lobby them later. He said a legislator once told him, “I can get 50 superintendents to call me and tell me what they want, but when three or four board members call me and tell me what they want, I’m listening because those 50 superintendents were hired by a five-member, seven-member board. That’s who voted for them. That board member had a majority of the constituents vote for them. They are speaking for that community.”
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Report Card December 2021 13
ASBA Fall Leadership Institutes
FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JEREMY GILLAM, left, speaks while former Speaker Shane Broadway, right, and Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, listen. Speaking remotely, the three told Northeast Arkansas Fall Leadership Institute attendees how best to communicate with busy state legislators. Also participating in the earlier Northwest Arkansas Fall Leadership Institute were Rep. Lanny Fite, R-Benton, and former Sen. Lance Eads, R-Springdale.
Relationships influence lawmakers Get to know legislators early before the hectic legislative session starts, current and former lawmakers said at ASBA Leadership Institute
How can school board members and superintendents influence state legislators? It starts with developing relationships. Two former speakers of the House and one current legislator told attendees of the Northeast Arkansas Fall Leadership Institute in Jonesboro on Oct. 1 that legislators deal with so many issues and so many people that having a prior relationship helps break through the noise. “It’s important to understand the number of people who are approaching them and coming at them with different things, and education is just one of a thousand issues that they have to deal with on a daily basis,” said Shane Broadway, the speaker of the House in 2001-02 and now Arkansas State University’s director of university relations. Broadway encouraged attendees to develop relationships while the legislators are still running for office because lawmakers hit the ground running as soon as they are elected. “They’re there as soon as Election Day is over. You throw in every meeting they’ve got between then and the session, Thanksgiving and Christmas, you’re not going to have time once Election Day is over to speak with them about the upcoming session,” he said. 14 December 2021 Report Card
Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, who served 10 years on the Paris School Board, said the people he listens to most in his daily life are those with whom he has relationships. Eubanks said there are five school boards in his district, and while he knows the superintendents, he has relationships with school board members only in Paris. Eubanks said the best way to contact him is through text because legislators receive so many emails. Broadway said emails are more likely to get a legislator’s attention if the subject line includes the fact that the sender lives in their district. Eubanks encouraged attendees to respect other people’s positions and try to back up their arguments with facts, which is difficult because no one knows whose facts to believe these days. “We have to be able to talk to each other if we’re going to resolve issues,” he said. Jeremy Gillam, who served most of two terms as speaker of the House until 2018 and is now the University of Central Arkansas’ director of government affairs, said legislators serve complex districts with varying needs. They may vote differently than a school advocate wants because a majority of their constituents may think differently about that issue. “Just stay with them; continue the relationship; don’t burn a bridge,” he said. “They may be your best ally the next week or two weeks (later).”
Gillam said he would ask legislators what was preventing them from being able to say yes. If it was a constituent group on the other side, he would try to educate that group regarding his position. One example is the state’s Medicaid expansion program, which gained support in his district after medical groups educated their communities. He said attendees should try to determine why someone was opposed to their way of thinking. If it’s for an analytical reason, knowing so can help them state their case. If it’s based on emotion, then facts won’t help and they’ll have to deal with the emotion. How to stay out of Title IX trouble Katie Campbell, an attorney with Friday Eldredge and Clark, gave an overview of Title IX, how school districts should respond to sexual harassment claims, and how it all ties into sexual orientation and gender identity concerns. Marshall Ney, her fellow attorney, gave a similar overview at the Northwest Arkansas Fall Leadership Institute held earlier in Fayetteville. Passed in 1972, Title IX states that no person on the basis of sex should face discrimination in any education program receiving federal financial assistance, which would include all public schools. Rule changes by the federal Department of Education last year require schools to offer sexual harassment complainants supportive measures, to follow a grievance process, and to offer an
ATTORNEY KATIE CAMPBELL discussed how schools can comply with Title IX requirements regarding sexual harassment, sexual orientation and gender identity.
appeals process. The new rule involves four different school roles. A coordinator manages the process. An investigator does the investigation. Another person decides if the conduct constitutes a violation. Another acts as an appellate. In smaller districts, elementary, middle school and high school principals have often served in these roles. Previously, much of this was handled by the Title IX coordinator. In an interview afterwards, Campbell said the positions need to be trained to know when to elevate the concern, and how to ensure a conflict-free, bias-free process. Schools are involved in any Title IX claim when the alleged violation is said to have happened on campus or at any event where a school exercises substantial control. Schools are on notice when any school employee learns about the violation, including overhearing something verifiable in the hallway. Once that happens, the school must respond promptly and without deliberate indifference. The burden on collecting evidence is on school districts, and both sides must be provided equal opportunities without restrictions on gathering evidence. Actions might not be a Title IX violation but still be subject to other disciplinary actions. In one of the districts Campbell’s firm represents, a teacher overheard two female high school students discussing how a teacher had told them on multiple occasions to tell him when
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Report Card December 2021 15
ASBA Fall Leadership Institutes they turned 18. The overhearing teacher informed the Title IX coordinator. The investigation revealed the respondent had made comments about students’ looks and about how pretty girls made better grades on tests. The students never complained and never wanted to pursue the complaint. They did not feel unwelcome in class, and they did not receive better grades. The school found the teacher’s comments did not constitute a violation, and Title IX did not apply. However, he was terminated. School boards get involved when disciplinary action is taken against an employee. After the process is completed, a recommendation will be made to the board. Campbell said that once a formal grievance process begins, the administrator can inform the board of what is happening. That’s different than a typical disciplinary action where the board should know as little as possible, but it’s unlikely this kind of claim will be kept quiet, she said. An inherent tension exists between Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The Department of Education has made it clear that if there is a conflict between the two, Title IX trumps and student names and other records can be disclosed because of due process concerns. However, Ney said it’s not so simple. “That sounds nice and a very emphatic statement, but there are 60 pages of guidance out there that the federal government has published to explain to you how you really shouldn’t violate either,” he said. Ney said that 10 years ago, questions about Title IX revolved around whether a school would get in trouble with girls’ athletics if it built a football field. Now the questions have evolved to focus on more complicated issues. On June 22, the Office of Civil Rights issued a public notice stating that Title IX also refers to sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County ruling that Title VII, a different law, prohibits discrimination in employment decisions based on those factors. Ney said federal education policy has been moving this direction for many 16 December 2021 Report Card
ATTORNEY CODY KEES discussed how schools can comply with Title IX requirements regarding sexual harassment, sexual orientation and gender identity.
years. President Obama’s administration near the end of his term released a letter to school districts saying students should be allowed to use bathrooms matching their gender identity. While President Trump’s administration rescinded that letter, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice continued to move forward along the lines of Obama’s guidance, though at a slower pace. Now the Supreme Court has also weighed in. “This, other than face masks and vaccines, is the most significant issue happening in public education right now,” Ney said. Mask mandates: History, and where are we headed? In another session, attorney Cody Kees with the Bequette, Billingsley & Kees law firm reviewed past and recent history regarding mask mandates. Kees said in the smallpox epidemic of 190103, individuals in Boston were required to be vaccinated or face a fine or prison time. The requirement was deemed legal in a court case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, where the Supreme Court said in 1905, “Even liberty itself, the greatest of all rights, is not unrestricted license to act according to one’s own will.” By comparison, schools today are in court over masks. Act 1002, which was
passed by the Arkansas Legislature this year, barred the governor and school districts from issuing mask mandates. That law was challenged Aug. 2 in McClane v. State of Arkansas and assigned to Judge Tim Fox in Pulaski County Circuit Court. The Little Rock and Marion School Districts joined the lawsuit. Marion, which had started the school year earlier than other districts, had high caseload and quarantine numbers. Their argument was that the state Constitution requires a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools, so schools must be able to mitigate health risks. They also relied on an equal protection argument saying all students must be treated equally. Schools operated by the Department of Correction and the Division of Youth Services could require masks. Private school students also could be required to wear masks. On Aug. 6, Fox declared the law unconstitutional. A hearing was scheduled for Nov. 22. Kees said the Supreme Court will not decide the case until January. Now some school boards are dealing with agitated patrons. The law allows 50 electors to sign a petition and force a called school board meeting, though board members can’t be forced to attend. The Valley View School District had such a meeting. Dr. Tad Margolis, a member of the board, said patrons from both sides were allowed to speak, with the board responding with a thank-you. Kees said the public does not have an absolute right to speak at a board meeting, and he advised attendees to listen and not to engage because they won’t change a speaker’s mind. Kees said boards can set mask policies via resolution or policy. If they do it through policy, it has to go through the personnel policy committee and the classified personnel policy committee. In making the decision, school boards must consider competing legal concerns, Could they be sued if they do not institute a mask policy and a student gets sick with life-altering consequences? Likewise, there have been two cases where schools have been sued because they instituted mask mandates. Board members can be sued in their official capacity, but any judgment would go against the school and would be covered
by the district’s errors and omissions insurance policy. A number of statutes and legal theories allow school districts to institute mask mandates, Kees said. Under the legal concept of in loco parentis, parents transfer the care, custody, and management of their children to the school, though they don’t surrender all their parental rights. More specifically, the state has compulsory attendance laws. Schools are required to have “safe and functional facilities” and must develop procedures concerning physical activities that keep students safe from communicable diseases. Superintendents are allowed to delay the start of a school year or close school early if there is a “contagious disease outbreak.” School boards can appoint doctors and nurses to conduct exams “to detect contagious or infectious diseases.” Schools can require other types of vaccinations. They also can implement dress codes. On the other hand, if a district does not implement a mask mandate and a student dies of COVID, plaintiffs would have to prove there had been a “continuing, widespread, persistent pattern of unconstitutional misconduct” and that board members were deliberately indifferent or tacitly authorized the misconduct after gaining knowledge of it. The plaintiff would have to prove the injury was caused by the board’s actions – that the disease was contracted in school, which would be difficult to prove be-
cause students are only in school 24% of the week during the school year. “If you have a meeting, and you discuss masks and you discuss the positive and the negative, and you actually enumerated it and you talked about it and you came to a really tough decision, then I don’t think they can prove you were deliberately indifferent,” he said. Human trafficking At the Institutes, FBI agents and Suzanne Jones, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education’s school safety coordinator, discussed human trafficking. At the Northwest Arkansas event, Jones said vulnerable young people who are facing difficult life situations are being exploited. Traffickers seem to meet some of their deepest needs, and then they trap them. “I personally through my work have worked with children who were being victimized at home, and when you have a 16-year-old look you in the eyes and say, ‘I was being [violated] and beaten at home and got nothing out of it; at least this way I’m getting something,’ it changes your perspective,” she said. She said she’s heard stories of affluent kids, athletes, and academic achievers being victimized. Traffickers tell their victims that once they’ve accepted some kind of payment, they are prostitutes who can be prosecuted. That’s not true. Arkansas law has been changed so that someone under the age of consent
can’t be charged with prostitution if they were being trafficked. In a Texarkana case, an older gentleman had enticed vulnerable young people coming from bad home situations. He offered them nice clothes, a better house, money, cell phones and security. One of his victims, now older, had brought her 13-year-old niece under his influence, and a male relative was being groomed. The arrests occurred after a teacher heard students talking and made a hotline report. While the primary residence was in Arkansas, the trials occurred in Texas, where some of the crimes were committed and where the laws were more conducive to obtaining a conviction. The aunt and male relative were sentenced to prison, and the ringleader died in prison awaiting trial. Jones encouraged school board members to support safe environments and use their influence to inform the community about human trafficking. Teachers should learn how to have difficult conversations with students about these matters. “The one thing that is consistently coming up as a protective factor for children is one trusted adult,” she said. “If that student has someone they can go talk to – anyone. It might be the cafeteria worker that gives them an extra cookie in line. It might be the bus driver that picks them up every day. If they can have one trusted adult that they can go to, that’s a protective factor.” Robinson Middle School werarch.com
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Report Card December 2021 17
LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD IN PUBLIC FINANCE Dennis Hunt, Head of Stephens Public Finance, reflects on 2021 and reports what’s on the horizon for 2022
Interest rates and legislative developments proved impactful to Arkansas school districts in 2021. How have they affected the public finance landscape, and what can leaders expect for the future? Dennis Hunt, Executive Vice President and Head of Stephens Public Finance, offers his insights in this end-of-the-year Q&A. Looking back on 2021, what do you think has been the most consequential development in public finance for Arkansas schools? Arkansas schools experienced significant increases in interest rates during 2021. All across the yield curve, rates increased substantially. In certain maturities, interest rates have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
What impact did these interest rate increases have on school districts’ financial flexibility? Higher interest rates have limited the ability of districts to refund outstanding bond issues with higher interest rates in order to realize a reduction in debt service expenses. This is reflected in the number of transactions completed for school districts in 2021. During 2020 there were 218 bond issues completed for school districts. In 2021, mainly due to an increasing interest rate environment, only 109, or half as many school bond issues, were completed. Although interest rates have increased significantly, they are still at historic lows. This may account for many of the 109 school bond issues in 2021 being much larger than in the past. For example, our client, the Little Rock School District, plans to issue the largest school bond issue ever completed in the state of Arkansas — approximately $315 million. Despite far fewer school bond transactions being issued in 2021, the aggregate par amount of bonds that will be issued will exceed the 2020 par amount by over 16 percent.
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Looking ahead to next year, while you cannot exactly predict exact interest rates, could you provide some context for a prognostication? What are the factors that are going to affect interest rates in 2022? While I am not able to predict interest rates in the distant future, if the inflationary trends that we are currently experiencing are more than transitory, meaning that they will be around for two or three years, I believe interest rates will continue to go higher. Interest rates are typically correlated to the rate of inflation. So, the higher the rate of inflation, the higher interest rates will trend. However, if inflation we are currently experiencing is attributable to the pandemic and related supply chain issues, and those are resolved by the end of the first quarter of 2022, I believe we may observe a period of stabilization and possibly even reductions in interest rates from where they are today.
Can anything be done to slow down inflation? Yes. Unfortunately for school districts, the Federal Reserve can elect to increase short-term interest rates, or what is commonly known as the Fed Fund Rate. While this will slow down the economy and resulting inflation, it also translates to higher interest rates for school districts. At this point in time, the Federal Reserve has taken a wait-and-see approach relating to raising the Fed Fund Rate until it is determined if the inflation we are currently experiencing is transitory or longer term.
In 2021, state legislation was passed that put further limits on when Arkansas school districts can schedule elections and added requirements to them. Are there other areas of legislation you can see that will impact school districts’ financing flexibility? While I am not aware of any additional state legislation, probably at the federal level adopting legislation to restore the ability for school districts to issue tax-exempt advance refunding bonds is the most impactful. The ability of school districts to use this effective financing tool was eliminated with the 2017 tax reform act. Restoration of this financing option would undoubtedly provide school districts with greater financing flexibility and potentially result in debt services savings for school districts.
Is there any prospect of tax-exempt advance refundings returning? I am hopeful but not optimistic. While there have been concerted efforts to restore tax-exempt advance refunding bonds, those efforts have not yet been successful. Although a provision to restore the financing technique was originally included in the Build Back Better legislation, due to significant give and take between the House and the Senate, it is currently no longer included.
As we turn the page on the calendar year, what kinds of activities and discussions is Stephens engaging with clients? Stephens consistently strives to keep our clients up to date and informed of the changing school financing and regulatory landscape. With relevant information for our clients, we work closely with them on election timing, market trends, millage capacity, capital financing, voter education, as well as regulatory issues at the state and federal levels. We inform and engage our clients to make the capital financing process as easy as possible so they can focus on their primary responsibility — education.
We have explored relatively short-term factors in the public finance market relevant to Arkansas school district leaders. Looking at the bigger picture, what makes Stephens Public Finance such a good partner for districts’ long-term success? At Stephens we focus on being a trusted advisor to our clients, specifically school district leaders, with the perspective of a long-term relationship. Our goal is to be a valuable resource for our clients, regardless of the issue. We are there to support school district leaders well beyond facilitating a bond issue.
How would you advise school districts to navigate these headwinds of inflation and flexibility-limiting legislation?
Dennis Hunt Executive Vice President and Head of Stephens Public Finance dhunt@stephens.com 501-377-2041
With rising inflation and interest rates combined with new election laws, I believe school districts must work closely with their financial advisor — perhaps more closely than ever — to effectively determine timing and their total cost of capital financing. Not only are school districts going to be impacted by higher interest rates, which will impact their cost of financing, they are also going to be affected by the inflationary impacts on the cost of construction.
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Teacher of the Year
JESSICA SAUM, a K-4 special education teacher at Stagecoach Elementary School in Cabot, reacts after being announced as the 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. Behind her from left are her children, her parents who came to the announcement from their home in South Carolina, and past Teachers of the Year Joel Lookadoo and Randi House.
Cabot’s Saum is Teacher of Year K-4 special ed teacher, Air Force wife’s focus is inclusion, support for military families Jessica Saum, a K-4 special education teacher at Stagecoach Elementary School in Cabot, was named the 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year Oct. 13. Her selection was announced in a surprise ceremony at the school led by Secretary of Education Johnny Key. A teacher in the district since 2018, she was one of four Arkansas Teacher of the Year semifinalists. Saum had previously been named the 2021 Cabot Public Schools Teacher of the Year and had been recognized as the 2020 314th Airlift Wing Key Spouse of the Year for her volunteer work at the Little Rock Air Force Base. Her husband, Lt. Col. Shane Saum, has been stationed there and is now in Portugal. 20 December 2021 Report Card
Her term begins July 1, 2022. In addition to traveling the state representing teachers, she will serve as a non-voting member on the State Board of Education. She said she hopes to partner with leadership at the Little Rock Air Force Base to serve military families and would like to connect with Dr. Jill Biden, the nation’s first lady, in Biden’s Joining Forces initiative supporting military families. She also would like to push for more inclusion opportunities for special education students. At Cabot, Saum partners with teachers and community members to provide hands-on lessons and allow her students to learn with general education students. She collaborated with a gifted and talented teacher to teach about earthworms and with the 314th Airlift Wing to create a virtual field trip aboard a C-130, the Air Force’s large troop transport plane.
She brought a sugar plum fairy from Ballet Arkansas to read “The Nutcracker” via Zoom, and she organized a camping day event for her students. She also planned a Special Olympics event. “Special education students should not be treated as ‘guests at the table’ but included as meaningful members of a larger learning community,” Saum wrote in her Teacher of the Year application, according to a press release from the Department of Education. “Ensuring exposure to grade-level peers and curriculum should be the standard, not the exception.” Speaking to reporters after being named Teacher of the Year, Saum said, “Every child deserves for us to believe in them. Every child deserves an opportunity to prove themselves, to achieve, and that we have to assume competence from them. We don’t want to assume
that they can’t do something. Let’s give them the opportunity.” Her principal, Carol Skiba, said, “She’s just a natural, a natural teacher. Some people just come by it naturally, and some people learn to teach, and she’s just a natural. And it’s really just her heart for kids and for people in general.” Saum received a $14,000 cash award from the Walton Family Foundation for being named Teacher of the Year after receiving $1,000 for being a state semifinalist and $1,000 for being a regional finalist. She can apply to be the National Teacher of the Year. Saum said she hopes to achieve that honor. The other semifinalists were Allison Dolan of the Don Tyson School of Innovation in the Springdale School District, Jil’Lana Heard of Lake Hamilton High School in the Lake Hamilton School District, and Vickie Lewis of NewStart Academy ALE in the Wynne School District.
Saum learned she had been named Teacher of the Year during a surprise reveal at a pep rally at the school. She and other teachers were blindfolded and asked to identify props related to the book “Charlotte’s Web,” which students across the school are reading. Saum was last and given a blue ribbon. After her turn was over, she was instructed to turn and face Key, the surprise guest who announced her as the Teacher of the Year. Waiting to congratulate Saum were her parents, who had traveled from her native South Carolina. Saum’s husband sent a recorded message from Portugal. Also at the announcement were four past Teachers of the Year and the current one, Susanna Post with the Fort Smith School District. Saum said the planned pep rally gave her an inkling of what might happen. “The pep rally seemed a little bit suspicious, but I just could not accept that that’s really what was going to happen,” she told reporters.
For Saum, 38 and a mother of two, teaching is a second career, and she has not been teaching long. Earlier she was a skin care specialist working at a day spa. During a deployment, another military spouse who was a speech pathologist opened her eyes to special education as a profession. She finished her teaching degree at Arkansas State University in 2011 during her husband’s first assignment to Arkansas and then worked as a one-on-one paraprofessional for a student at a Department of Education school while they were stationed in Germany. When they returned to Arkansas in 2016, she worked part-time as an early childhood interventionist and then was a preschool teacher at the Little Rock Air Force Base. Then she started her current job working with special education students. “This is where I’m meant to be,” she said. “These are the children I’m meant to work with and lives I’m meant to help change.”
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Cover / Centerpoint CAAST
BUTCHER SHOP. Centerpoint Academy of Agriculture & Skilled Trades students process meat in the state’s only school-based processing lab. Centerpoint also has the state’s only school-based retail permit for selling meat. Pictured are, from left, foreground, Jadon White, Jaden Collie and Adrianna Tigue. Photo courtesy of CAAST
Ag Academy Arkansas’s only agriculturebased charter school prepares students for careers in agriculture, skilled trades By Steve Brawner Editor
At Centerpoint Academy of Agriculture & Skilled Trades, classes – including core academic ones – have an agriculture-based focus. Students engage in five programs of study to prepare them for the workforce or an agriculturerelated college major. They spend eight Fridays learning hands-on at local 22 December 2021 Report Card
skilled trade businesses. They can even raise an animal on the school’s 98-acre farm and new barn, slaughter it, butcher it in Arkansas’s only school-based meat processing lab, and take it home. Or they can butcher meat raised by community members for those members’ consumption, or meat grown from U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved growers that the school then sells. “I had chicken legs last night from them,” said CAAST Director Bryan Fox. “[My wife and I] probably buy 90% of our meat … through them, through our school when they have their sales.”
Funded by a $1.2 million federal grant, Arkansas’ first and only agriculture-based charter school is in its second year of existence. Students engage in two out of five available programs of study from which they gain a certification: animal systems; agribusiness systems; food products & processing systems; power, structural & technical systems; and plant systems. Each program includes one required course, Survey of Agri Systems, and another course tailored to that field. They can also take electives related to the fields of study. The grant paid for the meat pro-
FINISHED PRODUCT. Centerpoint agriculture teacher Marcus Crawley displays some of the meat products for sale by the school to the public using animals obtained from USDA-approved facilities. Beef ground chuck patties sell for $3.99 a pound.
cessing facility, tractors, a bus, and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of DeWalt tools. The CAAST and larger agriculture program have a 98-acre farm for raising hay and grazing livestock. The animals are housed in a new barn with a mini-show arena. An 1,800-square-foot greenhouse grows lettuce consumed by students in the cafeteria. The program currently educates 10 seniors and 18 juniors. Students apply their sophomore year. Fox believes the number eventually will settle in the 35-45-student range. Participating students are a mix of young people soon to enter the workforce, college-bound students who will be earning agriculture-related degrees, and at-risk students who can benefit from some direction, academic relevance, and the chance to learn a trade. Centerpoint has nine 40-minute periods a day, so CAAST students might take four academic core courses and between two and four agriculture- and trades-related courses. Courses cover topics such as environmental science, mechanics, and greenhouse management. Their core academic courses are taken through the CAAST program and also have an agricultural focus. In English, students might read rural-related fictional books such as “Where the
Red Fern Grows” and “Animal Farm” rather than Shakespeare. To cover state standards for poetry, students might read cowboy poets such as Waddie Mitchell and Baxter Black. Math lessons might involve calculating the area of a pasture. History classes touch on the nation’s agricultural heritage.
“They can do those real-world math problems, and they see, hey, this is where the math is actually going to be used, and for those students, it makes it more interesting to them,” said agriculture teacher Jerry Fendley. “They realize, ‘Oh, wait. I do need this.’ … It’s more real life. It’s the same skills, but we’re wrapping it in a package where those students are digesting it a lot better.” The agriculture program has a lab where farm animals raised by students or by members of the community can be slaughtered and processed and then taken home to eat. The school has a market that opens to the public every couple of weeks to sell meats processed by students after being raised by USDAapproved growers. Centerpoint has the state’s only school-based retail permit allowing it to do so. Refrigerators full of meat products offer buyers many choices; for example, beef ground chuck patties were selling for $3.99 a pound. Eight Fridays a year, students do a skilled trades day that is built into the curricula and lesson plans of their other classes. Skilled local tradesmen earn $2,000 for training teachers in safety measures and then training the students
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Report Card December 2021 23
Cover / Centerpoint CAAST
HANDS-ON SKILLS. Top left, teacher Jerry Fendley assists ninth grader Rhett Hellums with a planer. The shop is filled with new equipment obtained with the help of a government grant. Top right, senior Dane Morrissette is pictured with a pig raised in the agriculture program’s barn. Morrissette, who works with cattle in a sale barn when not in school, said the program has exposed him to different kinds of animals and taught him patience. Bottom left, freshman Bryan Fox shows off his skills on a drill press. Fendley said Fox is naturally mechanically inclined. In one recent class period, he repaired the principal’s fourwheeler in 45 minutes.
hands-on in their crafts. Students learn from an electrician, a diesel mechanic, a plumber, a welder and other trade experts. Students spend another 10 days a year doing farm management where they clean stalls and take care of groundskeeping at the new barn, or they work in the shop, greenhouse, or food processing building. Fox said the skills training benefits both the students and members of the community. The welder is just down the street. Welding is a popular activity be24 December 2021 Report Card
cause it’s fun, said teacher Billy Minton, but students tend to gravitate toward electrical work because jobs in that field are more plentiful in the area. The auto body shop owner told the school he struggles to find people who will show up to work and pass a drug test. Maybe one of these students will fill a need someday. The school might next incorporate logging into the curriculum. Local logging companies would like to get students interested because they need the workers.
“Right now, I feel more than ever, there’s a need for electricians and plumbers and auto body guys and HVACs and diesel mechanics and industrial maintenance people that can fix things, small engine repair – just different things that right now that I think, especially in our area, those things are needed, big time, and [they] can make a great living doing it,” Fox said. Students are able to use their state-ofthe-art tools to produce useful products. The agriculture program has two Shop-
is located between the southwest Arkansas towns of Amity and Glenwood – cattle and timber country when it comes to agriculture. Teacher Fendley estimates that 50-75 students are active in FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America. On Oct. 26, he and fellow teacher Minton took 13 students, about 7 of them CAAST students, to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Every student at Centerpoint taking an agriculture course is a dues-paying FFA member, but the school pays the dues. That kind of involvement is made easier by the agriculture program’s strong community support. “When we do a fundraiser, they come out and BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. CAAST Director Bryan Fox shows off a greenhouse full of lettuce grown at the they open up their wallets school and served in the cafeteria. and they’re supporting the discs to represent increasing levels of kids,” Fendley said. “They really think Bot wood computer numerical control dilation for a birthing class. The prowhat we do for the students is impor(CNC) machines – one a leftover from the school’s previous equipment and one gram also has a CNC machine for metal tant, has a lot of value, so it helps us a products. ton. But it’s a little bit awe-inspiring, new one that will cut intricate patterns CAAST was designed to build honestly, because whenever we tell other from students’ 3D computer designs. upon Centerpoint’s strong agriculture chapters, other ag teachers what we do Students recently built 20 cornhole sets program, which educates roughly 275 and how much community support we that were sold to the Arkansas State Fair. students in grades 8-12 – a majority of have when we do fundraisers, they’re For Centerpoint’s home economics dethose grades’ population. The school Continued on next page partment, they designed and cut plastic
Report Card December 2021 25
Cover / Centerpoint CAAST always amazed at what we have at our fingertips that they can only dream of.” Centerpoint is a rural school district where many students have experiences with agriculture, but teachers there say any school can develop an ag program. In fact, a large agriculture program exists in downtown Chicago. The key, said
teacher Minton, is, “Focus on the kids first.” While a program in Centerpoint will focus on livestock, one in an eastern Arkansas school might focus on row crops. “It’s all about the students,” Fendley agreed. “And if you get the students involved, and you start getting them
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wanting to do some of the events and activities that FFA offers, then the community support falls in place. Most communities, whenever they see an ag teacher really working hard to get their students involved, they almost always fall in and support behind, and here it’s just, at this point, it’s tradition. It’s expected.”
ASBA thanks its premier partners and other commercial affiliates for their support.
Premier Partners
Contact
Phone
Website
American Fidelity
Tom Sledge
800.688.4421
tom.sledge@americanfidelity.com
americanfidelity.com
Apptegy
David Rutledge
501.613.0370
David.rutledge@apptegy.com
www.apptegy.com
Baldwin & Shell Construction Company
Bobby Gosser
501.374.8677
bgosser@baldwinshell.com
www.baldwinshell.com
BXS
Bill Birch
501.614.1170
bill.birch@bxsi.com
www.bxsi.com
Edbrix
Jerry Shepard
501.605.6740
jerry@edbrix.com
www.edbrix.com
Entegrity Energy Partners
Rick Vance
501.414.0058
rick.vance@entegritypartners.com
www.entegritypartners.com
First Security Beardsley Public Finance
Scott Beardsley
501.978.6392
scott@fsbeardsley.com
fsbeardsley.com
Homeland Safety Systems, Inc.
Mike Elliott
318.221.8062
mike@homelandsafetysystems.com
www.homelandsafetysystems.com
Jackson Brown Palculict Architects
Randall Palculict
501.664.8700
randy@jbparchitects.com
www.jbparchitects.com
Pro Benefits Group, Inc.
Gary Kandlbinder
501.321.0457
pbfsi@sbcglobal.net
www.pbfsi.com
Stephens Inc.
Jason Holsclaw
501.377.2474
jason.holsclaw@stephens.com
www.stephens.com
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS)
Gene Hawk
870.926.9250
gene.hawk@tips-usa.com
www.tips-usa.com
Exhibiting Partners A.D.E.M. / Federal Surplus Property
Contact Brian Jones
Phone 501.835.3111
Email brian.jones@adem.arkansas.gov
Website
All-Clean USA
Melissa Martin
870.972.1922
mmartin@allcleanusa.com
www.allcleanusa.com
Architecture Plus, Inc.
Craig Boone
479.783.8395
craig@archplusinc.net
archplusinc.net
C.R. Crawford Construction, LLC
Jordan Ligon
479.251.1161
jligon@crcrawford.com
www.crcrawford.com
Capital Business Machines, Inc.
Ben Higgs
501.375.1111
bhiggs@capbiz.com
www.capbiz.com
Chartwells
Kellye Neal
501.615.3660
kellye.neal@compass-usa.com
www.chartwellsk12.com
David H. Frieze Associates, Inc.
Paul Frieze
501.922.9704
paulfrieze7@gmail.com
DESE – Research & Technology
Kirsten Wilson
501.242.3696
contactus@teamdigital.org
www.teamdigital.org
ESG
Jonele Booth
479.422.8302
jbooth@energysystemsgroup.com
www.energysystemsgroup.com
ESS
Julie Crum
870.236.2350
jcrum@ess.com
ess.com
Hight Jackson Associates
Larry Perkin
479.464.4965
lperkin@hjarch.com
lcox@hjarch.com
Johnnson Controls, Inc.
Alex Ray
501.351.0926
alexander.ray@jci.com
www.johnsoncontrols.com
Kinco Constructors
Clay Gordon
501.225.7606
cgordon@kinco.net
kincoconstructors.com
KLC Video Security
Bill King
903.792.7262
billking.klc@gmail.com
www.klcvideosecurity.net
LeafFilter North, LLC
Justin Lowry
808.264.3876
events@leaffilter.com
leaffilter.com
McPherson & Jacobson, LLC
Thomas Jacobson
888.375.4814
mail@macnjake.com
www.macnjake.com
Modus Studio
Josh Siebert
479.455.5577
josh@modusstudio.com
www.modusstudio.com
Musco Sports Lighting, LLC
Jeremy Lemons
501.249.8056
jeremy.lemons@musco.com
www.musco.com
Nabholz Construction Company
Andrew Adlong
501.505.5126
andrew.adlong@nabholz.com
nabholz.com
National Safety Shelters
Sarah-Jane Corrado
772.248.0236
sarah@nationalsafetyshelters.com
www.nationalsafetyshelters.com
Opaa! Food Management
Roger Rich
636.812.0777
rrich@opaafood.com
opaafood.com
Palomar Modular Buildings, LLC
Jane Tavern
214.546.2843
jtavern@palomarmodular.com
www.palomarmodular.com
Risley Architects
Gracie Phillips
479.452.2636
gphillips@risley-associates.com
www.risleyarch.com
R.J. Love Enterprises, Inc.
Autry Sparkman
501.988.5474
asparkman@rjlove.com
www.rjlove.com
SchoolEats
Kellye Neal
501.615.3660
kellye.neal@compass-usa.com
www.schooleatsconsulting.com
Southern Bleacher Company
Sarah Lundgren
940.549.0733
lundgren@southernbleacher.com
www.southernbleacher.com
Strategos International
Steve Anderson
816.204.1243
sanderson@strategosintl.com
www.strategosintl.com
Taher, Inc.
Shauna Strub
612.219.6692
s.strub@taher.com
www.taher.com
The Playwell Group, Inc.
James Robertson
800.726.1816
James@playwellgroup.com
www.playwellgroup.com
Tri-State Floors, Inc.
Dean Smith
918.343.2553
dean@tri-statefloors.com
www.tri-statefloors.com
Van Horn Construction
Chad Weisler
479.968.2514
cweisler@vanhornconstruction.com
www.vanhornconstruction.com
VS America
Scot Morris
704.378.6500
s.morris@vsamerica.com
www.vsamerica.com
WER Architects/Planners
Russell Fason
501.374.5300
rfason@werarch.com
werarch.com
Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson Architects
Glen Woodruff
501.376.6681
gwoodruff@wddarchitects.com
wddarchitects.com
Supporting Partners Cobb & Suskie, Ltd.
Contact Michael Cobb
Phone 501.225.2133
Email mcobb@cobbandsuskie.com
Website www.cobbandsuskie.com
Crow Group, Inc.
Brian Rohlman
479.354.6511
brohlman@crowgrp.com
www.crowgrp.com
Grasshopper Company
Brent Dobson
620.345.8621
bdobson@grasshoppermower.com
www.grasshoppermower.com
Raymond James
Katie Devine
901.531.3347
katie.devine@raymondjames.com
www.raymondjames.com
26 December 2021 Report Card
HVAC WORK. Student Jackson Barksdale gets some handson HVAC training. CAAST students leave the classroom for an entire day eight times a year to work with local skilled tradesmen, who are paid $250 per day to train them in their profession. Photo courtesy of CAAST
CAAST students earn certificates that can put them on a pathway to earning a living immediately after high school, while some have plans to go to college. However, the lessons taught in all the agriculture classes go deeper. For example, there’s a strong focus on giving oral presentations. Fendley said his greenhouse class last year brought together CAAST students, students who were graduating through the school’s
Project 2020 program where they earn an associate’s degree, the school’s salutatorian who had no other agriculture involvement, and students who were planning to be nurses. “It’s not just how to raise a cow,” Fendley said. “It’s not just about how to weld. There’s a lot of things that we teach. We teach students how to communicate effectively, how to think. That’s a huge one. We try to make our students into problem solvers. We don’t just give a student a problem that’s linear, like you go directly from point A to point B on this question for your answer. We give students materials and kind of a problem, kind of an abstract, like, you know what the goal should be, but what does it take to get there? And so we require those students to become problem solvers. We discuss a lot about punctuality, how to deal with the public, how to properly answer a telephone, how to present yourself knowing that when you go into a job, you know, first impression, how do you look, how do you talk to them, all of those types of job skills that employers are looking for. We teach that, and those skills are valuable no matter what career you go into.” The school provides students learning opportunities and direction. Senior Jadon White likes the hands-on learning. He already has horses and chickens and plans to buy a calf this year to show next year. He wants to be a welder or a small engine mechanic – or maybe both, actually. He has thoughts of owning a shop where he offers both services, one on each side of the building. He said the CAAST program motivated him to move in this direction. Freshman Bryan Fox (no relation to the CAAST director) is too young to be in the program but is taking ag classes and wants to be a mechanic or a technician at a dealership. He said he started tinkering with things at age 8. Fendley said he’s naturally mechanically inclined. “He had to repair the principal’s four-wheeler the other day,” he said. “In one class period he took the four-wheeler, took it apart, took the carburetor off, took the carburetor part, cleaned it, reassembled it and had the four-wheeler running in 45 minutes.”
Please see CAAST on page 35
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promo.musco.com/tn-retrofit Report Card December
2021 27
EXECUTIVE SESSION with
Dr. Tad Margolis By Steve Brawner Editor
Dr. Tad Margolis is serving as ASBA’s president for 2022, but that’s just one of her many involvements. Margolis is a physician who no longer practices medicine actively. Instead, she’s focused on serving on the Valley View School Board and with ASBA, with the PTA, and as a volunteer with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a group that supports abused and neglected children. Most importantly, she’s a mom, which along with the PTA is what got her involved in school board service in the first place. For school board members, the past two years have been difficult ones to navigate. Report Card sat down with her to discuss the challenging political and social environment, how ASBA should respond, and her work with CASA. What is your background as a physician? “I was a late bloomer. I started out in pre-med in college and enjoyed Greek life and sports a lot and didn’t want to stay in chemistry lab ‘till five o’clock, so I switched to business and graduated with a business degree. I went on and got an MBA and was in the oil industry for several years, and it just never quite satisfied me. I couldn’t really see myself enjoying that for my whole life, so I started with my MBA managing a cardiac surgery practice. It was a big practice, it was busy, it had lots of money, and I learned everything about the front end, the front office, and found myself starting to take staples out of people and do EKGs and clean wounds. … And I’m like, ‘I knew I should have done that.’ 28 December 2021 Report Card
“So at an advanced age, I finished my prerequisites, took the MCAT and actually tried to go to PA school. Because in Texas, physician assistants are a big industry. And I interviewed, and they said, ‘You don’t really have the demeanor for a physician’s assistant. You should go to medical school.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t want to start medical school at this age and do residency and all that.’ “But … I did, and it was a good experience for me. I’m glad I did it, it’s part of who I am, and it’s still all inside of me.”
Your PTA service is how you got into the school board, right? “I started coming to the school board meetings when George was in kindergarten because I thought that’s what you did. I’m a first-time parent. I’m photocopying and tearing out workbook pages over in the elementary building [for the PTA]. I thought you went to the school board meeting. So I showed up and I sat over there. It was this exact same table, very homogenous group around the table, and I did that for four years. ... And it was somewhere towards that third or
fourth year, I started thinking, ‘I wonder why it’s so homogenous.’ I would go to events, play days, fundraisers, fun runs or whatever out in the playgrounds, the various buildings, and I would look around. Moms everywhere. Moms helping. Moms putting on Band-Aids. Moms serving Kool-Aid. Moms, moms, moms. And I’m like, Moms run the show here with kids, and why is there not a mom that’s sitting at that table? So I moved from that chair to that chair. Not without a little bit of struggle because apparently I’m the third female in the 96-year history of Valley View to be on the Valley View School Board.” Wow. “Yeah. It just wasn’t the way they do it around here. I traveled these gravel roads for two months knocking on doors. I had every one of those PTA moms working, and they wanted the representation. I’m convinced that diversity is a very good thing – diversity of thought, diversity of experience, diversity of everything. And I think they would agree now, too, at this point. I’m not sure they felt that way at the beginning. [Laughs.]” One of the challenges that you face is a high property valuation. You receive less state money than other districts. “Yes, we have a lot of farmland, too, that doesn’t pay the same rates as some
of these houses do, so yes. Our Title I money is, I think it’s 26%, 28%. It’s less than 30%, and the state and federal funding is all tied to free and reduced numbers, and we’re a very poor school district. I mean, we just are. We have parents that are blessed and able to support a lot of the programs that we have that we don’t have funds for. And we have a fantastic district treasurer, Judy Clampit. I cannot sing her praises enough. She balances that budget to the, I won’t even say dime, to the penny. … “Even our ESSER funds were greatly reduced from the surrounding schools because it’s not based on how many kids we have that are wearing masks, that we’re having to fog for, that we’re having to clean the buses for, that we’re having to clean the high-touch areas for. It’s not based on that. It’s based on our free and reduced. What makes sense about that?” How do you handle that as a school board and as a district? “Well, we count every penny. I mean, we budget, budget, budget to the nth degree. And we have a pretty good tax collection rate fortunately, so that does help. But we search for grants. We were able to completely fund the turf field about five years ago, privately donated completely. And we have to do things like that. PTA bought computers. Can you imagine? We’re having to raise money for computers?”
EASTSIDE ELEMENTARY
How has your medical background informed your school board service regarding COVID? “We had the first school board meeting of the year, and we had an admin recommendation to strongly recommend masking for the new school year. We had the first school board meeting, and we had 12 physicians. We had the dean of the medical school. We had the director of the physicians group at St. Bernards. We had a couple of local pediatricians. I think a great percentage of them were all parents of kids here, and at the end, we gave several of them an opportunity to give us their opinion about this, and the recommendation was changed [to require masks] because of what [administrators] heard. The vote was unanimous because of what [school board members] heard. They listened, they assimilated the knowledge, and they did what they were charged to do, which is to protect these kids to the best of their ability.” You had a citizen petition to require the school board to meet. What was your plan going into the meeting? “Well, it was a specially called meeting which was just after our board meeting, and we didn’t really have an idea. We’d never had anything like that before. So the president and [superintendent Bryan] Russell kind of formulated the protocol, and they may have had
Continued on next page
Report Card December 2021 29
Executive Session know. But yes, certainly. Certainly. I just wish that it didn’t take this for people to become involved.”
I would go to events, play days “fundraisers, fun runs or whatever
out in the playgrounds, the various buildings, and I would look around. Moms everywhere. Moms helping. Moms putting on Band-Aids. Moms serving Kool-Aid. Moms, moms, moms. And I’m like, Moms run the show here with kids, and why is there not a mom that’s sitting at that table?
So there’s a frustration with, why weren’t you here during the budget meeting? “So many things in the 13-year history. Where has everybody been? Where has everybody been? I mean, it’s their kid. They’re advocating for their kid. They care about their kid’s education. These people have been here. I don’t know. I don’t really get it. I thought you were supposed to do that.”
”
legal help. I don’t really know. I just showed up that night. But they allowed each, a pro-mask group and a no-mask group, to each have five speakers, and they were to let us know by that day who was going to speak,. If they didn’t have five, then people could sign in and speak because it wasn’t a private meeting held in public at that time. It was a public meeting at that time. So it was alternating.’” Was it a civil discussion? “Yes, absolutely. But we did have our SROs here because there have been so many that have not been, and like I said, we didn’t know. We didn’t want it to deteriorate, so we heard everybody’s viewpoint and the science, those two things, and we said, ‘Thank you very much.’ We adjourned the meeting and didn’t take questions.” Was it rowdy? “No. It was a lot of students, a lot of high school students, and a fair amount of faculty. I think the whole government and political science class, AP class, was here, and they discussed that the next week, I think. You know, freedom of speech and the greater good versus my personal good. And you could look out over the audience, and there were pockets of people with masks and pockets of people with no mask. You could kind of tell a lot about whether or not anybody was grasping anything that anyone else said just by looking out over the audience.” You’ve since made mask wearing optional. “Yeah, and it was a vote, but it kind of almost wasn’t a vote because we ... were trying to be data-driven and put 30 December 2021 Report Card
Like you did. “Yeah.” When this is over, do you think we’ll go back to no one being here? “Absolutely. I do.” those criteria in place. Of course, we were kept informed, quite informed about where we stood on that, but when we met those criteria, to me, it could have been an admin decision at that point because that’s kind of how we left it. … I guess it was probably better to have it as a formal action item.” What is the balance between having orderly board meetings and letting the public be involved? “I think we’re fortunate, truly fortunate, that decorum is going to prevail. I cannot really see a deterioration. I haven’t seen anything in my 13 years’ involvement in this campus to lead me to believe that that would deteriorate in that way. I think more of it is just like preventative, like just having [the school resource officer] there, and just having it formally, this is how it’s going to be, just not really leaving it up to debate or argument.” There is supposed to be some almost rowdy debate at times in our democracy, so – so far, so good? “You know, I understand that that was the case on the school board many years ago, that they would be here till one o’clock having rowdy debate, but maybe it was more heterogeneous then. I don’t
There’s not going to be controversies over other issues? We’re not into a new age of more political school boards? You think we’ll go back? “I think a lot of people will. A lot of school boards will. If I were to try to answer that question based upon Jonesboro or my Region 3, I might answer differently, but here I think everybody’s going to go back to enjoying their lives, their AP classes and their dance state championships, their football and their basketball. I do. I truly do. And that’s a shame. It shouldn’t be that way. I preach it all the time. The people that have attended in the past have a lot of times been the PTA members because I preach it all the time.” How do you navigate the fact that you didn’t get into this to make your neighbors mad at you? “You get a really thick skin, which you probably had when you were campaigning if you had a contested race. But you get a really thick skin, and you try to be informed and educated on the subject matter. You hire good people, and you let them do their job. You support them in their job, and you accept the fact that you’re not going to make everybody happy. You stay in your lane. You know, policy, superintendent, that’s what our job is.
“You know, I wish, with all these things that are legislated, that they would legislate if you want to serve on the school board, that you had to attend a three-hour training seminar about what they do, how they do it, and what you can expect from it. I think that would help a lot of people decide if that’s really something that they thought that they wanted to do or not.” As incoming president, how do you think ASBA should change its training for the new environment? “I’ll tell you, I have been more impressed with their offerings since it became a virtual or a hybrid or a blended training. And they always did, in my opinion, a good job before. I never looked at it like a social event. I never went just to go out to eat or whatever. I always looked at it like a training opportunity. I think they’ve really even upped their game with trying to educate us, like we had to up our game trying to educate kids with the manner we had to do it. So I’ve been super impressed with the last two years. It’s like, ‘Wow, OK, I’ve been in this long and I’m still learning this much? Imagine how a rookie comes in and feels.’ They’re extremely supportive. They understand who their constituents are.” How can ASBA help keep the focus on students and not on all these swirling controversies? “Boy, isn’t that the truth? If I had spoken at that public meeting, that’s almost exactly the thought I would have tried to convey. When can we get back to the purpose we’re here for? And I told you that the first time I talked to you. I said, ‘This is not fun right now.’ I’m not saying it was ever, but the environment can be unpleasant at times, and when can we get back to the focus? I think with the way they design their education opportunities – and the way they support the new board members with the New Board Member Institute, with their policy service, and with their opportunity to help with superintendent searches – I think if they take a lot of the unpleasantness, the legwork out of some of what we have to do, they inadvertently allow us more time to focus on getting
the kids back in the classroom, getting the computers in the kids’ hands, getting the curriculum tweaked, getting the preK program as aggressive as it can be, as vital as it can be.” You have some other involvements. Lets talk about CASA. “Wow. OK, so in the history of my life, it goes down as one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever been involved with. First is going to be having a child. Second is going to be CASA. You have such an opportunity to make a difference in not just a kid’s life, but a kid that needs it so much. I had six kids, and October was my fifth year. That’s a long time to try to get six kids in a safe environment, but next week hopefully is the final hearing of my last one. Parental reunification. … All my little ducklings will be settled. “Wow! Eye-opening. Not an element of society that I had a lot of experience being involved with. Showing up at somebody’s house and handing them a pee cup; saying could you please give me a urine specimen so that when I go to court, I can clearly say that you are working the program; you know, getting by the pit bull in the front yard to do that. [Laughs.] I’m telling you worst-case scenario. That was because
I also spent a lot of time driving across the state to behavioral health units and seeing my kids because it’s tough being in foster care. It’s tough being pulled out and not really understanding why. You’re safe and you’re clean, you’re fed, and you don’t have lice. It’s still tough.” Last question. You have an uncommon first name. “My grandfather was Tad, my maternal grandfather, and then my sister named her twin son Tad, and her daughter’s Grace. The most interesting Tad story other than all the names you get – tadpole, tater tot, whatever – was consistently when I was in residency, consistently, you show up every month on a new rotation. Infectious disease, genetics, pediatrics, internal medicine, whatever. You show up, you walk in, they’re like, ‘Oh!’ It always, I felt like, kind of gave me a little bit of an edge because people were automatically a little thrown off. They were expecting a ‘he’ Tad, and I showed up a ‘she’ Tad. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that. When I was in the oil industry, I was a petroleum land man – again, a more male-oriented, dominated field, and same trip. You know, Tad. Good ole’ Tad.” Note: Executive Session is edited for length, style and clarity.
FRENCH ARCHITECTS ARCHITECTS I DESIGNERS I INTERIORS 827 CENTRAl AvE ST. B I HOT SpRINGS I AR I 71901 DAVID@FRENCHARCHITECTS.NET
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Report Card December 2021 31
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Alumnus serves West Memphis as Chartwells chef
When West Memphis School District administrators partnered with Chartwells K12 for their food services, they didn’t know that one of their own would be coming home. Chartwells’ new district chef, Rico Stackhouse, is a former West Memphis Blue Devil football player and now serves nutritious meals at his alma mater. Students love what he serves them, and Chef Rico loves doing special chef events, working with special needs children, and cooking for Booster Club fundraisers. This last October, West Memphis hosted the region’s annual Arkansas School Boards Association meeting where Chef Rico served baked chicken, dirty rice, an assortment of desserts, but most notably his signature lamb chops. We’re told the lamb chops, an example of which is shown above, were the highlight of the night. To learn more about Chartwells K12, contact Kellye Neal, 501.615.3660, or kellye.neal@compass-usa.com.
Hoxie partners with SchoolEats to serve students
Hoxie School District was already doing a great job feeding its students but wanted more menu choices and more students eating in the cafeteria. This last July it partnered with SchoolEats, Chartwells’ new sister company.
32 December 2021 Report Card
“The participation in our breakfast and lunch programs has increased tremendously this school year. Our students and staff are enjoying the many different options available for breakfast and lunch. Our students especially love the handmade pizzas prepared fresh each day,” said Kelly Gillham, superintendent. For more information, contact Kellye Neal at 501.615.3660 or at kellye.neal@ compass-usa.com.
McPherson seeks Russellville sup’t
McPherson & Jacobson is conducting a superintendent search for the Russellville School District. The application period closes on Dec. 22. The lead consultant is Kenneth James, who can be contacted at k_james@macnjake.com. For more information about McPherson & Jacobson, call 888.375.4814 or go to www.macnjake.com.
All-Clean acts fast to dry out Morrilton High School arena
All-Clean USA understands emergency situations. That’s why when a student kicked a volleyball into the sprinkler system at a Morrilton High School arena, All-Clean acted fast to get the water shut off within 20 minutes of the incident. Four large dehumidifiers, two barrel fans and four other large fans started the drying process. To learn more about how All-Clean can help with fire/smoke, water and mold damage clean up, go to allcleanusa.com or call any of its three locations: Jonesboro, 870.972.1922; Conway, 501.336.0075; and Hot Springs, 501.760.0075. Someone is available 24/7 to take the call.
TIPS awards national sporting goods contract
TIPS recently awarded its Sporting Goods and Exercise Equipment Contract 210803. This contract now includes a highly requested national sporting goods vendor, as well as local Arkansas vendors. Visit www.tips-usa.com/allcontracts and select that new contract to see all of the awarded vendors. Contact Stacey McPherson, state program manager, at 870.565.6178, or go to www.tips-usa.com for more information.
Stephens offers financial training to board members
As a reminder, Stephens can assist board members with obtaining their required professional development hours. Arkansas law generally requires that school board members obtain up to six hours of certified professional development on topics related to school operations. ASBA has deemed Stephens’ financial advisors as certified ASBA trainers who are able to provide up to three hours of school finance training annually toward ASBA’s Boardsmanship Awards Program. Normally held in the evening or on a weekend, this free training workshop will address topics ranging from state and local funding revenue sources to debt financing of capital projects. This type of workshop can be particularly useful if boards are considering how to finance future capital projects. To learn more about how Stephens can assist your district, contact Michael McBryde of Stephens Public Finance at 501.377.2641.
Clarksville picks Musco for LEDs
Clarksville High School opted for Musco’s LED sports lighting system because of its superior technology
and light control, and also because of Musco’s reputation for providing service and support. According to Musco, installing a system is the beginning of a longstanding relationship with the provider. Schools should compare manufacturers’ long-term service by speaking to school administrators that have installed LEDs. To learn about how Musco’s TLC for LED® could transform your fields, contact Jeremy Lemons at 501.249.8056 or at jeremy.lemons@musco.com.
Entegrity gives Batesville students tour of solar farm
The fourth graders from Eagle Mountain Elementary School recently participated in a tour of the solar facility that creates energy to help power Batesville School District. With Entegrity staff onsite, the students had a hands-on learning experience with solar energy. Using Entegrity’s solar suitcases, the students were able to see how solar energy creates power for things such as a speaker, light bulbs and fans in real-time. To learn more, contact Entegrity at info@entegritypartners.com or visit www.entegritypartners.com.
French Architects designs Lakeside multi-use facility
The new Lakeside School District multi-use facility, designed by French
Architects, can seat 1,200 patrons. The performing arts center’s stage was designed for a full band performance while also allowing for a smaller theater format. The district gained a full back of house with dressing rooms, a makeup room, a scene shop, and smaller quick change dressing rooms on stage left and stage right. Broadcasting needs were incorporated, and the ability to livestream to the lobby and back of house was a must. The lobby can be used for professional development, school board meetings, receptions, and other events. For more information about French Architects, email David French at david@frencharchitects.net, or check out the firm’s Facebook page.
Hight Jackson designs academic wing for Farmington
Hight Jackson Associates of Rogers has designed an addition to the existing Farmington Junior High School that includes a two-story academic wing connecting the existing school and gymnasium, and a new auditorium with stage, art room, and vocal room. Construction is anticipated to begin in late December, with completion in December 2022. For more information, call 479.464.4965 or go to www.hjarch.com.
C.R. Crawford constructs gym for Elkins Schools
When Elkins School District needed a construction manager to upgrade the gym’s HVAC system, it turned to C.R. Crawford Construction. Upgrading offers improved air quality, more consistent room temperatures, quieter learning spaces, and energy and
cost saving benefits. C.R. Crawford remained under budget and returned money to the school. “The HVAC upgrade to our gymnasium has been beneficial for multiple groups of students and patrons in our community,” said Superintendent Jeremy Mangrum. “It makes the environment safer for our athletes on those very hot summer days and creates a much more appealing experience for the fans in attendance at our events in August and September.” For more information about C.R. Crawford, go to crcrawford.com or call 479.251.1161.
modus designs Greenland office
Greenland School District is scheduled to complete construction on its new 3,200-square-foot central office building in early 2022. Designed by Fayetteville architecture firm modus studio, the new facility will include five offices, a work room, and a boardroom that will also serve as a multi-purpose space for the district. A double-height lobby will connect to a “front porch” entry space while dividing the private office functions from the boardroom. A modernly composed brick façade will complement the character of the main school buildings, while interior spaces will be flooded with natural light by the use of polycarbonate glazing. For more information about modus studio, go to modusstudio.com or call 479.455.5577.
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Marketplace For more information, contact your First Security Beardsley representative at 800.965.4644.
Baldwin & Shell builds LEED school for PCSSD
Baldwin & Shell built the new state-of-the-art Mills University Studies High School for the Pulaski County Special School District. The school is a LEED-certified facility that emphasizes academic rigor and the performing arts. The 155,000-square-foot high school sits on a 33-acre site and includes a new 1,100-seat competition gymnasium, 100-seat auxiliary gymnasium, 700seat performance arts theater, baseball stadium with turf infield, 45,000-squarefoot fieldhouse with a 40-yard-plus-endzone indoor practice facility, and also includes provisions for a new softball field. The exterior is a blend of brick masonry, curtainwall and storefront systems, and insulated metal wall panels. In addition to the school, construction of a new bus loop was built to connect both the high school and middle school campuses. A new turning lane was also added from Dixon Road for easy flow of traffic in the school zone. For more information about Baldwin & Shell, go to baldwinshell.com.
Beardsley finances energy equipment, including solar
First Security Beardsley Public Finance can provide financing for energy savings equipment, including solar. Beardsley can provide the financing for energy savings projects directly to the district, or it can work with the vendor. Projects include solar, roofs, heat and air replacements, and building envelope improvements. The savings from reduced utility bills can cover the district’s annual debt payments. 34 December 2021 Report Card
WER Architects designs schools for Jacksonville
WER Architects has been working with the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District over the last few years on designing new school facilities for all grade levels throughout the district. The most recent project, the new Jacksonville Middle School, opened in August of this year, and the new Jacksonville Elementary School, shown above, will be filled with students and staff in January 2022. These two new facilities are adjacent to each other. For more information about WER Architects, go to werarch.com.
Homeland aids in avoiding banned Chinese products
Homeland Safety Systems has helped fill the supply gap and enhance the integrity of security systems across the South since the enactment of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA prohibits the procurement of certain telecommunications and security equipment manufactured by Chinese state-backed firms such as Hikvision, Dahua, ZTE, Hytera, and Huawei. An emerging FCC ban will further prohibit these companies from obtaining equipment licenses on products identified as a threat to American networks. This FCC action will reduce supply and eventually eliminate future availability of products from these companies, and it will require adjustments by all U.S. vendors and consumers that utilize them. The use of these products can compromise schools’ security and leave
them vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Homeland can work with schools to ensure they are not at risk by accidentally purchasing these products. Visit HomelandSafetySystems.com or call 888.909.2261 for more information on the bans or to learn more about Homeland’s NDAA-compliant security solutions.
Nabholz uses new materials to create varied exteriors
Most school facilities have simple, no-frills exteriors. Concrete walls, square lines, metal roofs, square windows – these are all hallmarks of K-12 school buildings, and for good reason. They are durable and low maintenance. However, new advances in alternative materials allow for more varied exteriors without compromising quality or durability, and Nabholz can help school districts take advantage of these. New materials come in the form of vinyl, fiber cement, faux stone, or brick veneers, and more. Huge improvements have been made in low-maintenance siding. Wood has also grown in popularity, as new products like mass timber have improved durability while capitalizing on the sustainability of the material. These elements can help schools fit into their surrounding environment. For instance, Westwood Elementary in Stillwater, Oklahoma, shown above, which Nabholz constructed, corresponds to its environment by featuring a shingle roof and several brightly-colored, peaked facades. When used properly, materials and design can help new buildings have a distinctive presence and be a source of pride for the community. For more information, go to nabholz. com or call 877.NABHOLZ.
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GOOD WITH WOOD. Student Stetson Horton works on his carpentry skills with help from a local skilled tradesman during a CAAST workday. Photo courtesy of CAAST
Senior Dane Morrissette already has plenty of experience working around animals, but the CAAST program has broadened his experiences and taught him patience. “Definitely getting an experience out of it,” he said. “I definitely have gotten closer to a lot of different animals, and I wouldn’t have had that chance at my house or anywhere else, really, so definitely really glad to be a part of this. … I work at a sale barn, so I’m around cattle a bunch, and we’ve had chickens at the house, but other than that, I never would have been able to be around sheep or pigs or goats or anything like that.” Centerpoint’s agriculture program has strong participation among all parts of the student body, but the CAAST program only has three female students involved. Fendley would like to see those numbers increase. “That’s probably one of the bigger issues that we do need to address is explaining to the girls that those fields, yes, they are male-dominated, but there are females in all of those fields, and they’re very successful in those fields,” he said. Minton said students in the agriculture program also learn valuable life
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skills such as gardening, which can serve them on a daily basis. The last two years have been a reminder of the fragility of the supply chains we depend on, but even before that, it was good to know where things come from. Most students in Centerpoint’s surrounding communities should have a basic understanding of how food is produced; other Arkansans might be shockingly uninformed about those processes. Several years ago, Fendley was working with some students at the Arkansas State Fair when a woman approached asking about the “cow” nearby. One of the students had to explain to her that it was a goat. Given that lack of knowledge, the teachers say they strive to help students understand why farmers do certain things, such as use antibiotics and notch pigs’ ears, and that it’s their responsibility to educate others about their food supply. “This is a conversation I have with my students,” Fendley said. “That happened in Arkansas, so what is it like in New York; California; Miami, Florida? What is it like in those places? They have no idea where their food comes from. We always joke about, you know, they think that chocolate milk comes from a brown cow. That’s legitimately what some people think. They genuinely don’t understand, where does hamburger come from? They don’t know. They don’t know the difference.”
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