At least two members of the Arkansas Board of Education — along with state Education Secretary Jacob Oliva — praised the Watson Chapel School District for changes to its academic record-keeping and safety measures two months into a state-sanctioned accredited-probation.
During a regular state board meeting Friday, board member Jeff Wood of Little Rock — who successfully moved that the board receive monthly updates from the district following the sanction — recommended district officials need only visit the state board in Little Rock every three months rather than monthly. The board did not take action on the request.
“I want to applaud the district for the hard work they’re doing,” Wood said. “It feels like a completely different attitude coming from the district than what we were presented in either September or October. … It seems like you completely embraced the instruction from the [state Education] Department and [have] a real humble spirit about making the changes necessary.”
Watson Chapel was placed on accredited-probation through the 2024-25 school year in October for violations of three standards for accreditation stemming from incorrect schedules at the beginning of this school year and deficiencies in course credits among recent graduates. According to the standards, each school district shall maintain accurate student attendance records as required by the Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education; each district shall adopt graduation requirements within state laws and division rules and include those requirements in the student handbook; and each district shall maintain accurate student records including graduation requirements.
As Wood recommended moving to quarterly oral reports, Oliva interjected: “Or written, maybe, because I think the work is making progress, but we can’t slow down. We want to make sure we’re still acting with urgency so the school district and [state deputy commissioner Stacy Smith] can work with them, and then we can present written updates instead of requiring them to give oral presentations.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Wood clarified: “I didn’t mean to relax our interest in what’s going on.” Facing WCSD Superintendent Tom Wilson and assistant superintendent Dee Davis, he added: “I appreciate the work you’re doing, but [I meant to] relax the burden of you all coming up here and giving a report every month.”
Oliva also suggested the board have either a work session or business meeting at Watson Chapel, similar to what the nine-person body did in September when it granted full local control back to the Pine Bluff School District.
Board member Randy Henderson of Blytheville also chimed in that he noticed a better attitude in the WCSD staff trying to correct the problems that led to the probation. Board Chair Sarah Moore of Stuttgart said she didn’t want just written reports, although Oliva reported his staff writes district updates based on findings and reports from each sanctioned district.
HUMAN CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
Among changes to its academic systems reported to the board, WCSD officials outlined a staffing analysis planned for January; ensuring both the effectiveness and efficiency of the WCSD’s 2024-25 master schedules; and plans to build the capacity of classroom teachers by providing “job-embedded teacher support with effective implementation” of high-quality instructional materials through partnerships with the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative, 95% Group and Kids First.
“We’ve got to get ahold of our staffing,” Wilson said. “We feel like we’ve been overstaffed for about 10 years. At one time, we had almost 4,000 students, and now we have 1,750 students. So, as you see, limited foundation funding has hurt our district. We’re probably the only district in our area not able to give a Christmas bonus this year, but we’re going to do what we have to do to get ahold of our finances.”
Wilson added every teacher and building leader will be evaluated.
“We’re going to have to replace some people,” he said. “We’re going to have to get some people doing their jobs. It’s all for the kids.”
Wilson fielded a request from the Watson Chapel High School Personnel Policy Committee for Christmas bonuses at a regular district board meeting last week and gave a similar response.
All enrolled students are on track for graduation, Wilson told the state board. That update came as state officials discovered 23 seniors during last school year did not meet graduation requirements but were listed as graduates for the four-year cohort, according to a summary of findings.
“So, we have a system where everyone will be double-checked, and we will make sure everyone is on track for graduation,” Wilson said. “We’re going to make sure everyone has a good schedule, and we’re going to make it easier for parents to come to the school if they have any questions about it. I think it’s going to be a really good plan in place.”
Second-semester schedules will be distributed to students before the winter break, the district outlined.
Moore asked Wilson and Davis detailed questions about ending study hall and why students are released from school at 1:30 p.m. each Wednesday, expressing concerns about a lack of instructional time in the wake of class schedules that were corrected five weeks into the school year. Study hall has been eliminated for next semester, Wilson reported, and Davis answered that teachers use the extra time Wednesday afternoons to go into collaborative teaching and mentoring.
Despite the district’s financial concerns, Moore suggested every teacher who participates in after-school tutoring be compensated.
For student transcript accuracy, WCSD officials said, multiple hand audits of transcripts to rectify inaccuracies will be conducted, as will hand verification of grade-point average calculations; a plan for student advisory, college and career readiness planning will be implemented; and Student Success Plans will be created in the second semester.
Teacher advisory teams will be included during student intervention time known as PRIDE every first and third Friday of each month. All teachers will be assigned students to advise during the intervention time, Wilson noted.
SAFETY MEASURES
Safety enhancements at Watson Chapel High School include the addition of a full-time security officer and metal detector at the front entrance; a digital sign-in and sign-out protocol for all staff members; photo ID badges for all personnel; visitor badges; installation of security mirrors near the boys’ restrooms; frequent monitoring of the parking lot by staff and security personnel throughout the school day.
A more balanced number of students will attend each lunch session starting in the second semester. Wilson explained about 240 students were on the A-lunch and about 400 were on the B-lunch.
The sign-in and sign-out enhancement is designed to monitor when teachers check in and out of school.
“I think it was a privilege-type deal where if they came in late, nothing was said to them,” Wilson said. “Everybody’s going to be on the same page. Everybody’s going to be accountable. Nobody is going to be treated different. We’re going to make sure everyone is on time and we will look at the log-in tablet, and anyone who is habitual in being late will be written up and reprimand will be given.”
At Coleman Elementary, all door props have been removed; inside and outside doors are locked and checked frequently; security checks are done throughout the day and reported to administrators; and a second request for the removal of the barbed wire on the fence has been sent through OperationsHERO, an education operation support company.