Podcast Episode Details
Back to Podcast Episodes
Week 32: Education Bills Signed and Passed and Heading Our Way
Happy Friday on a Thursday!
As we head into a well-deserved long weekend, I want to thank each of you for another strong week at Mena Public Schools. We continue to see real progress toward our academic goals and performance targets, a reflection of your daily commitment and professional excellence. In this week’s update, I want to share exciting news about the launch of Rooms, our unified communication platform, and outline key legislative changes that will impact our schools in the months ahead. You will also find reminders about upcoming surveys and celebrations of student success in academics, athletics, STEM, and eSports. There is much to be proud of—and much to look forward to—as we close out another productive week together.
One ROOM for All Communication
Over the next several weeks, we will begin a soft launch of Rooms, a new communication platform integrated into our existing Thrillshare system from Apptegy. This tool will become the single, unified communication platform for students, parents, and staff starting this fall. While we are not asking anyone to stop using Remind, Seesaw, ClassDojo, or other classroom apps just yet, we do ask that you participate in training sessions when they are offered so that we can transition together.
Rooms offers all the familiar features you are used to—messaging, file sharing, updates, announcements, and parent-teacher communication—within one secure, school-managed system. It also syncs with Google Classroom and supports other tools commonly used in your daily instruction. The goal is to reduce confusion and streamline communication, especially for families who have children in multiple schools and are currently juggling several apps.
There are two primary reasons for this conversion:
* District oversight and support for all communication, ensuring consistency and professionalism.
* Direct feedback from families requesting one app for all school-related messages.
We will continue rolling out Rooms through the spring and summer, offering time for everyone to become comfortable before full adoption in the fall. Thank you for your flexibility and professionalism as we make this positive change.
To learn more about Rooms, visit: https://www.apptegy.com/rooms/
Educational Acts Impacting Our Day-to-Day
Below is a summarized list of educational acts from the 2025 Arkansas legislative session, each with a brief statement of its impact on teachers and school staff. These bills must still go through the rule-making process along with model policy development. To read the full text of the bill, use this link and search by bill number:
* HB 1007 (Act 248): Liability protections for shooting sports; minimal direct classroom impact, primarily affecting event organizers.
* HB 1060 (Act 134): Requires instruction on the dangers of communism and autocracy; a significant curriculum addition for social studies teachers.
* HB 1062 (Act 565): Teacher and Student Protection Act; impacts discipline policies and protections for staff and students.
* HB 1074: Higher voting threshold for Property Tax Relief Fund; primarily administrative, minimal classroom impact.
* HB 1117 (Act 229): Firearm safety instruction requirement; necessitates curriculum adjustments.
* HB 1151 (Act 186), HB 1152 (Act 544): Appropriations for career and technical education, facilities, and transportation; budgetary implications for administrators.
* HB 1154 (Act 222), HB 1155 (Act 223), HB 1156 (Act 224), HB 1157 (Act 225), HB 1158 (Act 226), HB 1160 (Act 227), HB 1161 (Act 228): Various adjustments in Teacher Retirement System; affects retirement planning for teachers and administrators
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago