This is a guest post by Dr. Laura Danforth, a parent in the the Little Rock School District, who was prevented from addressing the Arkansas State Board of Education on November 15, 2019.
When I began attending Arkansas State Board of Education (SBE) meetings, I had been told over and over again that the board did not care about public input. I maintained, at least for a few meetings, that surely they did, despite seeing board members roll their eyes at community members who shared their stories, their frustrations, and their sadness; Despite seeing board members refuse to make eye contact with community members who asked them pointed questions regarding the “why” of their decisions; Despite seeing board members vote “yes” on motions that they were not even in the room to hear presented.
I learned the hard way, at the last SBE meeting (November 15, 2019,) that I have been completely wrong about their willingness to listen. I was removed from the meeting after I asked the board, twice, to please not move forward on a vote to more than quintuple the size of the Personnel Policy Committee after the Superintendent, the Teacher of the year Stacey McAdoo, the majority of LRSD teachers, 4 members of the board, and even Education Commissioner Johnny Key, stated that this would not be advisable since LRSD had already organized and implemented the election process and spent $18,000 to do so.
After I, along with LRSD parent Ali Brady Noland, asked for public comment before a vote, I was told “no.” After attempting to make a motion to allow for public comment, I was told that I “don’t get to do that” before Ms. Zook summoned a police officer to come remove me from the room.
Dr. Laura Danforth’s Intended Remarks
Here is what I would have stated had public comment been allowed and had I not been removed:
Please listen to the people in the room who can help you understand why your proposed change is not feasible at this point, including four of your own board members and your education commissioner. If you cannot remember what they said, here are the excerpts:
“If students, parents, and teachers don’t have a true say in the decisions being made about them, you cannot use the word ‘community.’ You cannot use the words ‘community buy-in, community engagement, community advisory boards, or community schools.”
-Arkansas Teacher of the Year Stacey McAdoo
“Our behavior, as it relates to moving toward local control for the District… I think it’s really important how the district feels about this… I think we need to look in the mirror as a board and think about …how we may be telling the district how to do something that the community should own.”
-Board member Susan Chambers
“I think it’s important to listen to the superintendent as it relates to running the day to day operations of the district… I think we vote to support what he wants.”
– Board member Fitz Hill
“I want teachers excited about anything right now, and if this [the process already in place] is something they’re excited about, I don’t want to do anything detrimental to that.”
– Board member Ouida Newton
– Board member Charisse Dean
“At this point, it feels like what is best for Little Rock School District is to let them move forward with what has already been implemented.”
