Arkansas Blog

it sounds like Mitchell is the problem. it was only a couple of weeks ago when all of Chenal had their collective panties in a twist over the idea of a new school. now Mitchell does not know of any opposition to the proposal. I think that she has been too busy tring to get Brooks fired than actually taking care of LRSD buisness.

ARK. BLOG: She meant among board members. Some of Brooks' supporters have been saying that they thought the black board majority opposed a new school in badly underserved western Little Rock. She meant only to make clear -- as Michael Daugherty has earlier -- that there is no board opposition to a new WLR elementary, but she doesn't back the addition of middle school grades. And I was under the impression that people in that part of town wanted a new school, though not those in the immediate vicinity of the site on Rahling Road, which is being abandoned for another plot of ground on Highway 10.

Apparently my prophesy from last night has proved out, as Sen. Pryor voted with the Democrats, for a change, to support Congress' Iraq war withdrawal plan.

Pryor is just full of surprises.

While I am overjoyed that the RCDC is doing something besides simply throwing "World Fest" every year, one thing caught my attention. Is it just my imagination, or didn't DeYmaz and his church (along with Fellowship Bible) sign the letter in support of the MOthers Group and Supt. Brooks? It's his right, of course, but if that's the case, I would hold that forum in a more neutral location.

What a proud legacy we have as a city..... the worlld's center stage in 1957, and we're still singing the same old worn-out tunes 50 years later. It's sad to think of all the efforts, from blacks and whites, to bring the community together and have wonderful schools for all. Now a school board with juvenile personality clashes wastes all that effort. Katherine, it's happening on your watch. You deserve the blame, and it does not matter one bit what did or didn't happen before. This was your moment to move us forward. You received the city's trust. You've failed. You didn't need to bring national negative attention to LR just to can one employee and exact your revenge. I am so disappointed in your failed leadership. Don't blame it on the white people, Katherine. You're the board president, you've got the majority. You had the responsibility. But you chose to play worn out racial games. You will be remembered for no good deed.

Why put off a vote to bring in a facilitator for improved board communication and tension reduction? Is any one on the LRSB really against seeking professional help to foster stronger relationships? Wow. I say the sooner the better.

Wow. I bet no one can top PVNasby for inflammatory rhetoric in this thread.

(Not really--I just want to read efforts in that vein. Nothing like a good blog throwdown, and this one might be good.)

I'm with PVNasby. I haven't seen any evidence Mitchell was working to get the board on a unitary front or to negotiate.

I had always read that a middle school was included in the new West LR proposal. Did Mitchell kill that off? What exactly were the legal requirements in the judge's order - was it just to build an elementary in West LR or to build both an elementary and middle school?

"it was her understanding that the school was meant to be an elementary school -- pre-K through five -- and that she opposed adding middle school grades (through grade 8), as she says Brooks has proposed."

I am not familiar with the history of the WLR school, but this raises questions:

1. where did she get the understanding it was to be only an elementary school, and:

2. why does she oppose the middle school?

The blog entry makes it look, at least passingly, that she is opposed because it was proposed by Brooks. If that is the reason, then we have very serious problems.

ARK. BLOG: Past news articles (2004 and earlier) refer to an "elementary school." Since Brooks' arrival, he's been qoted as talking of a combination elementary/middle school. I presume the board has discussed the configuration in recent times, but I haven't put my hands on an account of any such discussions yet. A 2000 article notes a board vote to form a committee to find a site for "an elementary school."

I'm asking this not to be critical but because I find it puzzling that this continues to be called a "racial" issue. Why is it a racial issue that a black majority of the school board wants to fire a black superintendent whose most vocal supporters are a group of mostly white parents? And who is opposed by Ledbetter (white) and Knight (black) of the teachers' organization?

I think it's a disgraceful mess, but, I fail to see it as racial.

Amazing quotes from board members.

"This situation has degraded into things I hoped I never had to deal with on this board, such as racial intolerance and race hatred," said board member Robert M. Daugherty, who is black. "The ignorance of it all is just overwhelming."

I wonder what racial intolerance, hatred, and ignorance he is referring?