Episode Details

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week! All of the efforts we have put into our students have been recorded in the ACT Aspire testing portal. Testing our students satisfies what the state asks of us as far as our accountability to it, but we are still accountable to ourselves and this community for using our time and resources in the most effective ways to make sure our students (their children) are successful.

The trending of our District Goals is about the same; however, I can tell the end of the year is near because discipline referrals have gone up for the second week in a row. We are still above our goal of a ten percent reduction, but only by a fraction instead of the fifteen to twenty percentage points that we have been seeing all year. Attendance went down a tenth of a percent and we will provide one last reading level report at the May board meeting.

This week’s Wrap-up is full of news, information, and opportunity.

Dr. Luis Cruz

We are very excited to be hosting a statewide professional development session for educators with Dr. Luis Cruz. Dr. Cruz will present “Time for Change” at the PAC on Friday, June 16. The session will start at 9:00 am and will be a motivating, inspiring, and hopefully life-changing day for educators. Dr. Cruz will spend the day discussing transforming school culture. One must understand why teachers continue to hold on to the models or beliefs contrary to those put forth by their district or school. He will explore the human behavior and conditions that cause the underlying conflict among the four different types of teachers in a school: Believers, Fundamentalists, Tweeners, and Survivors.  He will discuss how school leaders can work with each group to create a positive school culture and fully realize our district’s mission and vision.

If you are planning to be in town on June 16th, please register for this professional development as one of your flex days. It is a statewide audience they are after so this will also be a great networking opportunity for those attending. You may register for the session in ESC Works here.

2024 Legislative Biennial Study of Educational Adequacy

The Arkansas House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education are conducting their biennial study of educational adequacy. The Policy Analysis and Research Section of the Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR) has been charged with facilitating the study. As part of that study, the BLR will survey all superintendents, charter school directors, principals, and classroom teachers in the state for needed information and input. Below is their schedule for sending out emails with the survey links to the recipients:

* Teachers start May 8, 2023, and end May 19, 2023;

* Principals start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023;

* Superintendents start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023.

The two committees on education make the funding recommendations to the House and Senate so it is very important that you respond to the survey if you receive one.  We have been assured that all survey responses are confidential, and no one outside their research group will have access to the responses that are provided.

Teacher Appreciation Day/Week

We had Teacher Appreciation Day on May 2nd and are looking forward to Teacher Appreciation Week next week, May 8th through the 11th. I am thoroughly impressed by the things our parents and businesses do for you all during