How Long WIll It Take

This morning while at Knight's I ran into Ms. McKown. She inquired if I had any problems with the district and I repeated what has been talked about before. She said she was not aware that it was the law for a school district to post on their website 10 days before a school board meeting the time, date and place of the upcoming meeting. Maybe, if she read this blog she would know about this law. It became law with the passage of Act 1588 of 2007. It has been mentioned a number of times on this blog.
I wonder why she didn't know about it. Isn't she, as well as the other board members, required to under go training each year? I wonder what Dr. Shook's excuse it that this law has not been followed?
How long will it take before Ms. McKown sees to it that the school district follows the law?

UPDATE:

From the Arkansas Department of Education website. This was also sent out to all superintendents in the form of a memo.

SCHOOL DISTRICT WEBSITE REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST
.......
6-13-619(a)(3)(A)-(B) Meetings Not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of a regular meeting of its board of directors, the date, time, and place of the meeting. Not less than twenty-four (24) hours prior to a rescheduled regular meeting, the date, time, or place of the regular meeting
.......

Act 1588 is covered under 6-13-619 above.

Since this memo was sent to Dr. Shook there should be no reason why this requirement is not posted on the school website as required by law.

82%

That is the percent of students taking the Algebra ll End-of-Course exam last year from Beebe that will need help to achieve an A or a B in first year college math courses. Only 17% are prepared for college course work. Although, some districts did worse than Beebe others did better. One district had two schools in which all students scored at the prepared level or above.

School Is Out Today

The kids get a day off because school is closed today. The reason for this is today is a Professional Development day. So if the kids are not attending today why was there a Beebe school bus parked in the parking lot of Union Valley Church? After school let out last spring I emailed Dr. Shook asking her why there was a bus parked at this church when the school was not in session. I never did get an answer. Dr. Shook did not answer this simple question and today when school is not in session there is a bus parked at the church, again. Since Dr. Shook would not give an answer you are free to make up your own.

You Can't Vote Here

Again the school board, with the nudging of the superintendent, has decided that you can't vote in Beebe for the upcoming school election. Once again you have to travel to Searcy to vote. The excuse will be that the vote doesn't mean anything, nothing will change. Isn't it nice of them to decide about your vote.
Not only that, Dr. Shook continues her misinformation campaign about school elections. In the past she lied about her involvement in a campaign committee and now she cannot tell the truth. According to the Arkansas Secretary of State's latest procedures manual for election commissioners an early election can be held within a district. But according to Dr. Shook, Beebe is not allowed to conduct early voting within the district not only for the school election but for all elections except for county elections. This is just not true. According to Dr. Shook absentee voting is not allowed in Beebe except for county elections. This is not only not true but is ridiculous . Does Dr. Shook even know what absentee voting is? I think not.

"Enrollment Doesn't Seem To Be Up"

The above comment came from the August 26,2009 Leader. The article also says that last year's count was 3,117 according to Dr. Shook. The question I have is where did she get this enrollment figure? Last year on August 27, 2008 the Leader reported the enrollment was 3,194. By October 1st the count had dropped to 3,123. Most school see an increase after Labor Day but last year this did not happen. Will Beebe see another decrease this school year?
Again, Dr. Shook did not give a definite answer about the enrollment, just that it "doesn't seem to be up". In the same article the PCSSD and Lonoke didn't have a problem reporting their enrollment figures. As reported last year, why does Dr. Shook have such a problem with enrollment numbers?

How Safe Are Your Kids? Another Chapter.

From comments from the last post there is concern about a former teacher being arrested for having sex with a minor. If what she is being charged with is true then she should face the full extent of the law.
I think the greater concern should be the actions of the district about this incident. KARK reports that the district was informed about this in June but the teacher remained under contract until this month when she turned in her resignation. Her resignation was her own decision. When was the district going to do anything about a staff member being charged with a crime?
When listening to Dr. Shook's interview you get the impression that it would be better if nothing was ever said about this. The superintendent continues her campaign to keep the public in the dark about what goes on in the district.

Go For It

This blog is now open for your comments. Write what you feel is good or bad about the district. If you think something needs improvement then we want to hear from you. I will leave this blog open for your responses.
A school is only as good as the parents allow. If you allow the district to be run by the superintendent without your input then you have no reason to complain. I'm sure you all complain about the government in Washington but when was the last time you called your Congressman to voice your complaint? If you don't take the time to voice your complaints then you are responsible for what goes on. You get what you deserve.