Why are you running for Little Rock School Board?
“I want to see us continue the work that we're doing to bring every student up to reading on grade level. I think that's probably the most important work that's going on in the school district right now. We started about a year-and-a-half ago with some real concentrated efforts to change the reading curriculum and I want to continue being a voice that puts a spotlight on that issue in our district as we transition into local control.”
What experience do you have working in public education?
“For the last four years I have been serving as the president of the school district’s Community Advisory Board… to help manage the business of the district and to shine a spotlight on the issues that spotlights need to be shined on.”
“I am a graduate of public schools… I'm proud to be a public school product. My kids are in public school at Roberts Elementary and Pinnacle View Middle School; two of the most diverse schools that we have in this city.”
What are your main policy goals or things you want to change while in office?
“We have to continue investment in reading education and our dyslexia intervention. We cannot let up on that just because we changed captains of the ship.”
“I want to push for a west Little Rock high school. I don't think there's any good excuse why we have some of the school district’s most successful schools in west Little Rock, but we don't have a nearby high school for those students to go to… we've got to meet that demand out there and if we provide that, we're going to fill it up and we're going to generate a great amount of community for that part of town, and we're also going to generate a great amount of revenue to share with the rest of the district.”
How has the LRSD fared the past five years without a locally-elected school board? How would you re-introduce the concept of a school board?
“I do think that the state made some good strides over the last few years but I can also provide you a list of criticisms… I know that there's some division in town over control and there are some important topics that voters want the opportunity to have a more direct voice in how decisions are made, but we can't ignore the fact that some good things have certainly come from the state's intervention.”
Do you think the state takeover of the LRSD in 2015 was fair? What would you do to make sure that wouldn’t happen again?
“Well if the state's standard for staying out of a state intervention situation stays the same as the new standard they have put in place for us to exit state intervention, then I generally think we're going to be just fine as far as avoiding another takeover. Because essentially the standard got changed from a real measurement of achievement to exit state takeover to, ‘are you trying to achieve?’ And to be quite honest, if you have a school district that can't meet the measurement of trying, well then you probably shouldn't be a school district.”
What can and can’t you do as a LRSD school board member under the state guidelines? Are you worried the public’s expectations will be more than what you can actually do?
“I don’t think that that’s going to be an issue for very long, and it goes back to the standard that the state has set for the Little Rock School District to get completely out of state intervention… I believe we’re going to meet those criteria rather quickly and show the state that we are trying to achieve and we’re going to be out of state intervention and then the guardrails will be off.”
How will you handle any disagreements between board members or with the superintendent or the Department of Education?
“If we want to move forward, and we want to attract new residents and we want to attract new families to the Little Rock School District, then we've got to act professionally. And that means bringing your best ideas forward, respecting each other and having a good debate and discussion about those ideas, and then living with the decision that the district makes and walking out of the room still good neighbors and with a genuine respect that everyone in the room wants the best for students.”
