001I'll send it. Great. With that, it is 3:16 and I believe we have one, two, three, four, five, six board meter board members on. And here comes Miss Hunter as well. That'll make seven of us. So, that is enough for a corn. Thank you all for jumping on with a moment's notice today. Secretary, apologies for being late. We're just getting started. Thank you, Miss Hunter. Secretary, we will call this meeting to order. We have one action item. Yes. Uh, good afternoon and thank you everybody for jumping on. I know it was a little bit last minute, but we have a change of status in one of our charter schools that we wanted to bring forth through today. So, I believe I don't know if it's either Dustin Wood or Dr. Smith from the school choice
002office will kind of give an update and present um the recommendation to the board. So, I'll at this time I'll turn it over to them. I think I see Daryl there. That's me. Yes, son. Hi. Thank you. I'm really small on the screen. Welcome everybody. Thank again, thank you for um for for taking some time out of your afternoon to help us with this particular presentation. is Daryl Smith, the Department of Education. Uh, as Secretary of Liva alluded to, we have a change in status of one of our charters, uh, the Arkansas Military and First Responder Academy located in Southwest uh, Little Rock. Uh, we well, we were notified earlier this week that they had their nonprofit status had been revoked uh, as of it had been actually been revoked in since November and we
003were notified by uh, just in last week and it was published by the IRS in March. Uh the problem with that is is that as the uh once the charter was revoked or excuse me once the uh C3 status was revoked there is no longer a mechanism for the state to pay the school and to use their ADM money to pay for to uh offer funds into their into their system. There was a number of uh other operational and financial defi def uh deficiencies in the with with the Arkansas Military and First Carolina Academy. And after much consideration talking with their board, they had submitted a request early this morning and I will read that to for for the record. It says, "Please accept this email." This is from their board chair. "Please accept this
004email as Arkansas Military and First Responder Academy officials request to voluntarily transfer its charter to Exalt Academy. Uh the board of AMP unanimously voted to approve the merger. The board further requests that the current faculty and staff remain in place for the remainder of the school year in order to provide as little disruption as possible to the students and the parents. Uh and so they so at this point we uh we had a CAP meeting earlier today at about 2:30. The CAP voted unanimously to accept this uh this request from the board from Afra. Therefore, transferring the charter to Exalt and therefore Exalt going forward with an affirmation vote from this board will then become the operational entity over uh AMRA going forward for the remainder of this school year. So, that's kind of the
005high level explanation. Certainly welcome any questions that you may have. Thank you, Mr. Smith. To clarify, our board today will be voting to review or not review the decision of the charter authorizing panel. I'm sorry, you were I didn't Is it breaking up? Our board will be voting to review or not review the decision of the charter authorizing panel. Correct. To affirm Yeah. to affirm their decision, their recommendation to you. Yes, ma'am. Okay. and board members the their recommendation is now linked on the AD website agenda as well. Let's start with questions. If anyone wants to, you know, raise your hand or just turn your microphone off, turn your microphone on to ask a question. This is Will the mission basically stay the same for that school? I'm sorry, sir. you broke up just a
006little bit. Would you repeat the question? Will the basic mission, the original intent stay the same for that school? No sir, as of the affirmation vote here, Exalt will be the operational uh entity there and therefore we'll have uh governance over what happens with that school moving forward. I do know that um one of the things that they have agreed to as they were talking to the administration of AMFA is that they will continue to have a JOTC program while it will not be a military academy as it exists today. There will be a JOTC program as part of the CTE offerings. Okay, Dr. Smith, this is Gary Arnold. uh could you comment on the rationale for exalt to be the chosen charter? Yes sir. So there are several opportunities there. Uh earlier this year
007given some of the operational and financial issues that Afford was currently experiencing. They had begun some discussions with Exalt. Exalt is a the Exalt uh campus is about a mile and a half from where AER is anyway. So they they're very familiar with the Southwest Little Rock area. So they had already begun some conversations about what a possible merger might look like uh if we if we got down to that point. So when the opportunity came or when the the time came that we needed to make a decision on who who could uh who we could transfer this charter to, Exalt was number one a choice because of location because they were familiar with that area. Number two, Exalt is also in the process with a strategic plan of opening a new high school. their
008plans was to open a new high school in 2627. But since they we had already reviewed some of their plans and they will be going before the charter authorizing panel uh for their high school amendment on Thursday that that since they already had a plan for a high school, they were familiar with the area and a lot of and I think earlier today the superintendent said about 40% of the current enrollment at AMFA graduated from the K8 school in Exalt. And so there was seemed like it was a natural fit because of location, because there had already been discussions, because there was already a process and already a strategic plan in place to start a high school. Thank you. That's very helpful. Miss Woods, I see you have questions. I was also trying to figure
009out how to raise my hand on Zoom. Can you hear me, Dr. Smith? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um, was there any are there any, and this may be a dumb question, are there any financial considerations like grants or scholarships that are tied to the charter school that we need to be considering moving over to the Exalt? Not specific based on their 501c3 status specifically. Yeah. Not not specifically. As the as Exalt takes over, they'll uh since they'll be the operational operational uh entity that will take over, there won't be uh there there are some entities that will help them, I believe. uh through this transition phase over the next several months knowing that uh there there were some issues with AMFA and some high financial issues with AFRA and so there there are some entities
010that are prepared to step in and help them through these next three months to make sure that there's no there's uh there's no detriment to to Exalt as it currently exists. Okay, that was it. Miss Kener questions. Yes, thank you. Um, so this is news to us, but I imagine their board has been aware for a while. Is does this dissolve their current board or was the um decision in November, did that dissolve the board? Um, and does Exalt's board take over? How does that work? So yes, as of the vote as of your affirmation vote of this rec of this request, the the current governance structure of AMA will no longer exist or will be dissolved and the uh exalt board will basically be overseeing what happens at the Afra campus for the next
011several months and potentially moving forward from there. Okay. And what about family communication? Is this going to be news to them as well or have they been aware? So, uh, we talked to Mrs. Long and she's actually on the superintendent of Exalt is actually on Zoom and I'll let she could probably speak into this a little bit more, but I'll just give you the quick, uh, the quick version of this is that they have been in communication with the administration at AMFA and they have worked out a communication plan for both the parents, the students, the faculty, uh, moving forward over the next several days to try to make this transition transition as smooth as possible. And I would defer to Mrs. long on the uh on Zoom here for any further details. Do you
012want to share any more, Miss Long? To my Yes, ma'am. Um to my knowledge, um communication with families has not happened prior to this. Um however, we did meet with the Afra leadership today and as u Mr. Smith said, "We have an entire plan moving forward to make sure that there's one-on-one meetings, town hall meetings, um staff meetings, um and then one-on-one staff meetings to make sure that every staff member and every student knows that the full intention of Exalt is to um honor the integrity of what they signed up for. making sure that there is a nice military track, JRTC track pathway in addition to other pathways to expand enrollment for the school um and make sure staff members know that they're going to be supported, that they're going to be compensated um on
013time um and that there won't be any lapse in any of their coverages. That's great. Thank you. And and you may have even answered my next question about enrollment. I understand um like you say, they signed up understanding one thing. I was concerned this may lead to a mass exodus and I wanted to be sure that there was a plan in place to um help that transition. So, it sounds like you've got it covered. Thank you. Thank you. Other board members questions. Mr. Smith. Oh. Oh, Miss Rollins, you go ahead. Well, I want to make sure I understand these students will be staying in the same facility through the end of the year, so there's little less disruption in their everyday. Is there anything that would be obvious to them that really is a change?
014Not through the end of this year other than additional presence and additional support on campus for the teachers administration. Um, all of the teachers will remain um same teachers educating the children. um same leadership and then our leadership in addition to their leadership kind of working to make sure that the model is merged appropriately. What's working really well we want to keep? What people have chosen and students want because it is a school of choice we want to keep. Um and then what additional offerings we'll be bringing forward to expand enrollment. So as far as dayto-day from now till the end of the school year there will be very little to no change. Okay. Mr. Smith, are you the contact then? Will you be helping them with this transition? Yes, ma'am. How will you what
015will you be doing? So, we will while we don't have any direct tell them what to do or not to do, we will make sure that that number one that it's happening that it's happening in the least disruptive manner possible because certainly we want to make sure that the remainder of the school year for the Afford students goes well. We'd like to see this transition go as smoothly as possible. So, it will be in constant contact with uh with Miss Long and making sure that all the pieces are there, that they've got a good plan together to execute and that uh it is the least disruptive plan possible for the current students at the school. I guess I'm a little concerned that the parents really had no heads heads up on this and it's Are
016you in the testing season right now? Is this going to Yeah, the testing window I think just opened today if I'm correct or and so Uh so that there again that won't disrupt the students at all. Again, most the students for the most part won't even know that there's been a change other than the announcements that we're making as far as their day-to-day life and as far as what's happening in the school from a day-to-day perspective. Um what will change obviously is the administration, what they, you know, how they're going to begin to operate the school as they begin to look forward and so starting to share the vision for what the school will be moving forward into 2526. But there will be very little disruption for the 24 for this particular school year. Okay.
017Thank you for that. I appreciate your reassurance. Thank you, Miss Hunter. Questions? Uh yes. So, so Amra goes uh through 12th grade. Is that correct? They are high school only 912. Yes, ma'am. So, so they have some graduating seniors. So, those graduates will graduate from where? Well, they actually don't have any graduating seniors. This is only their second year in existence. So, I believe t they go up to 10th grade. They started in ninth and I believe they have some ninth and tth graders. They do have a few 11th graders um because of their enrollment short shortfall that they did enroll some 11th graders, but they don't have any um seniors. Okay. All right. Well, that answers then my second question. So, I think I think that's actually good a good situation. Mr. Smith, I
018would like to ask about the finances. Um, will the, you know, any debts incurred by AMA infra translate to Exalt and how does that process work? I think at this time I'd like to call up our legal counsel Daniel Schultz to kind of answer that question. We were we were addressing that earlier and I think he actually probably has a better prepared statement for that. Thank you. Daniel Schultz, Department Council prepared statements, probably overstating it. Um, but this is uh this is a voluntary assignment. It's covered uh under the uh the laws governing charter schools. And essentially what is happening here is um you know that as of today, if you approve this measure, uh ANFA will no longer exist as a public charter school in Arkansas. um there is a mechanism where debtors to
019that institution can make a claim on debts they incurred up to this point. Uh so they can can be held um they can be compensated. Uh but moving forward uh the it will u there again as a charter school there will be no uh entity to uh to have financial liability as far as the state's concerned. Does that answer your question? any any funds from that school transfer to Exalt? Well, the funds will technically transfer to the department. Um, but again, Exalt could call on those funds uh as as it needs to to to moving forward and and any funds in the future will be paid to Exalt directly. Okay. So, Exalt will have, you know, the existing funds necessary to pay the current teachers. Yes. Do you all have any insight into the revoking
020of the 501c3 status? I know you talked a little bit at the charter meeting um but why that occurred and if you know we don't necessarily have the all the specifics of it. We do know that it was beyond the November revocation that it it was uh poor management and some uh not filing the proper paperwork multiple years ago. So we think about at this point it looked like two years ago that this has been going on for a multiple of years and it just and then over that time it was eventually revoked actually in November. So this was a long ongoing problem why it didn't um surface for the school sooner than that. We're not totally sure. We t had a long discussion with the board late Friday night and Sunday night. Um they
021um they admit their lack of oversight. they they admit to the fact that there were some poor management, some poor financial decisions and operational decisions that uh were made with the school, but it seems like basically it was just uh just poor management and not taking care of the the things that need to be taken care of. We don't think there's there was any nefariousness or any intent to defraud or anything of that nature, but it was really just an uh just poor management. Well, is it the agency's responsibility to do any more investigation into that management and any further consequences or repercussions? And we did. So, like I said, the school's brand new. So, the school's only been in operation for uh 7 18 months, 19 months at this point. And so, um as
022we were looking into the operational and financial deficiencies that they had, this is what surfaced was that it it the um the revocation wasn't posted on the IRS website until March 10th of this year. So just less than a month ago was it was it posted and then by the time we were you know we were made aware of it within I think the last week or so. So within a couple of weeks of it being posted on the IRS website we were made aware of it and and thus we're taking action at this point. Other board members questions. I do I mean it that that is hard that that's it might have been a multi-year process. Um the leadership of AMRA, are they resigning? Will they transfer over to Exalt? What does that look
023like? I'm sorry you broke up a little bit there. Would you mind repeating the leadership of AMRA? Will they have they resigned? What what's the situation at this point? No. Again, I think that the the idea for everybody and and I think certainly our desire is that everybody we we we try to not disrupt the system anymore, then it probably will be disrupted when the announcement actually comes out. I know that Miss Long's working with the current um with the current administration to try to finish out this school year. Now what what that model will look like going forward into 2526 that's up to the exalt should this uh measure pass this today. But um they are under the understanding that as of a affirmative vote right now that their board authority and governance will
024be dissolved and that the administration superintendent as far as making day-to-day and operational decisions will no longer exist at that point and will then they will answer to uh exalt at that point. So they are very aware of those of of the change in governance and structure moving forward. Okay. I think I mean I know that's not the conversation this week but down the road having a little bit more information as to what happened such that if something like this happens again you all will be able to you know have a that absolutely red flag earlier on. Yeah absolutely like I said it was something that we found out within a couple of weeks right so as soon as it was posted on March 10th and that we were uh at that point we started
025taking action and sort of because we found out I guess two weeks after that. So, beginning of April. Uh, and then at that point, we were trying to figure out what the next step would be from a legal standpoint of if a if a charter no longer has nonprofit status that at that point, what does that mean uh for a state and how does the state respond to that? And so, once we figured out what we needed to do and how we needed to best respond to help the school to make sure we got to that make sure the school could continue operation, this is this is where we uh we landed. And so this is why we're having well we had the cap earlier today and then while you guys um were asked to
026come come back a little earlier in for a special meeting. Yeah. I think it's obvious that none of us like abrupt decisions but it's equally obvious that there are very few options if any that could that we have that aren't detrimental to the students. Yes sir. And and I would agree 100%. This is certainly not anybody's ideal situation and the the swiftness of this action really is was precipitated by the lack of when we when we discovered that they no longer had a uh a nonprofit status and there therefore in order for us to continue to provide the services and make sure there was there was again the least amount of disruption for the families and this the staff uh at this school this was the action that needed to be taken. But I would
027agree 100% that quick actions are never usually never the best option. Miss Hunter, did you have some questions? Well, it's really kind of a it's not a question so much as a comment or observation. It's more on the lines, Dr. Moore, of what you were suggesting about looking for red flags in the future. I'm I'm also concerned and and I and I heard that, you know, we don't think there was anything nefarious going on here, which I'm I'm pleased to hear that, but I do think that we need to do uh I'd like to have the ask the department to do a real deep dive. Sure. uh to like a root cause analysis of how they lost their uh nonprofit status so that you know we can have some lessons learned to share uh like
028create best practices to avoid something like this in the future. Yes, ma'am. And we'd be happy to provide that and do that investigation and provide the results of that investigation. Thank you. Mr. Smith, can you tell us what's the enrollment at the school? I believe it's 152 if I remind you correctly the the most recent uh attendance count. Okay. Thank you. Just for my colleagues on the board, I've actually done quite a few um 501c3 filings as of late and the IRS website is very very behind on getting stuff posted. So this timeline actually tracks. I mean, I've got stuff that we filed back in November that still hasn't even been posted yet. We've gotten the approval for the 501c3 stuff, not for charter schools, but just in general. So, it wouldn't surprise me if
029it was revoked in November and then it just got posted in March. And then, Mr. Smith, there's a charter authorizing panel meeting later this week or next where Exalt will be bringing the charter meeting meets on Thursday. It's this Thursday and and Exalt will be submitting for uh to amend their current charter to add a high school to their current charter. Okay. Miss Long, do you mind to speak a little bit towards what that will look like now that you are looking to take on this high school first? Yes, ma'am. Fast track. Right. So, we've been planning this high school for um a while now. It's been a big demand um from our current K8. Many of our students after they leave have been asking us to create a high school. Um, but we were
030waiting to create a high school until the opportunity was perfect and we felt like the K8 space we had really mastered it and doing a really good job before we decided to move ahead. So um after serving families, working with the community and knowing the community, we created a um pathway that includes um opportunities for accelerated coursework and college um AP courses, but then also some CTE offerings as well, specifically CTE offerings um that our families have recommended. Interestingly enough, one of the I think number two um recommended CT offering was nursing. Um if you go back to the original AMRA um first responder application, nursing was one of their large pathways as well. Um so we think it's a really nice merge um between kind of what we're wanting and then what they're offering.
031There are some other things in their charter um their original charter like an extended school year, extended school day um and different things that actually align up really well to what we currently do right now. So over the next few weeks as we um end the school year, we'll be meeting with the AMA team, their teachers, AMPA families. We start those series of meetings actually today um and then move forward. but really um do a course analysis um between what courses they're currently offering, what courses and pathways they currently offer, and what ones that our families are wanting and then create a plan that um is the best of both worlds for all people. So, um just different opportunities and then also by expanding the military pathway um we'll potentially well we'll draw in more
032students and then be able to increase enrollment. I know enrollment has been a really big struggle. Um I think actually uh um Commissioner Smith said um 153 I think they're actually down a little bit even from from that now. Um, so I think just expanding course oper offerings to be able to draw in more more variety of students um, so that it can be financially sustainable as well. Thank you. It's a big ask for you all to take on a school with I don't know six, eight weeks left in the school year. So I know I can express appreciation for you all doing that. Do you feel that in doing this it'll set you'll be able to you know make the school your own within reason in the next school year will you be able
033to to set your leadership and move forward? I really appreciate you asking that question. And when I was first asked, although open-minded, I was worried a little bit about that. And then I walked into the school and I walked the school and um around 40% of the children attending that school were my children from Exalt. And so then I was like, "Oh, I must do this because it's my children and it's their success and I care about, you know, what they're doing and how successful they are in high school." So, um I'm really fortunate to be able to have the relationships with the children as well as their families. Um so, I think that it's going to be a smoother transition than a different type of merger. That's great. Thank you. Board members, additional questions
034or comments? Just one last question. We've talked about the enrollment size. What is the size of the faculty and staff supporting everything at at Afra? Um, I believe there are eight teachers currently right now. Um, and there are several administrators that are also teaching classes. Um, so that'll be something that I'll learn more about in the next couple days on how they have it structured. I know that because of their enrollment shortfalls, they had to minimize staffing and be creative um when there's onlyund and some students and you have to be real creative with that. So, um that's something we'll look at. Uh I am fortunate that we have several staff members at our K8 that are high school certified. So, hopefully we can, you know, combine efforts and make sure it's really strong. Thank
035you. Board members, other questions or [Music] comments? Okay. So, at this time, Mr. Smith, anything else from your agency? No, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. So we will without further questions or comments. The motion would be to accept or deny the recommendation. Thought it was review or not review. To review or not review. Okay, that's sorry. Sorry. Thank you. I was clarify it's review or not review. If it is reviewed then it would come at the next scheduled ch board meeting to review it. to not review it means we accept the recommendation of the charter author Horizon panel. That's not confusing at all. Is it? Oh man, I'm I confused it more because I got confused for a minute to not review. I'll put forth that motion. Um I'm also asking, you know, Dr. Smith to
036provide an update in the future kind of on what happened based on their investigation. Thank you, M. You're ready for chairmanship. So, a motion by Miss Woods not to review, which means that we are accepting the would be accepting the recommendation of the charter authoring panel. There's a second by Miss Hunter. Any questions or comments before we take a vote? Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Okay. Hearing no opposition, the motion passes. Miss Woods, thank you for saying that. I do think that it would be helpful at some point in the future to hear a update on how things are going. Miss Long, we wish you all the very best and truly appreciate you stepping up in this time. Um, I think it would be beneficial also longer term to hear
037some of the sort of understanding that the agency's come to as to what's happened to get to this point. Absolutely. Thank you. Okay, with that, is there anything else from the agency? No, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Well, have a good rest of the day. We will be adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you. Bye.