001[Music] Let's [Music] not be available. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Okay, thank you very much. So glad to see a room full of people here. I know all of us that are here care about our children here in Bllyville. And this is such an important meeting for us, for our community. And um just ask that everyone give each other some grace this morning. I know this can be a very emotional meeting, but we are here for the children and let's just keep that in mind. Let me introduce Secretary Oliva who is with us this morning. Secretary, thank you. And um I want to echo the sentiments from Miss Rollins. Thank you everybody for coming out and um being part of our conversation, which is what we're going to be engaging in today.
002just to kind of give some historical perspective. Um, many of you may have been here uh just over a year ago when we uh had a joint meeting with the state board and the local school board to talk about some concerns that we were seeing and declining enrollment um fiscal sustainability kind of the long-term projections for the Bllyville school district and most importantly student performance. So, uh, at that time we engaged in a in a partnership where we agreed to provide some additional support and we've asked the Bllyville school board to provide frequent updates to our state board and they've done that in Little Rock over time. But we've gotten to a point where we need to make some maybe more robust or long-term decisions about the future of what is our agency's role, what
003is the support role from outside folks, and what does the governance structure look like for Bllyville. So to this morning, we're going to kind of follow uh along with that conversation that's that's been going on for over a year to to keep this dialogue at the forefront of making sure we're doing what's right for our students. So, what's going to happen is this is a a formal notice meeting where the board has the authority to take action and take a vote on any possible recommendations that are made by our agency. We're going to do an overview of the journey of some of the topics of where where we've been for the last year and a half uh historically and then um talk about what we're seeing now for future projections. And after that presentation, the
004local school board will have the ability to respond and provide an update to this board and um engage in dialogue. It'll be a a formal response where anybody that wants to speak on the board's behalf will be sworn in so that it'll be an official oath and an official testimony. And then our board is gonna open in a public forum and and discuss amongst each other um some of the information that was presented to them and they may ask some additional questions of our agency or of the school school board here locally and then before they take any action they're going to allow public comments. So we'll set some time aside to hear from people that signed up that want to address our board as well. So, it's it's going to be a robust and
005informative morning, and we we look forward to engaging um in that conversation. I I do want to recognize that we have some local elected officials that are here today because they know how important this conversation is to community. So, I know I saw Senator Wallace, if if you don't mind standing and saying thank you for being here. Also, Representative Joey Carr is here as well. And I believe we have some um representatives from Representative Crawford's office joining as well. I don't know if you're here. If you could stand and be recognized and if there's any other local the mayor's here. Okay. I was like I was looking around. I was like I I may have missed some. Thank you for being here. Um if there's any other local elected officials um and if and if
006if you want to address this board, we we would welcome that as well. But um if I missed anybody, it's not on purpose. I I just want to give you a chance to to to stand and be recognized and thank you for being here and and and just thank you. Um, I I know there's a lot of school administrators, teachers, um, local school employees, as well as parents and business folks and concerned citizens that are here as well. So, um, without further ado, Miss Rollins, I'd like to invite Stacy Smith from our team to come to the podium and then provide some remarks and give some overview. Okay. If if um I may take a little privilege, I believe everyone I'd like to introduce our board. I know it's we can't really see name tags
007from back there. So, uh Dr. Sarah Moore, our chair, is uh with her family today, but she is joining us by Zoom and we're always glad to have her expertise. We have Adrien Woods, Randy Henderson. On the other side, we have Dr. Gary Arnold, Lisa Hunter, and Lee Kenir with us this morning. So and Ken, thank you. And our member Ken Bragg is also joining us by Zoom this morning. So we're glad to be here and have everyone's interest and valuable comments this morning. So thank you. Go ahead. Deputy. Good morning. Um, so this morning is considered to be a hearing because the school district has um appealed the level five classification. And so the department of education will have a presentation of no more than 20 minutes, probably be less than that. And then
008um BL has 20 minutes to also present. And so at this time I'll ask you to go ahead and do the oath for anybody that's going to um present during this testimony part during the hearing. people in that are going to uh be part of the testimony this morning. So, please stand and raise your right hand, please. Okay. Do you swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Good morning. Stacy Smith, deputy commissioner with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Um, actually excited and happy to be in Blville this morning. We've had a team working in Bllyville all year. Um, our team has made some great relationships with teachers and staff um, in the community here. Um, Bllyville is a great place
009to be. Um and Bllyville does have um a bright future ahead of them, but at this time there are several things that we have concerns about that we feel like they need additional support in. And so those are some of the things today that I'm going to walk the board through. Um the first is a slide that we've seen more than once. This just shows the declining enrollment that the Bllyville School District has faced. Right? This is not something that's uncommon to this area of the state. You've seen multiple school districts in the area having declining enrollment. All right. But this is also an opportunity where industry is coming in bolstering and we got to make sure that our school systems are prepared to um provide what we need in terms of attracting industry here.
010And as we walk through some of the data today on the school system, we're going to see that that's not necessarily the case. All right. At this time, they're down 102 students even from last year's enrollment numbers. On academics, this was the simulated letter grades that were recently released on last school year's Atlas testing. Okay? Not the tests that were just given here a few weeks ago, but last year at the end of the year. So, you can see for 2324, the primary, the elementary, and the high schools all have simulated letter grades of Fs. The middle school does have a letter grade of a C and that's something we're celebrating. All right. But we still have three schools that have Fs and we still have some concerns about the achievement academic performance happening in
011all of the schools. This shows an overview of the academic performance of Bllyville students from last year's assessment. And what I want to show here is when you look at that for like the elementary school third through fifth grade and it says ELA and it says first percentile that doesn't mean they're number one. Okay. In a percentile ranking you want to be at the hundth percentile. You want to be the best performing out there. That is 100. Bllyville's scoring in the first percentile on the lowest range of districts in the state. That is all districts in the state for ELA in elementary school. For math also um less than the first percentile. It wasn't even a full percentile point. It was like um half of a point. Science first percentile. So of all the districts
012in the state, they are in the lowest achievement level you could be in. For the middle school achievement, you see third, fifth, and eighth. again, the lowest in the state. The middle school is where you saw a C letter grade, and we're going to talk about why they have a C, but we still have the overarching concern that the achievement is exceptionally low. High school, again, you see ELA and mathematics in the fifth percentile. Biology, you had to jump in that one at the 18th percentile, but all of them are well below, making Blindville school districts one of the lowest performing school districts statewide. the growth scores. Um again for the elementary school you're seeing that um they're in the lowest percentile. And when we talk about growth, growth is measured by individual students. Each
013student is predicted to make a year's worth of growth. All right? And so when you look at this, you see like for elementary when it says 116 out of 306 or 37%. That means 37% of the students in third through fifth grade in English language arts met their expected year's growth. Only 37%. That means more did not. And to to c to emphasize this a little bit more, they're already behind. For kids to catch up, they need to be making more than their year's worth of growth. All right, because we have catching up to do because we are scoring so low. Make sure people understand and and if you could just go deeper on what is an expected growth target. So when when we talk about students performing at or above grade level, we use
014a term called proficiency. And when we look at proficiency rates, when students graduate from high school, are they going to be able to read on grade level and be able to be ready to obtain what we like to call our three E? Are they are our students going to be ready to be employed, enlisted, or enrolled? Well, there's some basic skills that you would expect students to have with an aptitude to meet one of those destinations of those three E with every student being on their own individual pathway. So if we're in the first percentile, and that's just of all the students in the state meeting what we call proficiency, that's a problem. Now, we know that kids come to us from all walks of life, and our schools are going to do the best
015they can to take a child from where they are and get them to move along the continuum of learning as much as they can. So that's where we establish an individual learning growth target. So those students get a snapshot of okay, you started day one of school here. Your growth target is individualized to the student. Every student has their own individual growth target. So if we start here at the beginning of the year to demonstrate at least a year's worth of growth, we expect you to finish here. It may not be on grade level, but you can still be progressing towards grade level. So when we say that 30 only 37% of the students met their individual growth target that means those students will never reach grade level because you've got to exceed your growth
016target to get to grade level. So we're setting up twothirds of the students in this district to never achieve grade level work. That's why that's a big deal when we talk about individualized setting an individual learning target. Yeah, when you when you're looking at the growth thing here and I do want to highlight the middle school ELA 78th percentile. So then you saw more kids meeting their growth or exceeding and on science you had 82. So that's what you want to see. But we need that numbers in all of those categories to be well over 50 60 70% of students meeting their growth. So the I think if anything it shows in ELA and science a lot of times when you get into situations um from the department of ed a lot of times we
017hear you don't understand our students you don't understand our community. It shows right there that these students can and it shows that staff can um we just have to get our systems aligned so that we see this across the board. Another category in our performance rating that actually helps create the A tof letter grade is growth of the lowest 25%. Which for most districts when you talk about growth of the lowest 25% you're talking about the students that are scoring level one on the assessment, okay, which is the lowest you can perform on our state test and it means that you are behind grade level. So for most districts when we say the growth of the lowest 25% it's taking into account the kids who scored level one and then maybe some kids that scored
018in level two. For this district they have more students in level one than in any other group. So the lowest 25% that doesn't even cover all the students in level one that are behind grade level. So again, you're seeing math in the elementary in the first percentile, the 19th percentile, the 12th percentile. These numbers have got to get well over 50%, 60%, 70%. You see some highlights there in the middle school where they did achieve those. You see some highlights over there in the high school. So th this does speak to intervention that is working, right? But we've got to get it where we're getting more kids um pulled into that and so that we get more kids moving achievement. Again, growth is something that we measure and we value in our state, but that
019does not undermine the fact that achievement is what the goal is. We want every student to achieve grade level proficiency. And this school district at this point in time is not doing that. graduation rate from the previous year um was 77%. Again, that's in the fourth percentile, the lowest performing districts of this in the state. The average graduation rate in Arkansas is 88 of its 89% graduation rate. So again, we're behind here. We're not graduating our kids. And when we talk about this readiness towards merit and distinction, that's actually new. And that's building on career pathways. All right. And this in this area is booming with industry opportunities for kids and building career pathways. You have interested colleges and industry partners to work with. This is an area in which we believe that this school
020district could excel in and create some really strong pathways where kids are not only graduating with their high school degree, but they're graduating with industry certifications. that can take them straight into a job, a highpaying job that also brings value to the community, value to the business partners, value to our students, and it changes lives. So, when we talk about support for the district this year, um they had some outside contracts, um they had TNTP, which works with teachers on lesson internalization and supervision. They had really great reading. um which is again worked with K3 leadership and teaching coaching and they also did an RFP and brought in a group called educational directions. This is something that the department folks worked with the district staff to put together an RFP in which they solicited outside
021help to come in and support administrators within their school district. um educational directions has been on site 60 at least by the time we did this presentation 64 on-site visits 51 virtual interactions 115 documented touch points and this was for the last month's presentation so if they've been here since then it's it's increased I think that the support for this group has been positive I think the district um has enjoyed working with this group and with that is something we'd probably like to see continue um that's a positive intensive of support provided by directly from people at the Department of Education. Um on-site support, over a 100 days of direct on-site support from the OCSS team led by Miss Whit. Um we've had we've facilitated multiple school visits um to the Academy of Math and
022Science and Little Rock with the board. We've engaged in governance engagement with their board. We've done um facilitated meetings with the school boards association. We brought in um board president um from Palm Bluff under their school board which where they had had um some systems issues before and governance issues to come in and talk about what they had to do in in their district. We've worked on operational support trying to provide financial and staffing assistance um through multiple different offices in our agency. So, this support is reflective of level five support, which is what we're recommending today. Um, and I'll I'll compare this in a minute with another district that we we've seen come before you guys in the last year. Another um example of intensive support that our department has provided is on-site visits
023for safety. um Office of Educator Effectiveness has been on site at least three times helping figure out to get teachers on pathways or making sure that they're coded correctly. We've had the Division of School Academic Facilities and Transportation come on site. We've done numerous visits with our learning services team reviewing literacy plans, doing site visits to the primary and elementary buildings to ensure that the high quality instructional materials are being used effectively. We've provided K through literacy support through the really great reading program that we talked about earlier. The um educational cooperative has provided intensive support. They've documented 185 on-site visits. The director regularly meets with the interim superintendent. Um she has led dialogue and had conversations with their board about contracts, about best financial practices. um they've actually contracted with their business office for
024additional financial support. They have content teachers and specialists that are on site providing mentoring. So there is lots of support happening at the school. I want to thank the Bllyville teachers and I want to thank the Bllyville principles and administration. Um they have been receptive. They have been um open to the assistance and the help. Um, we have people who are showing up to work to work and they love their community and they love their kids. Um, and I know this board loves their community and loves their kids. So, people are showing up, but this is a district that is in need of a lot of support to be able to get them out of the hole that they're currently in. And I want to kind of compare this with a district earlier that we
025kind of saw had systems failure. Um, and that was Watson Chapel. um they had coding issues, they had some finance issues. We went in directed by this board to go in still level four support kind of mirroring almost some of the same support we saw provided here. The difference was at some point Watson Chapel was able to maintain without us directly standing there saying you got to do this next. Have you done this yet? Have you checked that yet? um they were able to maintain and continue to make progress with the outside contracts that they brought in. What we're seeing here is um we've got lots of support here, but we're still having to do lots of reminders, lots of assistance. At this point in time, we get more calls, our OCSS team gets more
026calls and work to work in Bllyville than we do all the other schools under state authority. We spend more time right now in Bl than any other place. Um again, that just shows the amount of support that is needed um to get this school district on track. So, if if I can add, when when we were before this community over a year ago, we made a commitment as an agency to say enough's enough. We can't leave these children in limbo. We got to support these teachers. We got to support these administrators. and and we had to bring in some outside help and work with local help like education cooperatives. Those numbers you saw hundreds of on-site visits was our agency sticking to the commitment we made. What we're going to hear more about is the
027frustration of how much we have to babysit the people that are elected to govern the district. The teachers are being receptive. The students are learning. The administrators are getting in the classrooms. They're doing everything we need to do. But when the elected officials who represent this community are derived to make tasks and decisions, it's like we have to pull them along. And that's where we're seeing and making recommendations to this board. Some of the frustration. So on supervision of instruction promising practices that we've seen this last year is we've seen administrators in the classroom doing more observations. We do believe that the quality of feedback needs to improve and again that's some of the contracted work and the support that needs to be provided to improve instructional practices in the classroom. But you see the
028change over the years of how of documented um observations or feedback in classrooms to what we currently have. So that is an improvement. Um human capital at the beginning of the school year, the 2025, the green was the number of licensed teachers. Um the yellow 14 was partially licensed and the red was unlicensed. Currently, we went back and pulled the numbers at the end and again we've had our staff on site at least three times working directly with teachers to get teachers on a pathway. Um at the end of last year we had especially in the primary grades you had virtual instruction happening which was a concern that's been alleviated. They have classroom teachers um working with students. Um high school we're still struggling in areas of lure area and working on that but they
029have improved in that area but it's with direct support but they still have a long long ways to go. I will tell you we don't have a complete confidence in the data that we're pulling. So when we're pulling these data numbers it's it's data that's been entered right from district folks. And again, that's where the governance part of our staff, we're we're not in there entering the data or coding things. All right. Um, so part of our recommendation today of authority is to be able to get in there and really get into those systems and make sure that the the data is accurate. When looking at um interim assessments, we're seeing promising data about interims throughout this school year. Um, again, folks are teaching, folks are working, folks are in classrooms. We're hoping to see
030improvement in Atlas scores from the test that was taken just in the spring, but again, we're talking about a district that is so low that we're not expecting to see high achievement levels out of this this last testing. We're hoping to see better growth scores, but we're not expecting to see large numbers on the achievement data. So concerns related to governance um lack of coherence and leadership again they've had six superintendents in eight years lack of lack of fiscal oversight some fiscal in insufficiencies lack of internal controls with come some of those data elements I just talked about um and currently providing we are currently providing intensive support without governance oversight. So, human capital and leadership. This is probably one of the biggest concerns that we have. Um, this is kind of the timeline for
031this last year. In June of last summer, Miss Blankenship was appointed as interim superintendent. In August, the previous superintendent was terminated. Um, November, they posted the position, but not until November. So, they terminated the superintendent in August, but didn't post the position until November. in November. Um they reviewed some the they had some applicants that they reviewed, but the decision was made to stay with the current superintendents. They didn't feel like they had enough quality candidates. Um and at that point, we were like, don't settle. Get the right candidate. We wanted to support the district in that decision. February, they decided to do a consulting firm, but again, they let their previous superintendent go in August. They didn't hire a consulting firm until late February. And again, a lot of this has to do with
032our staff asking, "What are you doing? Have you done this yet?" Um, in April, the firm brought um two of the 12 applicants to the board. The board declined to interview the two applicants. On April 28th, the superintendent position was reposted. April 29th, they had a special board meeting to discuss next steps regarding the superintendent. No action taken. In May 8th is when we came to you and said, "We have concerns. They don't have a superintendent." Since May 8th, they have they on May 22nd, they called a regular board meeting and decided now they're going to interview three applications. They're literally doing interviews this week. They have an applicant here today, which personally I would be embarrassed that I'm interviewing for a superintendent on the same day that the state board of education is coming
033to your district to consider or not whether or not you're going to be the governing board. [Applause] So again, this shows a lack of urgency in determining leadership um coherence and it's that it's it's it's it's constant um this right here if anything I think reflects more of um all right per pupil expenditure report. So, this is another thing that we have um some concerns about that. We want to talk about the fiscal um integrity or efficiency of the district. There are some things here that are raising some red flags and some concerns that if we continue to stay on this path, the district will be um come in fiscal distress. They're not there right now. And I don't want and I'm we're not saying that anybody has purposely misused money, but there is inefficiencies
034occurring. Okay. when you look at the state averages compared to the district spending in certain categories, there are questions um to be asked here. So, pointing out some some pieces here. When you look at like custodial, the average state cost per pupil is about $111 for this district, it's about $618. when we compare that to because because Secretary Oliva when I was reviewing this data with him, he pushed back because he wants to make sure what we're saying is accurate and he said, "Well, Stacy, they're a smaller district. So, how does that compare with districts that of their like size? You know, they're in a rural community. How does that compare?" and so actually went and pulled data from districts their like size and in most of the cases on this page they're overspending per
035pupil amounts in these areas than districts in their like size. um in in the custodial for districts they're like size where we have up here the state average is 111 for districts they're like size we saw some districts that were maybe around 300 and some that were less but they're still again hitting at that 600 where they were comparable the only two areas I could really find where they were comparable to districts in their their size was the sanitation one and accident insurance and everything else that was on here in districts compared to their own size they were over. So again, this is an opportunity for savings in this district and to going to back and look at and it also is is the question of are we coding correctly? Like there there there could
036be some serious coding issues that maybe is telling a different story, but when we pull the data from what they've entered, this is what it shows. when you're looking at district operations overall, um their current operating budget is required to be turned into Desi on September 30th. That budget is supposed to be approved by the board. That did not occur. The board did not approve their budget until October. The district has spent, according to data they've entered, 1.5 million that was not budgeted. So when you look at their overall budget, they have lots of areas in which are red or negative. That means the budget that they submitted was not very accurate. Um for fiscal year 25 revenue is down significantly about 15%. They're losing students. When you lose students, you lose funding. All right?
037And so adjustments have to be made. um the district had not reconciled their bank statements since April of 2024. So when we cons when we contracted with work with the educational um service cooperative to come in and assist with finances, this is some of the work they're doing is getting their bank getting everything reconciled. So again, that leads to overall concerns. In fiscal years 22 and 23, they actually had surpluses. They were putting 2.3 to 3.5 million into their building fund. All right. Since then, they've actually had to go into their building funds and expend money. So, in fiscal year 24, they had to spend 2.1 million where they before they were actually saving money. In this current year to date, they're almost at a million dollars. So, at this moment, they are spending a
038lot more money than they previously had in the past. and they're losing students. Their ending fund balance right now is not at a huge concern. Okay, we calculated it about 18%. But it is it's gone down. It's down 15% than was previously. That is a concern. So when you stay on this trajectory, you can see where it's heading. All right. So these are things right now that we need to catch now before it becomes a problem. other things that as we're looking at this um additional pay in the form of bonuses or stipens to date is over $200,000. This again it's about this this just raises questions when you have a job description that says you're let me give an example. um if I were the curriculum and instruction person in a district or the
039assistant superintendent um I'm being paid for that job and that's my job description. What we see happening here is a lot of times those roles then have additional stipens put on top of them to arrange PD. Well, arranging professional development is probably within that job description when asking for specific job descriptions on the stipens. We've not seen those yet. It doesn't mean they don't exist, but at this moment we don't have them. When we see federal funds for homeless money, um we have stipens that are given out um for um homeless services, that's federal funding that has to be do documented, especially when it's paired with um an employee who's being paid with state dollars. You have to have time sheets. You have to document how you're providing services to those students or that population,
040right? Or you end up having audit findings. So, they have lots of stipens in the excess of over $200,000 that we just need more information about. We need to clarify. We need to make sure that their salary schedule is set and job descriptions are clear. Um, so they're projected to end the year um like at a with a 2.9 million net legal balance. Again, that's down 18% from previous. It's about a difference of about $600,000. board related expenses. Um so one of the questions that was specifically asked from one of the state board members was has this board received training and the answer is yes. One we've organized training okay and then so we started looking at what are the expenditures that we can show that they've actually had training and I'll tell you we
041were we were surprised. We know that we have board members who have traveled to Atlanta. We have board members who have traveled to Buxy. We've had board members who have traveled to Little Rock numerous times for lots of conferences. I'm not saying that training is not needed because it is needed. Um, but at this moment right now, we can calculate up to $56,000 on board expenses and some of those items are listed on the board. You have reimbursement to individual board members and that ranges from $700 up to over $7,000. You also have a line item in the budget that has non-district employees. All right? For a lot of districts, non-district employees are board members, right? That budget here in this district is like at $30,000, but we can't tell who those people are right
042now because we haven't gone in and been able to dug into the audit part of it and look at the receipts. It just raises questions about the use of funding um and what we've got going on here. We've got $12,000 in credit card expenditures. We don't until we see the receipts, we don't know what those are for. Okay. Um legal services to six firms from from the board. Again, we know that they fired a superintendent. We know they did some internal research on practices there. But again, we've got six firms there. We had the superintendent search firm of $7,500 which at one point they rejected to even interview any candidates that that search firm put forward. So again it's it's lots of questions about what we're spending our money on and what the governance section
043is in this area. So, our recommendation, and this is going to be the last slide for my presentation this morning, is our recommendation is that this state board classify this district in need of level five intensive support. Because to be blunt, we are providing level five intensive support right now. [Applause] We'd also recommend that the state board remove the authority of the local board and authorize the commissioner to assume the authority of all local of the local district board of directors. And we would recommend that the state board direct the commissioner of education to appoint a superintendent and pursue the possibility of a transformation contract [Applause] and board just so you know and I think Stacy and her team should be also commended for their commitment to making sure that we're providing those level five
044intensive supports. We're providing more support to these teachers, to these school leaders, to these students probably almost than any other district. But when I think about what is the school board's role, right? What what are their primary responsibilities and you and you look at governance and operations, right? Part of that governance is overseeing the budget, which we have a lot of questions about. And I don't want to have to come back to this board and say we're in financial urgency because we're spending money that's not budgeted and we're not able to balance a spreadsheet. We can't even turn in a budget and meet the statutory deadlines when when that's one of their number one functions is to make sure that the district's financially stable. And in governance, one of their jobs is to hire a
045superintendent, which we've been asking them to do for a year. and they still haven't done it. And it wasn't until last month all of a sudden, well, we'll start interviewing folks. Where where is where is the urgency on on the board's behalf to make sure that the systems are going to be supported and sustained? And I and I feel like when we came here a year ago, we said we have to act with urgency. We these students are going to be in third grade once. Th this is we just had high school seniors graduate. That was their senior year. are they going to be ready for the next phase of their lives? We can't sit around and wait for people to figure it out that are never going to figure it out. And that's why
046we're coming to the board with this recommendation. So, that concludes my presentation. Um because this is a hearing, the Bible school district has up to 20 minutes. Um and then the board can ask questions to whoever you want to ask. So at this time I would ask the district who is going to go ahead and and make your comments to come forward Please and if you would please identify yourself before you start. Thank you. Good morning. I am Jennifer Blankenship serving as the interim superintendent for the Blava School District. Good morning. I'm Desmond Hammond, serve as the board president of the Blava School Board. Uh let me just say that when I was in this position and spoke before you guys back in August, um I did not think that I would still be here,
047but we know it's about the students and we needed someone to fulfill this role. So, I was um thankful that the board chose me to do this because this is our district. We care about the district. It's all about the students. So, our commitment, my commitment is about the urgency of improving student outcomes. Um providing equitable highquality education for all of our students, all means all, and accountability through collaboration and partnership. We've had some um increases in our number of licensed teachers, our waiver teachers and uh partially licensed. That number has gone down since we've even put this on here. Uh we've had one aspiring teacher. Our virtual instruction, we're looking at next year. We have our building principles. They've been hired. They've worked hard with uh the support from educational directions getting some coaching.
048We all have. It's been our mission to make sure that we give our students what they need to give our teachers and the principles and everybody the support for their particular positions. Um you've seen this slide before but we've just increased the amount when we partnered with educational directions. They brought in some great coaches um even one for me to guide and support and give ideas and it's just was a great partnership and that the board decided to continue that particular partnership for the next school year. Um yes, our academic performance um Dr. Smith spoke to that we have historical challenges and we acknowledge those. However, we do know that um progress is on the way. We're using data informed instruction, increased coaching support, benchmark assessments indicate early signs of growth, especially in K3 literacy.
049Some of the information that she just went over that's been shared with you. We've highlighted some of our gains and our growth where we're trying to move our students. Um, we've implemented evidence-based instructional practices, curriculum improvements, getting everybody high quality instructional materials, uh, letters training, I ready, wonders. We're trying to do all those things to make sure that teachers are supported and that they can support our students and grow our students and then move them as well. Um, most of our students were at level one and two. We know that growth has occurred. Uh if you looked in the data I sent you earlier within level ones, we moved some students out of debt into level two. There's room definitely for improvement and we know that we have to move the needle. We have to
050push our teachers to push our students and have those data conversations. If you're looking in here, just some of the fourth grade data, how the students dropped from level one, moved into level two, and these is just still some of the things that Miss Smith spoke to earlier. also from math. Uh she spoke about the growth that was shown over a year's time at the middle school and so we're still using those interventions. Every campus has targeted interventions with their students. Um we're doing our best to make sure that they take it seriously know that it's it's real and we have to move our students. We have to teach our students. We have to deliver to them the content and give it to them on grade level. We know grade level is really huge and
051although they may you know it's going to take some time but our point is we have to do the work. Our enrollment update that she talked about our decline in students. It's a big deal. We are trying to do some recruiting to get those students back. Um we've had some issues here but we can't make excuses. We've lost students and we want them back. Um it's not due to dissatisfaction alone. Uh just rule flight, people moving to bigger areas for more things to do. Uh but maintaining student support services despite our reduced numbers is what we're trying to do. That's what we're wanting to maintain and make sure we support the students that we do have and try our best to bring those other students back. Um at this time, I am going to let
052Mr. Hammet address the board issues and speak on some of those things. But do know that the district has taken into account everything that's been shared from our local cooperative to the office of coordinated support to educational directions so that we could do the work to move our students to grow our students because without students there's no school. And we know parents are sending us the best they have and it is our job to educate all of them. and that's what we're trying to do. [Applause] Good morning. I'll first start uh with the legal memorandum in opposition of the level five classification. This memoranda prevent presents factual, legal, and policy arguments opposing the Arkansas Department of Education's recommendation to classify the Blava School District as in need of levels five intensive support. It also serves
053as a rebuttal to the letter issued by the Mississippi County Chamber of Commerce dated May 27, 2025. Blava school district has complied fully with the AD guidance, achieved measurable academic gains, and acted in good faith to ensure systematic improvements. Pursuant to DESI rule 8.09.2, Blava School District has afforded was afforded 20 calendar days from the receipt of the May 14, 2025 notice of app to appeal the level five recommendations. However, the hearing was scheduled for May 29th, only 15 days later, depriving the Blava School District of its full legal window to prepare its appeal. This procedural error undermines due process as guaranteed under the Arkansas Code Annotated 25-15-201, Administrative Procedures Act. Um, Blava School District's full compliance of measurable progress. We know where we were a year ago. Some of the same information is being
054brought to us again. We knew Blavvel was a this would be a heavy lift. We've accepted every avenue of help and the resources to improve our district. Blava school district has engaged with the AR Arkansas Department of Education recommended to consult Myer Graham, an ex- superintendent. She's been in in position for the past two months working with our finances. Bava school district contracted with educational directions and adopted its recommendations. They came to us as an external partner. We knew we needed leadership support uh enforced um guidance around our administrative practices and they've been here on the ground. The district has met them and we've accepted every recommendation that they've brought forth. Blava school district has also welcomed the transformation partnerships. We put out RFPs for administrative support, instruction and curriculum, hiring, recruitment and retention. We've
055engaged with the leadership of Academy of Math and Sciences to get those services to Blava School District. There has been some delayed in some of the responses from the district uh pertaining to get particular information. Those barriers and obstacles have been removed with myself working with Miss Whit and the Arkansas Department of Education. We've collaborated with the Academy of Math and Sciences. We've toured the Academy of Math and Sciences twice and the superintendent of the Academy of Math and Sciences was invited by me to the Blavo Elementary School and we spent a day in the district here. We're looking for changes. We're looking for something new to help improve our district. We have not closed the door to any opportunity to improve our district. Uh Blava School District has assigned mentors to our novice teachers.
056Blava school district has increased the number of licensed teachers and implemented lensure pathways for non-licensed personnel. One school, as mentioned earlier, has improved from an F2N seat in one academic year, demonstrating progress in student achievement. We can improve. We've shown improvement. This has been a year. We knew we had issues coming into this school year. But the BLO school board has taken it very serious and we have worked to remove barriers and obstacles. Up until May the 8th, I was in direct communication with Sheila Whitler weekly weekly for some I I I thought this was my job as many text messages and phone calls that I was receiving to help remove obstacles and barriers to progress in the Blava school district. I met that challenge. I answered every call and every text message. Blava school
057district followed ADA advice to retain its interim superintendent and retain a prof professional search firm. Back in November, the words of Secretary Aliva, if no one meets that threshold or the best candidate rise to the cream of the crop, don't settle. We're not going back. We then in good faith accepted Jennifer Blankenship to continue in that role through the next couple of months, January, February, uh from I'm I'm sorry, December, January, and February. We knew that this would be a heavy lift for Mrs. Blankenship that she was trying to step into that role and do the best and she's done the best that she could. Uh she had a vote voice and vote of confidence from Secretary Oliva at that time. However, we knew we needed to get a superintendent, a credential qualified superintendent for
058the Blava School District. We voted to get go with McFersonson and Jacobs for our superintendent search. McFersonson and Jacobs and brought us two candidates. the board unanimously, one of the um commissioners of board of ed, state board of um education asked about a vote. Um it was brought to you that the Blava school district's board was dysfunctional. We had split votes. We have not had a split vote in over 40 years. um the Blava School District unanimous unanimously the board unanimously um said, "Hey, we didn't get the the pool of applicants that we were we desired." So, we didn't deny or decline to interview the the candidates that were brought forth. As a matter of fact, the timing of this with the extension of the two weeks window to get more applicants, get a pool
059of applicants just expired. and we move quickly to get those interviews scheduled for this week. While it it may be embarrassing to some, we have a challenge and we had to continue the work. When we reviewed and heard of the May 8th state board meeting and what was presented, it was disappointing and dis discouraging. However, the board rose to the challenge. We still need to lead and guide and help move the district forward. We didn't tuck our tails. We didn't run away from the challenge. We became more committed, more engaged to show that we're not dysfunctional, that we're willing to do the work, and that Blava School District operates under the model policy policies of the Arkansas School Board Association. Legal advice is consistently sought from ASB council Lucas Harter and the Blava school district
060Robert L. Coleman. The board is governed by courtmandated eight member structure under the 1993 voting rights act order despite the votes are consistent consistently unanimous. One descending member does not reflect the board's general cohesion or effectiveness. The chambers May 27, 2025 letter advocates state takeover based on perceived failures. However, none of the chamber board members have children in Blava School District. No chamber board member has attended a Blava school board meeting since August 2024. This letter overlooks Blava School District's recent academic and administrative progress. Blava school district improves improvements especially F toc school turnaround contradict claims of dysfunction. We can and will make progress. It's been one year. We were here last August. Terminating the super going to the termination process of a superintendent. We didn't get here last year. This year didn't culminate all
061of these um breakdowns or failures. This has been a pattern over the last five to six years that we've addressed, we've identified, and we take accountability for those things. Blava school district is worthy and deserving of an opportunity to continue this journey of improving our schools together. It takes the community. It takes all of us, parents, teachers, and administration. And I commend the teachers and the principles for this last year's work. We've welcomed in educational direction, the co-op. We've welcomed every resource in. And we as a board have made changes. We've adopted policies and accepted recommendations to improve. The frustration that was brought to you May 8th was it more in regard to us tableling action item K at that time to interview Dr. Andrew Curry and Dr. Ryan Huff with the state department official
062very frustrating leaving the meeting saying the state board will take care of this out of frustration. Those two candidates have been are one is here today and one was interviewed Tuesday along with another candidate that was interviewed last night. We are trying to get there. We're working hard to get there. This should not be a recommendation out of a favor of frustration because we didn't hire a preferred candidate at the time, but just to give us a fair chance to do as Secretary Oliva asked us to do back in November, get the best candidate possible by extending the application period for two weeks. That's what we wanted to do to get a a a fair pool size of qualified people. At the time they brought the two recommendations to us, they did not have the
063scoring rubric of those candidates compared to the other candidates that had applied. How did we get to the final two was the question that was asked. And once again, I I I I refer back to one of the state board members saying, "What was that vote since we had a lot of split votes?" And the question was answered that was a unanimous decision. We didn't see the scoring rubric. We asked, "Hey, how did we get to these two applicants?" Dr. Keith Williams said, "I know them personally." And I gave them a call. So, yes, we paid an 18, we're paying $18,000 to a search firm for an individual from McFerson and Jacobs to tell us that no, these applicants didn't apply that I called them. I knew them personally. Two of those applicants, Miss Whit
064has told me before we even knew who the applicants were. Hey, I talked to two guys. You got two guy great candidates coming. Get out of their way and just let them do the job. I know them personally. Dr. Andrew Curry said, "Hey, I know Sheila Woodllo personally and during his interview Tuesday night that I talked to her about the school district." Let me give you some historical background on this superintendent process. An interim superintendent that we wanted to get was Sally Bennett. Sally Bennett was dead set on coming in meeting our administrative team. She was going to do a day in this district and she said, "Hey," I said, "Well, what I would like you to do is talk to Sheila Whitlo and get a perspective of the State Department on some of the
065challenges that they're seeing." And she said, "Oh, yeah, great. I'll give me her number and I'll give her a call." The next morning, the day that she was scheduled to do a day in the district, she changed her mind. That hurt. Sally Dennett would have been a great interim superintendent at the time that we needed. There's another superintendent out of over near Paragle, Jonesboro area. She was retired. She was helping her daughter run a clothing store. Made a call to her uh on a reference referral. Hey, would you be interested in working as an interim superintendent for the Blava School District? Sure, that that would be great. Let me make sure that I can get away from my daughter's store and come spend some time with you guys. She agreed. I sent Terresa Watley at
066the time sent out memos, informed the board, we're going to do a day in the district. Come meet my administrative team, the team that we have in place, the people that you'll be working with. Yes. Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, I would like for you to talk to Miss Whitlo of the State Department. You want to guess what happened the next day? She cancelled. Oh, I'm not interested at this time. I'm not understanding how when I approach those people, those candidates, they're eager and and up for the challenge to come to work as an interim superintendent in our district. There are several others that have had interest and then declined. Not saying that there's any red flag there, but we've tried to get credential and qualified leaders in the interim spot to before while
067this process of us looking for a full-time candidate. We've done the work. A level five classification at this juncture would unfairly stigmatize a district showing measurable improvement. This is one year. One year educational directions, some of the funding that we were talking about, how we went in and got some funding. You know what that's for? those external partners that we've reached out to ed directions labeling Blava school districts a felon factory undermines moral hampers recruitment and alienate stakeholders. Blava school district performance satisfies the accountability intent of the Arkansas Educational Support and Accountability Act. And in conclusion, the Arkansas Department of Education has board discretion under Arkansas Code 6-15- 2916, but such authority must be exercised in alignment with facts and procedure. Blava school district respectfully requests the state board reject the level five recommendation, affirm
068the district's progress, and continue constructive partnership. We are here to work with you and move the district forward. Thank you. [Applause] At this time, we will open it up for board questions. Would you mind standing at the podium? We may have some questions from the board. Board to my left. Is there anyone there that would like to answer ask a question this morning? Um I do I'd like some clarity on the timeline of the procedures that you mentioned the 20 days that um the board is saying they were not given and yield to our school attorney on that matter. Thank you. Would you go to the podium? Thank you. I appreciate it. We'll also need you to identify yourself. My name is Robert El Coleman. I'm an attorney with the law firm of rege common
069and I represent the blible school board. Uh if you'll look at the letter that was sent to the Lville School District, you'll see that the letter itself in the on the second page says that we have 20 days to respond. And if you'll then turn to the first page of the letter, you will see that the letter is dated uh May 14th. Uh so it's very evident that since today is May 29 that's 15 days and the rule that cited says we have 20 days and the letter says we have 20 days but we're here on day 15. That seems like kind of a rush. Thank you. Can we hear from the department as well? Yeah. Can I clarify? So correct. scheduled the meeting on this date. Um, they requested their hearing within seven days
070of receiving their letter. Okay. So, our timeline of having this hearing was okay. Um, if they wanted to ask for an extension, they could have. If they had filed their letter tomorrow after we had this hearing, it would have been a problem. If we wouldn't have heard from the district or known that they were going to ask for the appeal as late as yesterday, the day before, we might have regrouped. But, they asked for their appeal within seven days. Thank you. You can look at the letter. You have it. It doesn't say uh you'll be given more time if you ask for it. I mean, I would just challenge her to show you where we were told that it's it says that we've got to uh respond and we have 20 days to respond. Uh
071and we were given 15 days before the hearing. It says a hearing is going to be held today. It doesn't say if you respond then the hearing will be delayed. If you ask for more time, the hearing will be delayed. It says that there's going to be a hearing today. And in light of the fact that a hearing was going to be held today, we did not want to go unheard on the merits of some of these arguments that were made. So, we strongly object to this. We believe that it's a denial of due process. It's a devote denial of your own rules and a violation of your own rules and a violation of our due process rights under the Arkansas Administrative Act. So, you were given 20 days to respond and you responded seven
072days later. No, we we were given 20 days to respond and we're and we're told, but there's going to be a hearing on the 29th. And so the response was filed on the on the uh well, I believe it was filed on the 21st, 7 days later. Okay. Which we felt was out of necessity. We we didn't want to be un unheard come in here. They don't care. They're they they don't object to this action. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Daniel Schultz, council for the department. Um the board's council is correct. The letter does reflect uh the timeline he laid out. However, what it says is that a special meeting has been scheduled for May 29th. The letter further later down says uh if they choose to file an appeal, which is discretionary
073on the part of the board, they may u file an appeal. If they do, we're prepared to we will conduct the hearing today. Now, as as Deputy Commissioner Smith pointed out, uh they could have raised objection to the timeline. Hearings get rescheduled, meetings get rescheduled. No objection was made. This is the first the board the the agency's been made aware of of a timing of the hearing objection. Um but the the rule sets out they have 20 days to appeal. Once appealed we have 60 days to conduct the hearing. Both of those uh requirements were complied with. They appealed within seven days which is inside the 20 again discretionary on their part. Um and then this is with it we schedu we have held the hearing within 60 days following them posting their notice of
074appeal. Again the appeal was silent on this issue. Thank you. I appreciate Thank you. I appreciate that clarity. I feel confident that we're within um we followed everything appropriately. Any further questions of the board? I had another question um for the board president or the board chair, excuse me. Um you mentioned um a couple of candidates that you were interested in that were after you spoke with them, they were later discouraged. Um, but both candidates, you mentioned you were looking into them for interim positions, correct? Yes, that that's what they had agreed to because at the time, this was early on after the termination of our uh previous superintendent that one was retired. She was eager to come help work with the Blava School District on an interim basis until that position was filled. When
075you say early on, can you give me a timeline? This was September Octoberish after the state board meeting in August of last year. So the superintendent, previous superintendent was fired uh in May or excuse me, put on paid leave in May. Um Miss Blankenship stepped in. Um and so we're talking five to six months later. You're still looking for an interim? No. Well, five to six months later. um August, September, about two months that we were there at that point of getting an interim in for the year. Okay. Thank you. I'm just gonna kind of follow on that questioning. Um so you had an interim in place and you were continuing to search for an interim. What was the rationale for that as opposed to spending your time and effort in finding a permanent uh
076superintendent? Well, we we were getting ready to start the school year um in August, September, and October. Um it was brought, you know, it was our knowledge that Miss Blankenship didn't have the credentials or qualifications at the time. So, she was going to apply for a waiver. So during that time we were under the guidance of Mrs. Blankenship saying hey I can complete a waiver um apply for the waiver with the state and we would be good um at that time. However we needed someone in the seat to start the school year. Um, Miss Bennett said I would come in as a on an interim basis to get you to the next superintendent, not putting a specific timeline for 6 months or a year or the finish out the school year. Um, but it was
077understood that she would work with us until and then we were also um getting information on the transformation partnership as as well during that time. um also looking for support and leadership through an RFP as well. We had two options that were presented to us and that we were considering at the time. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, one of the things that I want to hit on was the fact that m multiple times in their rebuttal they talked about Sheila Whit discouraging. Their rebuttal with that statement just shows why this board needs to be dissolved. We have spent thousands of dollars and invested hours of ad people's time driving to Bllyville, spending hours upon hours, days upon within these schools, working with the teachers, working with the administration, asking people to be to consider
078to come to Bllyville. What this board doesn't realize is when we're talking to these folks, they don't want to come to Bllyville because of this board. He referred to Sheila Whitlo as a red flag. Sheila, stand. Sheila, stand up. There's not a red flag on this woman. She spends countless hours in this district. And if there is the example of why they need to be dissolved. we cannot do our work here and get this district where they need to be when we have opposition like this that literally in their reply for why their students are the lowest performing students in the state blame Sheila Whitlo who hasn't been here but this year they did say in their statement one thing I do agree with this didn't happen overnight and it by surely didn't happen because
079Sheila Whit showed up if anything they've received more report. They've received more guidance. We are asking tough questions. And let me be clear, they don't like the fact that Sheilo Whit is here because we're asking questions. And it's about time that somebody came down here and asked some questions. [Applause] There's one other Miss Lee Kener, do you have another question? We need to have the quiet, please, in the audience. Can I get There we go. Thank you. Um, I appreciate that, Miss Smith. Thank you so much for that. Um, I think you um articulated what I was thinking in my head much much better than I could do. Um there is something else that the board chair said that I um agree wholeheartedly with and that is that Blville School District deserves to continue moving
080forward together. And I believe at this time if the board is unanimously resistant to moving forward, it might be time that the state and the district move forward together without the board. [Applause] There any further questions? Okay, we're going to go ahead. I'm sorry, I have ahead. Sorry, I have a couple questions. I want to talk about the superintendent search still. We're talking a lot about the interim superintendent and I want to let me back up. What you are having to do is very hard. It is hard to sit in a room with a bunch of people that are mad at you and defend actions when not everybody always has the full picture. So I want you to know that I acknowledge that. But I also know that you are an elected official and that
081has responsibilities. And you made a statement that I it kind of took me back. You said it was acting like this was my full-time job with as many text messages as I was responding to and I was answering every call. This is your job. You were elected for this. There are months that you will not do anything to the extent that you have had to. But your job to these students in this district is to find them a superintendent and to balance the budget. So I want to talk about you got two people brought in in April. You decide you declined to interview them, but now suddenly we're here and you're interviewing them. So what has happened since April? You can pull it up. Sorry. I'm sorry. We did not decline to interview at that
082time. Okay, we asked questions for the rubric which were what? The the rubric. The rubric of the scoring, how we got there and comparable to all of the applicants. We didn't have all of the information that was brought to us at that time. There were some other um disturbing statements made. Okay. Um to the board um from some of the representatives that representatives from the agency, the consulting agency. Yes. Okay. Yes. um encouraging us not to, hey, don't disqualify this candidate. He's a good friend of mine. I'll mentor him if you give him a chance. Overlook the DWI that's on his record. And we were like taken back like, whoa, wait. Um so there there there's a timeline of things that had happened. Um but from April the 24th when the or the 20 Yes.
083We did not decline to interview those two applicants. But have you now brought them back? They they were brought at we extended to get more applicants in. The search firm brought those two candidates back as the top candidates that they still deemed to be their top candidates candidates. Um the board asked was there anyone close or comparable just to have um three applicants to interview at that time. So all three have been scheduled interviews. Two have taken place and one is scheduled for tonight. But you just said that you had objections to one of them because of a DWI. We didn't have objections. The search firm said, "Please don't throw this person out." We just said, "Can we open it up to get more applicants in? We never declined to interview them." So, but why
084didn't you interview them before now? I mean, a whole month has passed. We wanted a larger more time for applicants to apply. I understand. But here's the optics of the situation. Okay, April 24th, you have two candidates. It's now May the 29th and we're just now interviewing them. You could reopen the search and still interview those people to show some movement. So, that's what I'm trying to figure out what have we done for a month. And I'm not I'm I know I'm railing on you and I know that there's constitu I mean other people here on your board who was responsible for saying I will set up this interview. I I took that opportunity to Okay. So, why haven't we done anything for a month? We extended the search for two weeks. But why didn't
085we interview those two candidates in the interim? That would have just shown that would have given this room of people a feeling that you're moving forward on something. But let's also not mistake the fact we're a year into a school that we still haven't made an interview. We we've had three interviews in November. Back in November. Okay. Yes. We had three interviews and we're going to we were prepared to move on a superintendent. the candidates weren't desirable at that time to be of high quality. So, we we've made traction with interviews and seeking out a full-time superintendent. We have not just been sitting back um kind of massaging for Yes. Okay. Let's talk about the budget. Why didn't the budget get approved? Because you're a million and a half dollars over. So, who's on your
086finance committee? Would you repeat that question? I'm sorry. So, I wanted to go back to the budget and I'm sorry, I can't find my slide. Um, we have expenditures of a million and a half dollars that were not budgeted for. So, who was responsible for setting the budget? It didn't get approved till I think you said October Secretary or November. October. October. Okay. Our finance director, but I don't know if she's quite prepared to answer that because we didn't know we were going to be discussing and going that far in depth in the budget, but she um well, we're here for a hearing. Yes, she and she was she was hired in Octo August or September and she is here. Hang on. We need you to can you raise your hand and be sworn in?
087Be sworn in. Yes. And you can come up to the mic. We need to swear you in before you comment, please. Right hand, do you swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, ma'am. My name is Rhonda Southern. I started as uh the director July 1 of this year. I came from Rivercrest. I was there for 20 years as district treasurer. So when I was asked to fill this void, that was because I started in April as accounts payable. Shortly after that, the superintendent was gone. So was the uh director of finance. So I was there by myself, flying by the seat of my pants, doing whatever was necessary to keep everything afloat. Shortly after that, we hired a new uh payroll specialist. She
088and I worked together until July 1 when they asked me to take over. At that point, I felt I had some sort of authority to make decisions. However, I have tried in my opinion and tried. I've seen many many things that are not correct, that are not right. We got with this district only has um private audits, which is one reason a lot of things were not caught. Um I spoke I spoke with her um Jul as after July when I stepped in and I said have you have you seen this this and this some things that that I felt were very uncou and that's I believe that was one reason that some of those things were changed because of audit not because of me asking I have asked and I have brought up the
089stipens I have brought up and asked several things that I felt were not done correctly as far as the budget is concerned. We did put together a budget but we had very um I was not I've done budgets for 20 years but I was not um shall I say versed on this district. The only thing I only support I had was the budget from the year before. So that's what we went on. Um, I have questioned many expenditures, but I had no one to stand in behind me to say no. I've said no plenty of times, but I don't have that backing to say no. I've I've asked uh questions on why this was spent, why that was spent, and why what was going on, and I just feel like I personally have not had
090the support. Well, there has hasn't really been anybody there. there is no superintendent and I've I spoke with Miss Perkins on on a few occasions but u then she was gone and um and we've had an interim and I do believe that Miss Blankenship has done her best but I mean she's not versed in fin in the finance and there's so many things that are done in the finance that is not what I it's not what I'm used to because when you have a state audit, everything is brought up and at that point things are able to be changed. This district has not ever had a state audit to my knowledge. It's always been a private audit. Private audits are great, I guess, but they don't know the school finance. You see what I'm saying?
091They don't know, okay, this has to be coded here. This has to be coded here. This person can't be paid that, that person can't be paid that. And I have been trying to bring that to the forefront, but how many times have I I've heard it so many times, but this is the way it's always done. And I've said, well, that's why we're this district is where they are because it's done. Always has been done and it is not correct. That's the narrative we're trying to get away from. Right. Can you come up to the mic? I was saying that's the I was saying that's the narrative we're trying to get away from. We've reviewed all of those stipens. We've gone through some things. We've gone through contracts, found things that could um be taken
092out, things that might have been overcharged. And we've just gone through a lot of those things. So, Miss Myra has been really great in showing me, showing Miss Rhonda how to go through, look at this, take this out, question this, ask questions about this. So, there are a lot of things from the previous year that we've tried to work out that we've gotten worked out and still working on those kinks. And so, that's where we are in this progress. just still trying to move forward and taking the advice and the um collaboration and putting in the work. You can hear me? Um you mentioned that uh you seem very frustrated that you tried to put your foot down, tried to to change some things. What can I can I say? Sure. Just a second. Um
093what uh you're standing there, you're in the position of financial leadership for the district. You've got the superintendent standing behind you agreeing with you. What more did you need that you didn't get to put your foot down and to make those decisions and have that authority? I don't feel like that we had that I had the support to say that they would tell you know I just don't feel like we had the support to go through because of the back knowledge is wasn't there. the support from whom who who more need well as a whole like we don't I mean I don't feel like Miss Blankenship I don't want to say anything wrong uh badly about her but as far as finance as the as what I'm used to doing is through like the handbook
094and these things and what is legal or what I call legal and what is not. I don't feel like she's wellversed enough to say, "Okay, no, we're not going to do this or yes, we're going to do this." And when Miss Myra come in, then I felt like, "Okay, this is some." Yeah. Right. And when Miss Myra come in, I felt like, "Oh, okay." then you know now we can move forward because if I felt like if she said we can't do this and we can't do that then I felt like okay this would be this would be uh that we would go forward and change some things there's some things now that even on the that was approved by the board u as far as the stipens as far as some of the contracts
095I don't approve I don't agree with so we have classified people being getting stipens when they should not be. I've raised my concerns about that. It's not that I'm trying to be mean toward that person getting the stipen. I am not. That is not me. But ethically, you cannot do that. Well, that was my question. I guess what I was trying to get Well, I've tried to bring it up. Is there I couldn't figure out whether it was insubordination from those who were spending um I don't think it's insubordination. I think it was lack of knowledge, right? And me and then me being there like the first day I was here, the very first day in this district, I was hired to do accounts payable. She brought me in a stack of bills. Say who
096she is? Uh Shai was the previous uh director of finance. At this point, I was accounts payable. She come in and she said, "You know how to do the job?" I said, "Yes, I know how to do accounts payable. I've been doing it a long time." And I said, um, she brought me the stack of bills and I went through it and I asked question and I said, 'Okay, how do I approach the superintendent on signing off on these bills? She said, "Oh, we don't do that here." Red flag. I'm accounts payable. I felt like I had no and I I I raised that as a concern, but it never changed. So, and she's speaking of the last school year. So, and part of that frustration, I think, is because she finished the year or
097started the year and some of those people were not in places when she needed questions. We've done a lot of digging into things and invoices that came that we didn't have the background knowledge. So, a lot of her time was spent and my time trying to find this previous information. So when she's referring to she and last year, she's speaking of previous people, right? And I just I wanted to talk though about the budget that was set for this year. So was that just based on the previous year? It was. Okay. When was when was that presented to the board to vote on? I never knew it was not presented to the board to be voted on. So was it presented in the September meeting? Is that that's what I'm trying to figure out. Why
098where did we miss this? because it is due in September. Yes. I never knew the board did not approve it. Bottom line, this sounds like a lot of dysfunction. If those that are in a position of power, um, this is appalling, but I came here, I felt like I could bring it up and out. I I felt like we could I could okay July one we're going to move forward this we're going to do this we're going to do that every day there has been something come up I'm going to say from the previous year that we have spent countless hours on trying to fix and I'm going to be honest and people that come in to help have seen the same thing. Miss Myra has been in here uh working with us and I
099just look at her daily. I said do you see what we're dealing with? What I'm dealing with? We can't move forward because we're trying to put out fires from move from the previous thing because there's something every day. Okay. That comes up. Thank you. Thank you. I know Dr. Arnold has a question. No comments. Actually, comment. Yes. Thank you. Um it seems to me listening to the testimony that the district is spending a lot of energy and working very hard at climbing the wrong mountain. Uh as Secretary Oliva has said, you know, we're looking for systemic change. We're looking for system alignment. We're looking at the bigger picture. The anecdotes are informative, but yet at the same time, uh, Chairman Hammet, you had mentioned that you are looking for change. And I'd like to reframe
100the whole phrasing of level five to see that as the change that the district is looking for, that we're at that point. And um, because the data sets on the slide deck are really a desperate cry for help. And when we're at that point, it seems to me that there would be welcome arms to the help offered. There has been plenty of open arms to the help previously offered, but this is just an extension of the need for help. And then finally, you mentioned the fact that you're concerned about the stigma that it would leave upon the district. And I hate to say that it's really less of a stigma upon the district and indeed a stigma and please forgive me on the board uh for their lack of governance in this situation. And so
101that's yes that's personal stigma versus a better future for the district. Dr. Moore, who is online, have you got any questions? Not at this point in time. Thank you so much, Mr. Rollins. Okay. Thank you. I think my concern goes to the loss of your students and I know you continually said this morning that you were going to work at getting them back and we know how difficult that is. I mean, do you do you have a plan to do that? Yes. Specifically? Yes. Um just in the month of April um we've come up with some initiatives that we're going out to the community um marketing selling different programs to get our students back in. We've um we've met with a third party student recruitment to take our messages to the homes, make touch points,
102make visits to get those students back. We are working to show the good that's here in the Blava school district to those parents and students that are bringing their students back. We have seen an increase for the upcoming school year of students returning to the district and we're working hard to get the message out to market our school district, tell our programs um to tell our teachers that we have high quality teachers and instruction taking place and our building leaders are are leading that campaign as well for each of their schools and they have the support of the board. When is your registration for next year? Registration for this school year. The principles are working on setting those dates. I think primary may have already set theirs to start next month. Okay. I mean, this
103is so urgent that this gets completed and it's it's a beautiful community. You've got industry here. you've these students need a strong district and to get them get them back home to to learn here as you know is so important. It seems kind of late to to be starting this now but um I'm glad to hear that you are. Are y'all familiar with transformation contracts? Do you know a trans So has there been any discussion by the board to approach the state about entering into a transformation contract? Yes. Um are we were was there a followup on that information? Um so I think we all acknowledge that this hasn't happened overnight. So my question and and so much in question here is is a question about leadership. So can can you tell me a little
104bit about the tenure of your board? Is everyone new or is there some tenure uh that people have seen this happen along the way. Yes, we have four tenure members, Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Langston, myself, and Mrs. Johnson. We have four new members within the last uh two years. Mrs. Nichols, Miss Palmore, Mrs. Lewis was elected this year, and Mr. Jefferson as well within the first one to two years. Okay. Thank you for that. I I'm just going to make a comment about how I view um the role of the school in the community and you know I I am not an educator my u I'm I am in the private indust private sector and so I believe that your customer or every school's customer is the business community. what you are um asked to do
105is to create you know produce students who are ready for either um you know to to enter the workforce or the military. Um and so that is how you're measured and to me the letter from uh the local chamber spoke volumes. uh they believe that you are not producing recording in progress that you are not producing a uh a product uh and I'm not trying to you know use that in any kind of demeaning uh kind of way but your your product is not sufficient for their needs. So um we all I think need to take note of that and and it is the responsibility of leadership to recognize that and meet the expectations of your customer. So, um, you know, having tenure on your board, you know, you should be in tune to what
106your business community needs. And the fact that you have such a booming, uh, opportunity here with industry just off the charts here is u I think very telling, Mr. Mr. Henderson. Yeah, I purposely uh didn't really have any questions. Uh just more comments uh allowing my peers to ask, you know, uh different questions. Uh my comment is I know it's been brought up uh several different times, the uh industry, jobs, uh the opportunities that we have here in Mississippi County, in the city of Blville. You know, when I when I think about that, I think every student in Arkansas deserves a fair education. And I certain and that applies to BL as well. And you know, talking with the state chamber, you know, males the age of 25 to 54, there are 65,000 males not
107working in the state of Arkansas right now. They either have checked out, not looking for a job, or is out of work. And you when you crop that down to 1.3%, which represents Mississippi County, there's 800 males at the age of 25 to 54 not working, not looking for a job or has checked out. And you know when I think about that, I think about the unfilled jobs here in the industry sector. I think about how hard it is to create pathways. I think about the students, the industries, the pathways. I think every student deserves the opportunity if they do not decide to go to college, they should have the opportunity to make six figures. We got to create a pathway of this broken system that we have. Um, you know, when there's lack of
108education in many areas, there's crime. And you know, when I think about crime, I think about weapons. And you know, one of my favorite quotes by Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most important weapon which we can use to change the world." So, and we got to fix this broken system. And it is systemic. These problems just didn't start within the last year. So, we got to fix it. Board, are we ready for public comment? Anyone? Anything? Okay. At this time, we will start with public comment and we'll go off the sheets that you signed when you came in. I will call three names. We're going to ask you to come down this aisle because this is blocked off and we don't want anyone getting hurt. So, come down on on this right hand side.
109Come up to the podium and you have three minutes for your comments. We're going to start with Ross Thompson, Nicole Eskin, and Paula Pittz. You want to come and line up, please? Come to the podium. Yeah. And we ask that you state your name before you start. Good morning everyone. My name is Ross Thompson. I uh a lot of people know me here. I was a police officer here for 30 plus years. My wife is also a uh teacher here for 30 plus years. But we've both recently retired. Uh but we are still very active in the community. Uh we live here, worked here, actually went to school here, stood on that very stage and sang in the choir on occasion. Um, I want to thank Miss Blankenship, the teachers, and the staff for working
110under these conditions there. That's asking a lot of them. Um, this is a workforce. This is a workplace, and they have endured a lot over these last few years here. I want to thank the state board for being here and being blunt and direct with us. We need to hear that. Uh, Mr. Hammet uh spoke and I I I applaud his efforts, but he failed to acknowledge the indefensible massive failure that the Blavl School District has become. Um I personally know many of these board members uh and they are good people. I know they're hurt by this um disgusting and appalling and unacceptable performance of the Blable School District. Um, I can only speak for myself and I don't know if there was some type of vote that was taken. I heard something about earlier
111or what their positions were, but I can only speak for myself. But I would venture to say um that a majority of the board member board members uh probably agree it's time to dissolve the board and start all over again. Thank you. [Applause] Hello you all. How are y'all doing today? I know it's a little heavy in the room. Um I just came in late. I had to help with one of the candidates for the superintendent. Oh, I'm sorry. Nicole Eskin. Yes. And um I just want to just have a little encouragement. I know the place we in. It is what it is. Whatever just happened, it is the past. But I do want to thank Miss Blankenship for sacrificing, for leaving one position to be a help in another. Thank you. And you are
112needed. You are needed to the board, to our teachers, to everyone in this place, to this wonderful community. Thank you. Thank you for showing up today. Thank you for supporting everybody. Now, we know we can't help. Like I said, the things that happen, it is in God's hand, and we gonna let his will be done. So, my thing is, what are we going to do now? Yes. Whatever decision that's made, are the community are will our community step up and do what's needed to help our school? It's about our children. You know what I'm saying? Regardless of what, we have to come together with the chamber. I am a member of the chamber board and as I uh stated to Miss Liz, we're going to do what we got to do to work together. There
113might been some division before, I don't know, or what what other division we had. we have to put our personal things to the side and think about what is best for our school, for our children, and for our community. So, I'm just here today just to encourage you all. Thank you for taking the time to come here to help us however needs to be helped. So, with that being said, I love you all and we're going to move forward and there is power in togetherness. [Applause] The next three names, Robin Freeman Baines, Barnes, Carolong RS, it's hard to read handwriting. Sorry. And Vera James, please come forward. Good morning. I'm just making sure that it's still morning because it's been a while since we've been in here. My name is Robin Freeman Barnes. Um, initially
114I wanted to throw up my laptop and do a couple of slideshows to the public from a teachers perspective. I'm a fourth grade teacher here and um, I commute to Bllyville every day. I come from Proctor, Arkansas. Um, I signed on to be a teacher. Ma'am, can you speak into the microphone? They can't hear you. We're being recorded. Let's face you. I signed on to be um a fourth grade teacher here. I commute from Proctor, Arkansas um every day. Um did I know what I was going to face? No. Uh I was not uh briefed. I was not prepared. But um due to the time constraint uh I'm going to talk about the the teachers perspective for me just for the board. Uh my background is not in teaching but I came to teach I
115I I'm passionate about this community. I I have a toddler. I have a three-year-old. So teaching was conducive to those initial years with me being a 37year-old firsttime mother. And um I empathize with the parents here in the community. Uh there are some big steppers here. They step for their children. They show up mother and father, single mothers, homeless mothers. I I see the parental side as a as a married woman. And um I feel for the community uh despite the board being scrutinized for whatever has occurred. Um I just would like to to say that personally um I put in an application for director of uh public relations March 29th. I never heard back from anyone. I'm not here to get that job right. I could be uh not wanting to speak again because
116I'm I'm signing up to be a a teacher. But um I have a masters in communication, masters in business, and I wanted to convey that message because I was uh looking at the bottom up communication. And when the bottom up communication is strong and the top down communication sucks, you really have um no way to fix the the burning candle that's at both ends. But um I spoke with Mr. Jenkins and he let me know that someone would get back with me. So on with uh my personal life, I I I kept putting one foot before the other. I um have uh students with exceptionalities um disabilities, dyslexia who have shown great growth. You're at three minutes. We you need to finish up please. Yes, ma'am. I've I've had those students with exceptionalities show great
117growth from October to now. And um I feel very great. But the thing is about these meetings is you can't get a full depiction of what's going on in the community when you limit teachers. Teachers should get the most time to speak at interventions like this. This is an intervention for the community. I'm not bullying the board or trying to take over the school board's perspective, but there are two different things that I would have liked you all to understand from the teachers perspective because if we're if I'm driving an hour and I'm willing to be a teacher here for 15 20 years, there has to be a a an outlet for a teacher to say, "What do you feel?" because it's the parent and then it's the teacher and then and and then it's
118the custodian and it's the it's the it's the jan it's the janitors it's the it's everybody who's handson so to finalize this talk I would like all district members to make sure that if you ever get into the position where you are elected official you're sworn on an oath and you have to do the work you need to come out and be a big stepper even if you get third party differentiating the problem you have to come into the classroom to see what the peers feel, what the teachers feel. You can't theorize what we're going through at the board meeting. I've watched you on YouTube and I've had to cut it off cuz I've had a headache. But I just want to be transparent to say I've done this kind of work at the director
119of public relations for Rockefeller Institute agriculture department. But as an educator, I care about the black community and the white community and the Hispanic community. And I just wanted to be clear that I don't know your decision, but I really, really, really want this community to come together. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you so much for this outlet and opportunity. Have a blessed day. My name Hello. My name is Vera James. I am the wife of the late Willie James who spent 50 years plus years in Blava school district. Uh and my concern it was mentioned that uh in this meeting today getting rid of the school board abandon it probably and first I want to go back for a second. I hear all the complaints and know a lot of things about
120what teachers go through being teachers in in the in the public schools. But my my concern is and my main thought is we pointing the fingers at everybody, but I'm pointing my fingers at the parent. My my my my my point is that it's how our children behave when they've been trying to be taught in the classroom. They're doing this and they're doing that. And one of the biggest problems I think is that you need to take the telephones from the kids out of the classroom so they can concentrate more and on what's going on. And my question would be, if you eliminate the board and the state department of education take over, then are you going to be in this city as often as the board members are now? Are you going to be
121working with the parents directly with parents? And I think that parents need to attend the meetings to see what's going on because the schoolboard meetings are open. you get your name on the agenda and you can talk about what's going on. And if a child is dealing with issues at home, if dad is a drug dealer, mama's a whatever, then they going to have some problems and they're not going to have the ability to learn because they concentrating on what happened at home and what they're going to return to when they leave school today. And some of those kids and we thank God that we do have breakfast for the kids. But some come have to deal with not being fed properly, not being taken care of properly. And most important, I cannot stand it.
122I'm 77 years old. Soon will be 78. Is the parent calling their own children stupid, dumb, and crazy. That has an effect on how that child behave when he or she get into the classroom. And so I just want to say thank you all for these meetings. And I just wanted to say what I feel like, but I'm still holding the parent accountable for their children. [Applause] The next three, James Tori Hollis, Michelle Turner, Teresa Miner, please. Jesus. Good morning. Uh, my name is Teresa Miner and I'm the homeless for the district and ma'am, can you speak into the microphone? Yes, ma'am. I'm the homeless liazison for the district and I my question is um a question to ask and how do we deal with the challenges implementing the McKenna Vento program uh like uh
123we're trying to affordable housing and providing that allowable um making sure that we are spending allowable on their with our funds. Uh Miss Smith had uh said that uh she had spoken something about uh the McKenna Bento program as far as uh this Yes. And I was just want to know that we only uh started the trying to get um I um oh about the stipens. She had discretion about the stipens and the stipens only started this year. Um, we've only been able to pay one time out of the stipen. So, I was just trying to get an understanding about the McKenna Vento as force the stipens because we've only paid out one time on those stipens. Okay. Okay. So, that's my questions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Like to say hello to
124everyone. My name is Tony Hollers. Um, I also want to apologize for um, not knowing that there was someone from the stake here somewhat working with I guess our staff. Um, I think they mentioned the lady, Miss Shelly, or And I guess I guess my concern is is that where is the breakdown in communication with the representative from the state? I mean, what what is going on there? We in the community, you know, we me for one was not even privy to this was going on. And so I'd like to know where is the breakdown of communication in terms of the representative working with the administration because it seemed like uh from seeing the back and forth with the attorney and and on this side it seemed like there is something going on there. And
125so we need to fix that. We need to find out what is going on there because it's about uh trying to get our students to become fishing. Correct. And if we can't have representative working with the school district administration, then you know I feel like that's where the failure is at right there. Okay. Now, I want to close on this here. I want to speak about finances as well. I'm one of the persons in the community that I I do send FOIs out to the superintendent. I want to say I did see a figure where it it spokes about legal feed. I think I saw a figure $84,000 or something like that. My thing is is that we have spent a lot of money on attorney fees. When I send out an FOI, I don't
126specifically get exactly what I asked for. For example, I may send an FOI out asking what do we pay our local attorneys here in Blava, Arkansas? They'll send me a whole bunch of information that is coming with a lot of other stuff that I didn't ask for, but I never get the specific documentation in my hand that I asked for. Either we're paying an attorney or we're not paying an attorney. I'm sure he's not working free. So, if I can send out an FOI specifically asking what dollar figure are we paying our local attorney. I should get something in my hand. I shouldn't get uh a bunch of crap that I don't know what I'm looking at. And so I would just like more transparency um on providing documentation, legal documentation in terms of attorney
127fees. Um you don't ask for it. And so that's that's pretty much uh all I have to say. Uh thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. The next three people, Stephanie Vincent, Tina Coleman, Kylin Robinson. Okay, they may have left. Rebecca Robinson, Sonia Lucas Moda, and Cararissa Williams, please. While she comes down, I'll go ahead and call Shria Wil Smith and Melody Webb. She's ready. come forward. That's fine. Just identify yourself, please. Hello, I'm Melody Web. I'm a parent. I want to address that um me and my kids um I got a daughter. She got a AIP and um we've been homeless. And I go to Miss Miner over at the school board to get help. Me and my kids been sleeping in cars, all type of stuff. And she asks me where what do
128I do? So I tell her what I got to do to go, you know, make sure my kids lay down. And I don't think that was appropriate for her to do that. And another thing, the stuff they sent home for the kids on the weekend which me and my kids don't have a proper place to stay and that's been 3 months ago. And I've been asking her, calling for help. I'm not getting any help. But people riding around here in new cars, church members, everybody is living good. But me and my kids is in this program and we're still living on the streets. Because me and my kids' father had a bad falling out. So I got me and my kids and left. So I go to them for help. I guess none. She want
129me to sign for any little thing she gives. And it's not nothing. I meant to bring the little food bag that they sent home every Friday. It's nothing in there. My kids are still hungry after whatever little she give that day. That's for that day. They're spending money. They're spend spending money on themselves and not helping the community. That's what I wanted to say. Thank you. Please identify yourself. My name is Lasharia Smith. I am a mother of three children attending school in BL school district. I am reaching out to bring urgent attention to a series of serious incidents that have affected my children's safety, emotional well-being, and rights as students. My second grade son has a diagnosed bladder condition. Despite providing medical documentation to the school, he has repeatedly been denied access to the
130restroom by his teacher, resulting in multiple accidents throughout the school year. These repeated incidents has caused him distress and embarrassment. Yet, no corrective action has been taken. My kindergarten son has an active IEP for a developmental delay and received speech therapy at school. Recently, the same school bus driver involved in other incidents got in his face and yelled at him for not hearing the command to sit in the front. Multiple students reported that she grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him to the front of the bus. While the transportation team denies the grabbing, she admits the driver got aggressively in his face and yell, which is entirely inappropriate, especially for a child with developmental needs. In a separate incident, my daughter was dropped off at an outdated address without my knowledge or consent. The
131same week, my daughter was confronted by unauthorized adult who was allowed to board her school bus by the same driver. I have contacted the principles, superintendent, school board, even the ar Arkansas department of education in Little Rock, but no resolution has been offered. These events shows a clear failure to protect and support my children, especially those with document medical and developmental needs. My family is also enrolled in the Mckin Vento program program. Yet, the support we received was selective and dismissive. The the district's McKenna Vento shows favoritism and made me feel ashamed for asking for help, which goes against the purpose and requirements of the program. I am asking for a formal written response from the district, a full internal investigation into each incident and ensuring that policies will be followed and staff will be
132held accountable to ensure the safety and the dignity of every student in this district. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning everyone. My name is Sonia Lucas Monica and I'm a bus driver of BLE for 16 years. I just want to say that I'm kind of nervous but anyway I just want to say that uh as a bus driver um I love the students. I don't know. But anyway, um I just thank everyone for accepting me in this community as a great bus driver. And I'm nervous. I'm nervous. You're doing great. Um this is a great school district and we are crying out for help. I know as the bus driver, we crying out for help. They have, you know, since the new people been in, it's like we have went down as a bus driver.
133You know, we try to stick together, but at the same time, we used to make $21 an hour driving, sitting. Now, they done took it from 21 to 12 as we sit. And I don't think that's right because we still have a family to feed. And that's all I want to say. Thank you. The next three, I'm not sure I can understand this first name, but Miss Leechman, is it a Leechman or Loachman, Sharon Coburn, and Bradley Ballard, can you come forward, please? How you doing? Please introduce yourself. My name is Michayla Leechman. Um I'm um I'm here in BL. I just moved from Atlanta, Georgia about a year ago. I enrolled four children into Bl school district. Since I enrolled my kids into the school district, I have also all four children that have
134a 504 behavioral active plan. My children have been denied their rights of their 50 plan because my kids was repeatedly sent home. Repeatedly sent home for what they have written in their active plan. I had contact Miss Walker. I contact Miss Blankership. I also contacted school counselors. I contacted Miss Jackson. I contacted the middle school Miss Bennett. I had a daughter that was set in a in a when we first moved here, I had a daughter that was set in a in a they said it was a conflict resolution. She was set in a room with 25 students. 25 students to intimidate her. She was then transferred to AL. It was students standing outside of my house fighting my children is um and and ba basically my main concern is that by my children having
135504 plans, them are federal plans. I'm also enrolled in the McKenna veto program. Miss Miner has been nothing but help to me. I I like as I tell Miss Miner, I said, "Miss Miner, it takes a team. I when I get ready to contact Miss Walker or I need to contact somebody from the school, Miss Miner, she contacts them for me." When she contact them, if they haven't contacted me back in a certain amount of time, she reaches back out to them. Like I told her, you only can do so much. My thing and my problem is with BLA school system, and I'mma say this because also I have behavioral problems and I went to BLA school system. They is very uneducated. Half of the students that is in here, which is my four students,
136have been suspended numerous of times to where they they at a point where three of my students are about to fail. How are they about to fail if y'all say that out of 52% of the kids that passed um the high school test that two of my my two children was out of that 52%. I never had these problems in Georgia. Now that I have my kids in BL school district, now I'm at risk of me think feeling that my kids are going to fail. How are they going to fail with active IEPs? How are they going to fail with 504 behavioral plans? The plans that supposed to be reinstated every year but have not been reinstated in this year. I, like I said, I have talked to Miss Walker. I have talked to Miss
137Blankenship. I have called principles. I have talked to staff members. I have got the paperwork myself and emailed it over to the school officials. I'm not understanding why that my either my kids that's being here this only for a year because I'm ready to get them up out of this school system is at a risk of failing and then also friends that my kids have encounter with have been kicked out of school this year. How you going to get some students back if you kicking them out of school every day? Every day you kicking them out of school. It's it I mean it's proper protocol. If you going to send my child home school, then I'm going to get a phone call. Not a a a a a a a a a a a a
138a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a resource officer bringing my child home. What is a resource officer doing to bring my child home? Now, never mind. It was another lady that got up and said she want to hold accountability to the parents cuz guess what? The parent, the mayor, the the school official, the school board, the every last one of us should be held accountable for when it comes to these children. Ma'am, I'm sorry. I understand that my time is up and I hope that you please let me say one more word because when I came into this school and when I came to the school board and I
139came to everybody, I was treated as an aggressor. I I was I was I was I was I was approached by uniform officers, you know, when I came as a concerned parent for my child. So, and and part of being in this community, I hope that you listen to me because as you want our board to stand up and us to listen to y'all and go as y'all commandments and stuff like that as we should be a team, we all should be a team. y'all standing there judging us there should be a team with us as well and I thank you. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Bradley Ballard and I was born and raised right here in Bllyville. My family has lived here for generations and like so many others in this room,
140I've stayed because I believe in this city. I believe in its potential and most of all, I believe in its children. But today, I'm standing here not just with belief, but with urgency. This school district is in crisis, and it's time for bold action. And I'm asking you with full conviction to dissolve the Bllyville school board and take control of this district before more damage is done. We're watching a system collapse in real time. Test scores at rock bottom. Student morale is low. families are leaving. But what's even worse is how our most vulnerable children are being treated. If Bllyville has if a child has special needs in Bllyville, more often than not, they're pushed aside, sent home to learn, and in in isolation because the district lacks the staff and frankly the will to
141support them. This is not education. This is abandonment. And it's doing real harm to children who deserve every opportunity to grow with their peers. But it doesn't stop there. The leadership here, or lack thereof, has created a toxic environment. I've heard from employees who've been talked down to, disrespected, and even humiliated by board members. Teachers are afraid to speak up. Vendors and service providers have come here in good faith to offer solutions only to be mocked, dismissed by the people who think leadership means domination and not collaboration. And now I'm And now I'm hearing the board president is blaming Sheila Whitlo for the district's failure to even secure a superintendent or an interimm superintendent. Let me be very clear. This mess is not the fault of one woman. This is the result of a board
142that has too that is too prideful to lead and too fractured to function. We cannot keep pointing fingers while our children fall through the cracks. Today, you have the power to stop this. You can cut through the chaos and bring order, accountability, and hope back to our schools. This isn't about politics. It's about protecting the next generation. Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. [Applause] The next three, Blake Carr, Joe Coleman, and Wuler Jackson. Are any of those people here? Okay. Is that allowable? No. You got to go by your list. Yes. No. The board says no. Please introduce yourself. My name is Wanita Jackson. Um, I want to talk about proactive and reactive. I want to commend the state for coming in and being reactive in the way that you are being reactive.
143I commend you because in every system we should have a check in balance. Didn't find it here. Um the second thing is follow the money. I was always told with a failing b business, homicide in a failing city, follow the money. So I'm glad to see that the state has independently come in to follow the money. Now we have to be proactive. We have Dr. Perkins who was here doing an excellent job. She had a plan. She was proactive. She was dismissed by the same board that now you want to dismiss. Let's save some money. My suggestion is let's bring Dr. Perkins back. Get her to drop that lawsuit. Save us some money. Um reimburse her for her attorney fees and back pay. Saving us some money because the numbers is what counts. and um
144give her a written reprimand because she was accused of misappropriating the money. But look what we find when we follow the money because everybody was doing what they were doing. You know, nobody was getting a check and balance system. As you heard, the new I guess she's our new accounting director for the school board. But listen, when it all boils down to I remember the song Whitney Houston sing, I believe the children are our future. Teach them well to lead the way. We're not doing that here. And we got to get back to doing that. So again, I commend the state for coming in and taking over, but we need to save some money because that's, you know, school is a business. The kids are our product. They are our future. That means when these
145board members leave, they steps up to become if they're not equipped now, we're just going to repeat history. Save the money. Let's get back to the plan of being proactive and not reactive. Let's get Dr. Perkins back in here and try to come to some kind of resolution because she has a plan. She's qualified. Okay. Thank you. We appreciate it. Okay. That is the last of our comment period. Miss Smith. Again, we recommend and ask that this board classify this district in need of level five intensive support. At this time, board, is there any other discussion, comments? Would it be possible to put the slide back up with the three recommendations on the screen? If not, we'll just go with the oral version that you might have it in your board packets on the very
146last. Thank you. Are you signed up? What's your name? Carlani Lewis. Signed up. We've got it right here. Okay, thank you. It's coming up on screen. Do we? Yes, Miss Lewis. Yes. Hi, I am uh my name is Carlani Lewis. I'm a former board member for eight years and I just want to know and let everybody know the why we were here from the first year from the year before because all of us had gotten together, got to the board, told the board, reached out, we needed help. We needed help. We seen things that was going on that wasn't right and we asked for help. That's the reason why you all made it down the year before. Okay, that seat that we received was great. Thanks hats to the teachers and everybody else. But one
147of the reasons was it was under Dr. Perkins hat. She did that. She was doing what we asked her to do. She was promoting doing everything that we asked her to do. It was the board that stuff became personal. Yes, I got off the board that I felt like I could help my students better, my parents better, my teachers better. And that's what I do every day. But I want to make another statement with our students. Have anybody actually sit down and ask our students what is wrong? What do you need to be educated? I have May 1. It was so shocking and I can share my stories with some of you that we got from the students. My students is number one prop prior to me. We have smart kids. They want to be
148educated and we're I say she said product. I don't look at my kids being a product. I look at them being our future because they are our future. They just need help. Either if it's the parents. I remember coming to school. I graduated 84. If it wasn't our parents, guess what? It was our teachers. They were on us. They were making sure we got what we needed to go forward. So, I'm asking now the decisions that you make. I noticed that when you did your takeovers, I read up on all of them that you did resolve the board. You suspend, you did whatever you had to do. Please do the same so we can start all over and start fresh because we need it here at BL School District. Thank you. Um board I so
149the first action in the request would be to classify in need of level five intensive support. If the board chooses to do that, then after that, then I would ask for a second motion with the other two recommendations up there to remove the authority of the local board and authorize the commissioner to assume all authority and then also direct the commissioner to appoint a superintendent and pursue the possibility of a transformation contract. So, that would be two motions that we're requesting today. I would move that we classify the Bllyville Bllyville School District in need of level five intensive support. Second. Dr. Arnold made the motion. There was a second by Adrien Woods. Is there any further discussion? I believe we should do a roll call vote. Secretary, I do that. Miss Kenir, yes. Miss Hunter,
150yes. Mr. Henderson, before I make my call, I just want to say that these decisions are tough, especially tough when you're in your hometown. But I made an oath and also I made a promise to my mom and the stakeholders. Yes, Dr. Arnold. Yes. Miss Woods. Yes. Miss Moore. Dr. Moore. Yes. And we got a yes from Okay, that's a unanimous on that motion. Okay. Again, the second request would be to remove the local the remove the authority of the local board and authorize the commissioner to assume all authority of the local district board of directors and to direct the commissioner of education to appoint a superintendent and to pursue the possibility of a transformation contract. So that's our recommendation. So So moved. Do I need to read the entire motion? Okay. So, I make
151a motion to remove authority of the local board and authorize the commissioner to assume the authority of the local district board of directors and to direct the commissioner of education to appoint a superintendent and to pursue the possibility of a transformation contract. Okay. Motion by Miss Hunter. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Lee Keenir. All those in favor say I. Hi. Any more discussion? Okay, we'll do a roll call vote again. I'm sorry. Miss Woods, yes. Dr. Arnold, yes. Mr. Henderson, yes. Miss Hunter, yes. Miss Kener, yes. Dr. Moore, yes. Thank you. conclusion. [Applause] Thank you everybody for coming. We really appreciate all of you being here. I know this is a very difficult and emotional day, but I do believe that the community and the children will benefit from this meeting is
152adjourned. Thank you.