Document dump: Pulaski schools
Friday afternoon of an already-begun long holiday weekend is the perfect time to drop a giant report, isn't it? We just picked up hundreds of pages of work by William Gordon Associates of Saluda, N.C., which reported to the state Education Department on questions concerning Pulaski County school districts, as ordered by the 2005 legislature.
Should the financially troubled Pulaski County Special District continue to exist? (Answer: Yes.)
Is there a way to end desegregation litigation? (Answer: Yes.)
Is there a way for the state to stop spending money on Pulaski schools? (Answer: Yes.)
Some quick takes, all taken from the consultants' report. The Education Department itself is reserving judgment until after the holiday.
* It's a bad idea to combine everything north of the Arkansas River into one district. Difficult to manage and NLR would lose its strong sense of community.
* Two districts north of the river -- an expanded NLR district and a Jacksonville district -- is more appealing to the consultants.
* "There is logic" to expanding Little Rock School District to cover all the territory south of the river.
* BUT: No reorganization is legally feasible given the current status of desegregation litigation. Plus, the troubled Pulaski district would carry obligations that would be hard for other districts to assume. Plus, Pulaski won't work to get out of court if it thinks that would then be an excuse for the legislature to vote it out of existence.
* SO ... The consultants suggest that all three districts should push for unitary status, which the consultants believe they've achieved, with an assurance given to the Pulaski district that it would continue to exist.
* THEN Create a Jacksonville school district.
* End majority-to-minority student transfers among the three districts. And phase out state funding for such transfers.
* Continue LR magnet schools for countywide use to encourage diversity in LR.
* Provide equality in course offerings at all schools.
* Emphasize school choice and targeted recruitment to increase diversity in school enrollments.
* A five-year phaseout of state deseg funding for the three existing school districts and the new Jacksonville district. The consultants said this should be adequate "in making the transition to self-sufficiency and ending the state's desegregation funding obligations."
All this was not so easily said nor will it be easily done. Legislation would be necessary. State leadership would be necessary. Support from the intervenors led by civil rights lawyer John Walker would be important.
Happy holiday. But we'll be around through the weekend and Monday, even though it looks like few others plan much work until Wednesday.
Comments
"Difficult to manage and NLR would lose its strong sense of community."
Is that your opinion or the consultants'? And why should worry about "sense of community" when determining where school districts should be anyway? Did we worry about such thing when consolidating rural school districts? I thought we were supposed to worry about kids, not communities?
AT consistently takes positions in favor of school conslidation, against GIF money, against financing privately owned facilities like ballparks with public money -- except when those things might benefit Pulaski County. Then it's okay for some reason.
ARK. BLOG 1) I thought it was clear all these things were from the consultant reports. 2) we've been proponents of school consolidation in Pulaski for decades and remain so.
Posted by: bad argument | June 30, 2006 04:59 PM
Did they say anything about how to get back the full year's salary an dbenefits paid to former superintendent Dr. Henderson for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for a full year past his resignation? I would think that something should be recommended about that!
Posted by: ItsWorseThanYouThink | June 30, 2006 05:17 PM
So Pulaski County, population 361,474, would have four school districts under this plan?
Wow, that sounds massively wasteful.
Shelby County (Memphis) has a population of 897,472 and just two districts - city and county. The people there would really like for it to be just one. Davidson County (Nashville) has one district for 569,891 souls.
I don't understand why Pulaski County even needs three, let alone a fourth.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Posted by: Crash Davis | June 30, 2006 05:19 PM
I don't know how anyone could say this better than "Crash Davis," above. How much money was spent on these consultants coming up with the recommendations these self-involved school people wanted to hear? I bet Charles Venus would have told them what they wanted to hear for a lot less.
A BUNCH
Posted by: Albert Dentay | June 30, 2006 05:52 PM
Wow. I can't believe the state is having to provide funding for the desegregation plan, just because it's for the benefit of the students. That doesn't seem very efficient. And, Lord knows we should never think about the effects on the community when we're deciding when to close schools--also not very efficient.
You know, it seems to me, what's good for the tiny rural goose is good for the giant urban gander--at least where consolidation is concerned. As one poster above pointed out, Memphis somehow manages to manage a county-wide school district, as do big districts across the country.
Posted by: Archaeopteryx | June 30, 2006 06:25 PM
"...NLR would lose its strong sense of community."
I can't believe after all the vitriol of the past few years any consultant would be so tone deaf as to write such a stupid thing.
What rock have they been hiding under the past 2 years? Those dudes should be given a couple nickles for their paper expenses and sent packing.
Posted by: 70%er | June 30, 2006 06:35 PM
I don't understand why Pulaski County even needs three, let alone a fourth.
Hey, Crash. They can't find any COMPETENT administrators for what they got now with the smaller districts in PUCO!
Posted by: Fed Up | June 30, 2006 09:03 PM
You allow the courts to screw up a once fine school system in order to play a numbers game and now, maybe, when there is next to nothing left worthwhile you just might leave them alone. Thanks, liberals, but I just as soon not have anymore of your do good projects to make you feel better while you send YOUR kids to private schools.
Next time you want to play a numbers game don't do it with our children. I'm really fed up with the result of your better way for me and my neighbors.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 1, 2006 01:26 PM