Arkansas Blog

I have never understood the lack of public schools out west. Private schools in WLR are a lot like oil companies in that they owe much of their profit to governmental policy.

Maybe it's just me, but if I wanted to improve public schools I wouldn't (deliberately?) ignore the areas where the city is growing.

I think one of the biggest mistakes we have made as a society is to get away from neighborhood schools. I walk my kids to PHE every morning and can attest to the sense of community that is fostered among parents and children by having a neighborhood school.

It's about time for a white lawyer to harass the school board for not meeting the needs of white students in west Little Rock. The court settlement required the LRSD to build schools in west Little Rock, yet the school board has failed to act and build the schools for over 10 years. West Little Rock residents are paying a disproportionate amount of property taxes and getting nothing in return. The Little Rock elementary schools are overcrowded. West LR residents should sue the LRSD for the cost of private school tuition that they've had to pay since the school board has refused to build schools for their kids.

Might as well add a Hispanic lawyer to sue for the needs of the ever growing Hispanic population as well. Won't be long before Hispanics are the dominant minority in the state. How many Hispanics are on football and basketball teams in the LR school system - is it proportional to their population? How many Hispanic coaches are there? Where is the Hispanic representation on the school board? It's time to gerrymander boundaries to ensure Hispanic representation on the LRSD board.

Gosh, what a pain Mr Walker is. Perhaps next week he will want the records of Cheer Central for the last 12 years.

The last WLR school was built when I was in high school I think, when Colony West still had dirt roads and Markham deadended about 2 miles west of Tiwanna.

PA, Lutheran, AB, ECS and LRCA ought to be the one opposing the West LR school, not the supposed supporters of the LR School District.

Kurras et al ought to resign from the Board and let Walker and FingersHendrix take their place to add to the "leadership". The privates ought to start their own bus system and maybe buy the AP 1/4 of Central and let the LRSD seek its own level.

Just attend one school board meeting and you would be surprised to see how Walker manipulates the board. It's all about greed and gotcha! He is allowed to pontificate and make speeches to the board when no one else is allowed to talk. He does not stand behind the podium like all other speakers are required to do. He prances around the room pontificating. At the meeting I was at he said "White folks don't have to work, like black folks." He was directing this to Melanie Fox. Is that a racist comment or not? It's not about the kids, its about the millions Walker has made off of the hard working taxpayers of the LRSD. Walker Pushes and Pushes and Pushes, but remember the taxpayers will pay his sorry ass and Mitchell back the next time they need to go to the voters for more money for the schools. I hope the charter schools put walker and the LRSD out of business.

Severus, coming from me it will sound strange, but I think you wrote an excellent response to this situation. You've exposed the logical flaws when someone takes anti-discrimination/bias to the extreme. Sadly, John Walker is losing touch with reality and his role within the community.

I will defend him against unfair accusatons. This time, there is no defense for his actions. He is slowly eroding away his accomplishments. His aim is no longer true and one suspects that arrogance is clouding his judgment and actions.

John is going backwards and leading his followers in the same direction.

Jake, you feeling okay?

Been at Jefferson Elem the past couple of days and enjoyed seeing the positive effects their teachers are having and especially loved dining with the Pre-K kids over a lovely meal of fish sticks, cheesy macaroni, and cole slaw. I'm fine, Stump. Walker just went too far and seems to be losing touch with reality. I'm siding with Max on this one.

Billary, the exchange you mentioned with Fox & Walker should be in the Board minutes. Click on my name and you'll find LRSD's e-file of board minutes. Please indicate which meeting this occurred at so I can verify your claims. I can also check with Chris Heller (the LRSD attorney) and a few adminisrators who are regulars at such meetings on the accurac of your claims. Please provide the date for us.

Pre-Ks and young kids in general are not shy about turning around in their seats to stare curiously at strangers. It was good to see the 5th graders lending the teachers a helping hand in supervising and guiding the wee ones. One of the teachers told me that the little children often slip and call them "Mama." Anyway, talk about a place filled with love!

So, just a final note to Billary: don't throw these babies out in your bath water. This rush to condemn the good works and honest efforts of those down in the trenches with our children simply because one is unhappy with a board member or two is simply cold-hearted and thoughtless.

Stump, thanks for your concern but everything is fine on the Snake homefront. I'm learning, trying to find the truth, and can still eat school cafeteria food without resorting to antacids or laxatives. Gourmet or gourmand, it's hard to beat real cheesy macaroni!!

I was also at the board meeting where John Walker made those comments directed at Melanie Fox. I cannot recall the date but it was during the time frame of Brooks' firing and the taxpayer lawsuit. I have known Fox all my life. She is very well off now but she worked all through high school at a fast food restraunt, worked all through college, worked at Dillard's corporate after college while beginning a family business at night and on weekends. His comments were uncalled for and he obviously did not know her story. He spoke that night uninterupted for at least 30 minutes mostly rambling and veiled threats about Magnet schools closing. He should have been a preacher. I think it is past time for him to step out of the way and let the board make decisions without him. I was offended by his comments to her that night.

I didn't attend the meeting with the comment referenced by Billary, but I did watch it on tv. Unfortunately, I can't remember the date either (maybe last May or June?). There were so many special meetings called last spring, it might be even harder to find the exact one. I think it was the same meeting where Mr. Walker said Mr. Kurrus was a Yale law school graduate (Baker went to Harvard) then began bashing whites who have never had to work for anything.

Since this probably occurred in the "remarks from citizens" portion of the agenda, I don't know whether that would be recorded in the offical board minutes. I thought many of the comments Mr. Walker made that particular evening were insulting and offensive, but I don't recall any mention in the paper or any public backlash (just a lot of negative comments I heard privately).

Same old, same old.

Thanks ToBS & lrmom for the input. There's a good chance I'll run into Chris tomorrow evening so I'll run this by him if we get a chance to visit. Next week, I'll ask for some more responses on J Walker from within the district and see what pops up.
Right now, I just want to read a good book, nap and enjoy a lazy afternoon. Sometimes we retired folks actually do more work than we're used to. Am just a tad weary: both from my schedule and from the unending dramatics that becloud the real story of the LRSD. Am glad that I got to see the teachers and the kids. Renewed my faith in the system, for sure.

Ya'll have a good weekend.

Walker is a sad case. At one point in his career he was fighting the good fight. Today he is fighting to be relevant. His ego and lust for the spotlight have warped his sense of right and wrong. Today he cares more about headlines than he cares about well being of children whether they be black, brown or white. Sad, sad, sad......

lrmom - I do remember watching on TV the dig that Mr. Walker threw at Mr. Kurrus.

I do know that Mr. Kurrus comes from a very modest and humble home. There was never any privilege. And he has worked pretty darned hard for everything that he has gotten.

Classic Walker, it's a shame.

And a sham.

It's amazing how everyone shows their individual biases against Mr. Walker. Is this a pro-Kurrus or anti-Walker rally? What if there's is the slightest possibility that Walker is right? What will you all say then? You don't have to know a storm is coming to understand you will eventually need shelter from the wind and the rain. Kurrus is smart enough to know that his company bought a piece of land with strategic significance .If he says otherwise he is either a liar or the biggest fool since Faust. And if his company sells it to the Little Rock School District he stands to make a pretty handsome profit regardless of his participation in the procedures.Is his attempt to make this public being outright honest or clever and smart. Pure lawyer trickery if you ask me but since you didn't I'll say it anyway. I'll wait to see how hard he fights to keep the school district from buying his land.Thou doest not protest too much!

Or at all!

Well, why don't you spend some time doing title work and let's see when this piece of property was actually purchased before you start calling him a liar and a fool. Do some research and enlighten all of us. We'd love to know.

Why should I when you are the one who has the itch to scratch. Didn't you know I'm goof-proof.

I know Mr. Kurrus a bit, like him, and certainly don't see any reason in what has been disclosed to doubt his motives.

If Ms. Fox is willing to devote time, energy and headache into public service instead of focusing solely on enjoying the fruits of her family's success, I thank her and tip my hat to her.

But here is the thing: Can anyone be surprised at what is unfolding now, after witnessing the glee and hope ("wonder if she reported it on her taxes! Oh joy!!") expressed here and elsewhere upon Dr. Mitchell's reporting oversight and alleged "conflict?"

I don't know who started it. I don't much care. (I recall now that, when faced with a similar dilemma as to misbehavior by my brothers and I, mom said she'd spank us all and that way she'd be *sure* to get the right one.)

I'm just sorry we have come to the point that we can't chart a course together through passionate debate over principle instead of personal attack.

It seems pretty clear to me that refusing to build schools out west is not going to help the inner city kids a bit or hurt the denizens of the New West a bit. The former will continue to experience diminished public support and the latter will enroll their kids in private or charter schools.

I sense that some of us in the African-American community see in the West school drive (and at LRCHS) a desire to create an enclave here and there within the district -- safe havens from the hordes of black folk otherwise enveloping public schools. Naturally, that's offensive. The question, in my mind, is whether it's even partially true. If it is, we're never going to get out of this.

ARK. BLOG: Amen.

What I would like to see is genuine leadership in the city of Little Rock itself. We all talk about the problems facing the public school system but that is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If you really want to see things turn around in this city give its citizens true representation by getting rid of the at-large positions on the city board. I think a lot of what's happening in this city is the fight generated by those resistant to change. Many saw the four member black majority on the school board as a prelude of things to come here in our fair city. They saw those four black board members as a threat to a system which has survived for more than two hundred years.
Now we are at a point where the idea is not how to defeat the minority-majority but how to manipulate them into giving us what we want simply for the sake of appearance of getting along. If they try to do what's right and build the one school they have obligated themselves to build first, then look at a second school once it is completed they will be criticized as not being caring. If they are manipulated into doing so and they are unable to finance the second school and dip below the red line then it will be an I told you so situation.