The Board of Directors of
the Little Rock School District held a special session immediately following
the regular agenda meeting on Thursday, February 13, 2003, in the Boardroom of
the Administration Building, 810 West Markham Street, Little Rock,
Arkansas.� President Judy Magness
presided.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Larry Berkley
Mike Daugherty
Baker Kurrus
Katherine Mitchell
MEMBERS ABSENT:
ALSO PRESENT:
T. Kenneth James, Superintendent of Schools
Beverly Griffin, Recorder of the Minutes
I. CALL
TO ORDER
President
Judy Magness called the special meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. She stipulated a quorum without roll
call. Mr. Rose arrived at 6:10 p.m. and
Ms. Strickland was absent. In addition,
the ex officio teacher representative was present: Kathleen Cargill, from Mabelvale Elementary School. The student representative did not
attend.
II. PURPOSE OF THE MEETING
The special meeting was called for the purpose of approving several
program evaluations. Employee hearings,
which had been scheduled and listed on the agenda, were cancelled.
Information on Completion of Eight Program Evaluations for Submission to Federal Court
Dr. Lesley presented a
summary and background information on the requirement to submit program
evaluations to the federal court, stipulated in the September 2002 ruling. These reports are due to the federal court no
later than March 15, 2003.
A total of fourteen program evaluations were to be
completed. Six of these were completed
and were approved by the Board in November and December 2002:
o
ESL, 1999-2000, 2000-01, and 2001-02
o
CPMSA/NSF Grant, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02
o
Collaborative Action Team
o
Southwest Middle School Partnership with SEDL
o
Charter School, 2000-01
o
Pre-K-2 Literacy Program, Year 2 Evaluation, 1999-00, 2000-01,
2001-02.
Eight additional
program evaluations have been completed, and four of those were presented for
action at this meeting:
o
Vital Link
o
Onward to Excellence
o
Campus Leadership Teams
o
HIPPY
The final four evaluations will be presented for the
Board’s approval at the February 27 regular Board meeting:
o
Middle School Transition
o
Lyceum Scholars
o
Elementary Summer School
o
Extended Year
Dr. Steve Ross, from
the University of Memphis, served as a consultant for the District during the
process of completing these evaluations.
He was present at this meeting to review the guidelines for completing
the evaluations. In addition, he
provided brief summary reports on each of the evaluations presented for
action. Dr. Larry McNeal, President of
Quality Education and Management Associates also attended the meeting but was
not called to make a presentation.
Dr. Ross completed the review of the Vital Link program in collaboration with Debbie Milam, Director of VIPS, and Dr. Ed Williams from Planning, Research and Evaluation. The Vital Link program was discontinued by the District during 2000-01, and no real evaluative criteria was established prior to the program’s inception. Students completed a survey upon completion of their participation, and the evaluation was based on the results of this survey.
Mr. Berkley moved to approve the third party review for submission to the court as required by the court’s order. Dr. Daugherty seconded the motion and it carried 5-0.
Onward to Excellence was a grant-funded two-year school
improvement initiative at Watson Elementary School. It was discontinued at the end of the grant period in 2001. In addition to Dr. Ross, Mike Oliver,
Principal at Watson Elementary School, Ed Williams, from the Planning, Research
and Evaluation Department, and Dr. Charles Watson from the Arkansas Department
of Education, participated in the completion of the evaluation. Data was insufficient to determine if the
program impacted student achievement.
The Board was asked to approve the program review for submission to the federal court. Mr. Berkley made the motion, Dr. Mitchell seconded, and it carried unanimously.
Campus Leadership Team participants completed surveys that measured their personal experiences with the CLT process. The surveys were not intended to serve as an evaluation of the initiative, but provided basic data for review by the evaluators. In addition to CLT members, principals and Central Office administrators also provided survey response data.
The administration requested the Board’s approval for submission to the Court. Dr. Daugherty made the motion for approval, Mr. Berkley seconded the motion, and it carried 5-0.
Unlike
the other program evaluations presented at this meeting, the HIPPY program had
been evaluated previously and a preliminary study was conducted in July
1999. The program was re-evaluated in
2002 and copies were provided for the Board’s review. In addition to Dr. Steve Ross, District personnel also assisted
in the evaluation; Ed Williams, Planning, Research and Evaluation, Ken Savage,
Computer Information Systems, and Marian Shead-Jackson, HIPPY Program
Coordinator.
Mr.
Berkley moved to approve the evaluation report for submission to the federal
court. Dr. Mitchell seconded the motion
and it carried unanimously.
Ms. Magness requested a motion to convene an executive
session for the purpose of discussing a personnel issue. Dr. Mitchell made the motion, Mr. Berkley
seconded and it carried unanimously.
The Board returned from executive session at 6:53 p.m. and
reported that no action had been taken.
There being
no further business before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m. on a
motion by Mr. Rose, seconded by Mr. Berkley.
APPROVED:
_ 02-27-03 __ Original
documents signed by:
Judy
Magness, President
Larry
Berkley, Secretary