Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada School Board unhappy with planned changes for education system in Arkansas

Rick McAfee, is urging all parents and patrons to contact their state representatives and senator and voice disapproval of the proposed changes in the state's education system.

McAfee, superintendent of the Nevada School District, told the Nevada School Board of the proposed changes and what it would mean for the district at its regular monthly meeting Thursday, Jan. 16.

What the board was told was less than pleasant.

"I've been studying Gov. (Mike) Huckabee's speech since his State of the State address," McAfee said.

In the speech, Huckabee said the Arkansas Department of Education would be at the helm of the state's educational system, and there would be at least 30 regional high school centers housing the superintendents and administrative staffs, along with the staffs of what is now the educational cooperatives.

Educational co-ops, McAfee said, would cease to exist.

The number of school districts in the state would drop from 310 to about 116, with the 75 or 76 districts with current enrollments of 1,500 or more to be left alone.

Unless districts reached agreement with one another, he said, and became a unified district with at least 1,500 students, they would become "community districts", with students shipped to a central location. In some cases, this could mean a 90 minute bus ride each way.

The superintendent, under the plan, he said, would hire principals, who would, in turn, hire teachers. The superintendent would also hire the central office staff.

Regional boards would make recommendations to the ADE, but it would be up to the ADE to take any action.

There would be, McAfee said, six to 10 small districts left alone because of their being isolated and too far from other districts to be merged.

Everything but what the plan will cost has been discussed, he said, with the gist being districts with less than 1,500 students will cease to exist.

Where the districts are now will be used for students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, with those in grades 9-12 being sent elsewhere.

McAfee said this will make it hard on students, as they will be in one school for eight years with their friends, then be sent elsewhere for their final years of school and be amongst strangers with larger classes.

For those districts not merging into unified districts, he said, the state will decide where the students will be sent to the common districts. In theory, students now at Nevada could wind up at Camden, Magnolia or Hope, or possibly all three, depending on where they live.

Many students from rural districts, he said, will be penalized in the area of extracurricular activities because of the distance they have to travel.

Don Callicott, a member of the board, said he hates to see it as communities will be affected by the loss of schools.

The governor's response, McAfee said, is this is why the K-8 classes will be left locally, but the state doesn't care when the child reaches the ninth grade.

McAfee questioned the plan, wondering where the money to build regional schools will come from.

"Huckabee threw down the gauntlet, broke it and says it can't be fixed," McAfee said.

The new larger districts, he said, will have more students in each class, making it hard for to get to know the teachers and other students, which could lead to trouble among the children.

Callicott said the top 10 percent of students will be able to make the adjustment, but wondered about those who struggle to make their grades.

Test scores at Nevada, McAfee said, are at or above the state average in several areas, with students performing well at the fourth and fifth grade levels on the standardized and Benchmark tests.

"I feel the reason is because we have a good faculty that cares about the needs of the student," he said. "I'm confident this board will take steps to protect the children of this district.

"This is business looking for efficiency," he continued, " and we're not comparing cars to tractors, but children with different backgrounds and abilities to learn."

The state, he said, is basing so much on so little and is missing the forest for the trees with this plan.

However, McAfee said Huckabee has his "ducks in a row" and the plan will likely pass, with some changes.

There are a lot of questions, he said, not answered in the plan as it exists.

When questioned, the governor's office said work on the plan wasn't begun until after the November General Election, McAfee said.

"You don't put something like this together in two months," he told the board, "so why not give it to the public sooner?"

Districts in the state have been asked to return to their standards and goals for the coming year, with no idea what's in store for next year. This, McAfee said, puts districts 30-60 days behind because they don't have the figures needed from the state for funding.

"This is not to save my job," he said. "My job is not the issue. I will fight for the children of this district to give them a quality education to the best of my ability. We're producing productive citizens."

School personnel have been asked to stay away from the legislative session, he said, as they are only working to "save their jobs".

"I don't know where the children are in this plan," he said, "and they are my concern. The business interests in the state are pushing this. I hope the people will make their voices heard."

"There was a dictator in World War II who got control of the schools, and things followed from there," said board member Mack Bridges. "We fought WWII to get rid of him.

"Who knows what's best for the students here, someone in Little Rock, or someone locally?"

In other business, Jim Cross, transportation and maintenance director, said OSHA did a safety study, with the representative nitpicking everything.

The board also extended McAfee's contract to three years.