Arkansas Blog

I'm going to do something I never thought I would do on this blog. I'm going to be honest. I live in Decatur. I attended Decatur schools K-12 and graduated from there. The Decatur schools are a joke. I have yet to figure out what people here see that they want to save in the local schools. There hasn't been a contested election for a school board seat in probably 20 years. I looked at school board meeting minutes for 8 months but only found one instance that a vote wasn't unanimous. I think "local control" is great, but if every vote is unanimous what is the point?

Test scores are abysmal. Schools 6 miles north and south have ACT composite scores 20%-25% higher. College remediation rates for last year were 73% (they have been as high as 100%). The Hi-Q team last year had the lowest point total of any school competing. Decatur schools are the smallest and poorest performing in both Washington and Benton county.

I sometimes hear that smaller schools allow students opportunities that larger ones don't. I think they're talking about football here. The football coach has already started calling opponents trying to get away games moved to Decatur because we can't afford gas to drive a bus. Even when we could afford gas I don't think we won more than 1 game in a season since football was canceled a few years ago due to a lack of players. Some years ago a reporter compared the girls high school basketball team to a bunch of 4th graders. Things have not improved. If your children have a desire to have their butts kicked in sporting events, send them to Decatur. It's a great opportunity!

The community response to this consolidation scare (it happens about every 5 years) has been fantastic, but what school can sustain itself on car washes and bake sales? An education foundation was formed several years ago to provide scholarships and classroom grants, but now most if not all of that money will be going towards keeping the doors open and lights on. Why would any parent want to send their child here? The poverty rates in Decatur are 50% higher than in Benton County as a whole so really I think that most students that remain are trapped here. There has already been significant white flight and those students were generally the most capable. The same thing has happened with the most competent teachers.

This town and school died a long time ago. I'd like to think this was due to a lack of leadership, but for many years it was precisely the aim of Decatur's most prominent citizens to make decisions based solely on what was good for the local chicken plant. Now those decisions are coming back to haunt those that made them. The school situation is the most obvious, but this town has many secrets it doesn't want anyone to know. Luckily for those still in charge, no one really cares.

ARK. BLOG: Post of the day. Thank you.

Thanks for the inside report iron.

Once again, it's time for prescription accounting procedures for all of Ark's schools and districts.
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Sad, Sad. I know there are a lot more Decatur's out there. How many school districts do we have now? 300? Or was it that number before the latest round of consolidation?
There are too many inferior school districts out there....still.

I should clarify something. The people that caused this mess long ago abandoned Decatur in favor of living in gated communities in Rogers. Those of us that remain are left with an unregulated prison where drug offenders from Oklahoma are sentenced to work in the chicken plant.

Tulsa sued the poultry companies and the city of Decatur several years ago relating to pollution of Spavinaw Creek which provides much of Tulsa's drinking water. The poultry companies settled out of court for $1 million. Decatur is now building a new sewer plant. If it weren't for the chicken plant, Decatur's current sewer plant could handle the sewage of around 10,000 people (we may serve 2,000). The cost of this is around $7 million and means that the city and poultry processor are now married for the next 20 years.

The city council passed water and sewer rate increases in January 2007. For reasons that no one can explain, those rates didn't go into effect until 18 months later. That additional revenue was supposed to go towards sewer bond payments. The city of Decatur has already laid off 3.5 employees due to declining revenue. Like the school board, there hasn't been a contested election for mayor or city council since the 1980s.

Lloyd Peterson founded our beloved chicken plant. He died last year and his grandson was named CEO. Within a few months it was announced that all poultry operations would be sold to Simmons and that deal is now complete. The grandson has his own problems. He, and his dad, were officers of the now failed ANB. I haven't seen Lloyd Peterson's daughter in the society pages for a few months, and I doubt I see his grandson behind the bench of Razorback basketball games this season. Maybe there is karma.

Almost twenty years ago, Decatur hired a new superintendent from Rogers. (It is relevant to note that this man had been a science teacher and not the usual football coach before becoming a principal in Rogers.) After a few months on the job, he began suggesting that Decatur consolidate with Gentry and Gravette, volunteering to give-up his own job in the process.

He was forced by the school board to resign.