More than 80 attend community meeting
Posted on Thursday, August 7, 2008
DECATUR — School officials here held a community meeting earlier this week to answer questions about the Arkansas State School Board decision to take control of the Decatur School District.
“ Since the state took us over on (July 31 ), we couldn’t officially have a school board meeting, so it’s a good time to call a town meeting, ” said Bobby King, who was the district’s acting superintendent.
More than 80 people attended, including teachers, school employees, parents and students. The football team arrived together, dressed in Decatur football T-shirts, amid clapping and cheers.
King began by explaining what will happen as a result of the state taking over the district.
• Dr. Kenneth James, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, will appoint a superintendent for the district.
• The local school board will no longer have any power. It will be replaced by the state school board.
• Anything the district does or spends money on, such as signing a contract, has to be approved in writing. Matters, such as routine maintenance and daily operations, can be carried out; then the state school board can be notified in writing, but major expenditures, such as hiring of teachers or buying supplies, must first be approved by the state.
• The district has been mandated to meet every three months with the state board and show documentation for everything that’s been done during that time.
“ It seems like a lot of work, but the bottom line is we’re going to open schools on Aug. 18 in Decatur, ” King said.
King said the district is going to continue all of its programs, including athletics, until told to stop.
King urged parents to keep their students in the district.
“ If we want Decatur schools to stay open, we’ve got to have every student possible enrolled, ” King said, although he acknowledged that parents have to make the decision that’s best for their families.
The state will figure the district’s funding for the 2009-2010 school year by the amount of students enrolled on Oct. 1. Each student will give the district $ 5, 800 in funding, which could add up to a lot of money, considering 73 students have filled out school-choice forms to move to other districts, and nine students have transferred out of Decatur.
Most of those students made the arrangements so they would have some say in where they attended school if the district was annexed and have verbally agreed to attend school in Decatur as long as the schools stayed open.
Although several teachers and coaches have left the district, King said James has given written approval to hire two teachers and verbal approval to hire an additional two teachers.
Parents questioned the district’s academic standing, an issue that was brought up at the state school board meeting in Little Rock.
King said many students had to score a 200 on literacy tests to be proficient, and a surprising number scored 199, just short of the mark. He said the low test scores could be the result of a variety of factors, including test anxiety, lack of student effort and lack of instruction.
“ You have a handful of students that don’t give a rip, and they take the test scores down, ” he said.
Community member Kevin Smith asked what steps the school is planning to cut expenses for next year.
King said some of the measures could include reevaluating the bus system to create more centralized stops, looking for ways to reduce energy use, restructuring the bond on the new elementary school and applying for grants from large corporations.
Restructuring the bond on the new elementary school could save the district $ 240, 000 this school year, King said. It would work much like refinancing a house or car, giving the school smaller payments over a longer period of time.
The bond restructuring would have to be voted on in a special election next January in order to take effect.
Community member Linda Martin asked why the ADE is willing to pay an annexing school $ 1. 5 million in incentive funds to take Decatur on but is not willing to give that money to the district.
King said he didn’t have an answer to her question.
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