The members of the Arkansas State Board of Education are requested to review the following:
Revolving Loan – 1 School Bus
Commercial Bond Application – 2 Second Lien and 3 Voted
With the recommendation to approve from the Loan Committee and additional information provided by the school district in its application package:
• Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-20-805 concerning the Revolving Loan Program, the State Board of Education, in its discretion and after considering the merits of each application with the loan committee recommendation, may approve a school district revolving loan application for the full amount of the proposed loan, approve the application for a loan of a lesser amount than requested, or disapprove the application.
• Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-20-1205 concerning school district bonds, a school district shall not sell bonds until the issue is approved by the State Board of Education. Therefore, the State Board of Education, in its discretion and after considering the merits of each application with the loan committee recommendation, may approve a school district bond application for the full amount of the proposed bond issue, approve the application for a lesser amount than requested, or disapprove the application.

The applicant data from this information is used to compile the Applicant Flow Chart forms for the Affirmative Action Report, which demonstrates the composition of applicants through the selecting, hiring,
promoting and terminating process.  The information is needed to measure the effectiveness of the agency's recruitment, hiring and promotion efforts and is in conformity with federal government guidelines, which require the agency to compile statistical information about applicants for employment.

Arkansas Code Annotated §6-17-309 requires local school districts to secure a waiver when classrooms are staffed with unlicensed teachers for longer than 30 days.  Requests were received from 163 school districts covering a total of 586 waivers.  There were also requests for long-term substitutes from 41 school districts requesting a total of 77 waivers for long-term substitutes. These requests have been reviewed, were either approved or denied by Department staff, and are consistent with program guidelines.

Violation of Standard 8. An educator refrains from using, possessing and/or being under the influence of alcohol or unauthorized drugs/substances and/or possessing items prohibited by law, or possessing or using tobacco or tobacco-related products while on school premises or at school-sponsored activities involving students. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board order a three (3) year suspension; assess a $100.00 fine; require participation in an alcohol treatment program, provide monthly attendance information to the PLSB on a quarterly basis; provide proof of successful completion of the alcohol treatment program to PLSB; and, provide a written statement from a licensed counselor indicating that he is fit to return to classroom. All completed by end of the suspension period. Mr. Waddell did not respond within the required period.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board order a permanent license revocation. Ms. Jones, through her attorney, accepted the recommendation on August 28, 2016.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom.
Violation of Standard 2. An educator maintains competence regarding his or her professional practice inclusive of skills, knowledge, dispositions, and responsibilities relating to his or her organizational position. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board issue a written reprimand,; assess a $50.00 fine; require completion of ArkansasIDEAS coursework, ERC15037 Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse: Training for Arkansas Reporters; submit a written reflection to PLSB concerning how the training will impact future activities as a professional educator and mandated reporter; training to be completed within sixty (60) days of State Board’s final order; all costs paid by the educator. Ms. Horton accepted the recommendation on August 16, 2016.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board order a one (1) year suspension; assess a $100.00 fine; require thirteen (13) hours of coursework through ArkansasIDEAS classes HWB14002 Act 1236 of 2011: Child Maltreatment (January/2014) and IAD14492 Classroom Management: Building Effective Relationships 2nd Ed.; require a written reflection for each class, addressing how the training will impact future relationships with students both in and outside the classroom; the training and written reflections to be completed within ninety (90) days of State Board’s final order; all costs paid by the educator. Ms. Rorie, through her attorney, accepted the recommendation on August 16, 2016.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board issue a written warning. Ms. Fowler, through her attorney, accepted the recommendation on August 26, 2016.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. Violation of Standard 2. An educator maintains competence regarding his or her professional practice inclusive of skills, knowledge, dispositions, and responsibilities relating to his or her organizational position. Violation of Standard 3.  An educator honestly fulfills reporting obligations associated with professional practices. Violation of Standard 7. An educator maintains the confidentiality of information about students and colleagues obtained in the course of the educator’s professional services that is protected under state law or regulations, federal law or regulations, or the written policies of the educator’s school district, unless disclosure serves a professional purpose as allowed or required by law or regulations. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board issue a written warning. Ms. Duford, through her attorney, accepted the recommendation on August 5, 2016.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. Violation of Standard 2. An educator maintains competence regarding his or her professional practice inclusive of skills, knowledge, dispositions, and responsibilities relating to his or her organizational position. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board order a one (1) year suspension; assess a $100.00 fine; require training through ArkansasIDEAS courses IAD14492 Classroom Management: Building Effective Relationships and IAD14519 Understanding Student Motivation, 2nd Ed.; require a written reflection for each course addressing how the training will impact future classroom conduct and interaction with students; the training and written reflections are to be completed by the end of suspension period; all costs paid by the educator.  Mr. Horne did not respond within the required thirty (30) day period.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. Violation of Standard 2. An educator maintains competence regarding his or her professional practice inclusive of skills, knowledge, dispositions, and responsibilities relating to his or her organizational position. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board issue a written warning.  Mr. Ellis did not respond within the required thirty (30) day period.

Violation of Standard 1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. The Professional Licensure Standards Board Ethics Subcommittee recommends that the State Board issue a written reprimand; assess a $50.00 fine; require training through ArkansasIDEAS, courses IAD14492 Classroom Management: Building Effective Relationships, 2nd Ed., and IAD14491 Classroom Management: Managing Challenging Behavior; training to be completed and written reflections submitted within ninety (90) days of the State Board’s final order; all costs paid by the educator. Ms. Queck did not respond within the required thirty (30) day period.

The State Board of Education recognizes October 17-21, 2016, as Arkansas School Bus Safety Week.  Special guests Ms. Susie Everett, representing Everett Buick GMC, Ms. Michelle Cadle and Ms. Trina Kuklaw, representing Arkansas PTA, and Mr. Tom Farmer, representing Bryant School District, have been instrumental in the Flashing Red. Kids Ahead. campaign.

The State Board of Education recognizes October 16-22, 2016, as Arkansas Safe Schools Week.

The Strong-Huttig School District had fewer than 350 students in the two years immediately preceding the current school year. Consequently, Ark. Code Ann. § 6-13-1603 requires the District to be consolidated with or annexed to another school district unless the State Board grants the District's petition for a minimum school district size waiver pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 6-13-1613.  The State Board shall grant the petition for waiver if the District demonstrates the several factors set forth in § 6-13-1613. 

Act 1240 of 2015 allows a school district to petition the State Board of Education for all or some of the waivers granted to open-enrollment public charter schools that serve students who reside in the school district.  Representatives of the Hope School District are appearing before the Board with a petition for waivers.

Act 1240 of 2015 allows a school district to petition the State Board of Education for all or some of the waivers granted to open-enrollment public charter schools that serve students who reside in the school district.  Representatives of the Kirby School District are appearing before the Board with a petition for waivers.

Educational Testing Service (ETS) offers two art content assessments: Praxis® Art: Content Knowledge (5134) and Praxis® Art: Content and Analysis (5135). See attachments for each test’s Study Companion. The Praxis® Art: Content and Analysis (5135) is the current art content test adopted for Arkansas educator licensure in Art (K-12). It has 85 selected-response (multiple choice) questions and three (3) constructed-response (written discussion) questions and is offered four (4) testing periods a year (March, June, September, and December). The Praxis® Art: Content Knowledge (5134) has 120 selected-response questions and is offered every month (12 testing periods a year). To accommodate the art licensure test being offered more frequently, the Department recommends adopting the Praxis® Art: Content Knowledge (5134) with a cut score of 158 effective October 1, 2016. The Department recommends allowing candidates to take either the 5134 or 5135 until December 31, 2016.

Sean F. Steiger is seeking a first time teaching license. On July 21, 2016, the Department notified Mr. Steiger that he was ineligible for licensure and employment in an Arkansas public school based on a disqualifying offense enumerated in Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-410. Mr. Steiger requested a waiver of the disqualifying offense. The Department recommends that the State Board grant the waiver request. Mr. Steiger represents himself.

The Stakeholder Group received information regarding research firms and are requesting guidance from the State Board on next steps.

The Office of Educator Effectiveness will provide a report on the enhancements and updates to the novice teacher and beginning administrator mentoring systems.  A brief overview is attached.

As a prerequisite to licensure, Arkansas candidates must demonstrate that they meet the requirement of basic skills, pedagogical, and content-area knowledge.  The Praxis Core has been adopted by the State Board of Education as the assessment for demonstrating basic skills.  The attached report represents three years of pass rate data for the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators: Reading (5712), Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators: Writing (5722), and Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators: Math (5732). Pass rates are not disaggregated by EPP, since educator preparation providers (EPP) do not prepare test takers for the Praxis Core.  All skills assessed in the Praxis Core tests have been identified as needed for college and career readiness in reading, writing, and math.