All-Clean

ATKINS THIRD GRADE teacher Jennifer Hudson works with students Addalyn Gray and Kinley Rains. While Kirby takes Fridays off, Atkins is off on Monday – football being one of the reasons. The school offers academic enrichment programs on its off-day.

particular subject. That change is giving school districts even more scheduling options.

Atkins this year moved to a four-day week. The number of student contact days fell from 178 to 143, while school days Tuesdays through Fridays were lengthened by 63 minutes, with students given a free snack each afternoon. Unlike Kirby, Atkins plays football, so it chose to take Mondays off. Another advantage was that many holidays are on Mondays. Having the off day on the same day as a holiday is another way to save time.

Superintendent Dr. Lori Edgin said the longer day hasn’t been a problem. “After you get used to that first week, our teachers didn’t notice a difference; our students are good with it. It’s just normal now,” she said. The district is precise in its scheduling. Every minute is calculated, and they don’t worry about round numbers. Previously, school started at 7:45 a.m. and ended at 3:05 p.m. Now it lasts from 7:40 a.m. to 4:03 p.m. The district’s eight class periods are 58 minutes long. The district restructured its recesses so students have a long one in the morning and a short one in the afternoon. Waste was cut out. An advisory time where students would do club meetings and complete scholarship forms was converted to instructional time. Transition times between classes in high school was cut from five minutes to four. This year, the district had one pep rally during the school day for football and one for basketball during the entire season.

School board member Bryan Sims said the change hasn’t affected morale.

“The pep rally that we had after school was just as good as the one we had during school,” he said. “So I think that it was imperative that we use that time that we’re here at school as instructional minutes, and I think that’s imperative in general, that we have our teachers that are instructing the entire time they’re in the classroom. We’re on schedule. We’re on task.”

On Mondays, the district offers a voluntary “Red Devil Day” enrichment day for students in grades K-6 with rotating certified teachers. Students who want to come are asked to commit to three of the four Mondays each month. About 25 come on a typical Monday. Classified staff facilitate, but there is no support staff there, including nurses, counselors and administrators. The district does not offer transportation or food, but local churches and community members have been buying lunches.

The four-day week means students will be home an entire day each week, potentially without their parents there. On the other hand, four days a week they are arriving home about the same

See FOUR on page 38

EXECUTIVE SESSION

with Vicki Hatter

By Steve Brawner Editor

On the Little Rock School District website, Vicki Hatter calls herself a “daughter of the West and South.” Originally from the Los Angeles area, she had family in Louisiana and Arkansas and moved here in 2008. The mother of two became involved in the Little Rock School District as a parent and advocate because her son needed additional resources. When the district was taken over by the state, she became an activist.

In late 2020, she was elected to the newly formed school board. Her fellow board members elected her president. The year 2021 was a historic year. The district fully emerged from state takeover, navigated its way amidst the pandemic, won a lawsuit against a state law forbidding school districts from having mask mandates, and passed a 19-year millage extension to raise $300 million. That money will fund a new Little Rock West High School, a new K-8 school at the site of the recently closed McClellan High, and other improvements.

Report Card sat down with her to talk about leading a historic district during a historic year.

Why did you come to Little Rock?

“Family moved here. I was actually headed over to live in Texas, and this was a stop for me … but Arkansas just kind of, it became home. It’s a great place. It settles you.”

Little Rock spent six years in state takeover. Was that justified?

“I’m glad you asked that question because I was here in the beginning of the takeover and was an advocate on the ground with other parents and community leaders. In my mind, no, it wasn’t justified because at the time we only had less than about 13% of our district that was labeled as academically failing, and two of those schools were actually about to come off the list. So, no, in many of our minds it wasn’t a justified takeover.”

What was lost during those years?

“We lost a level of trust. We had community engagement because everybody remembered those direct actions, remembered going to the State Board of Education, remembered going to the Legislature and talking with the governor, remembered working with legislators. We remember all of those things, so