The presentation Monday night by Hope Public Schools Superintendent Jonathan Crossley of the district's five-year plan was accompanied by Spanish translation.
Monday evening at Hempstead Hall, Hope Public Schools superintendent continued his series of presentations to the public, describing the changes to come in the next five-year Strategic Plan in the district as the $15 million federal Magnet Grant is received and changes implemented to improve every school in the system.
Afterward, during the April regular school board meeting, board members received a briefing from the district’s attorney Whitney Moore on the recent motions sent by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, whose chief judge is Susan O. Hickey, an appointee of President Barack Obama. Moore said the district plans to take the position that the school can show proof it is in compliance with consent decrees agreed to in 1990 and in 2022 that Griffin said in the motions had long already been complied with, were unnecessary to continue and block parents’ ability to use the state’s school choice policy to place their students in other districts if they so desire.
The evening began with Hope Public Schools Superintendent Jonathan Crossley presenting to about 250 attendees, with visual slides (seen below this story) and accompanying Spanish translation of his speech, the district’s Strategic Plan, over the next five years. Using funding from a $15 million Magnet Grant, and a Millage increase that it is hoped will be passed in an August 8 election, Crossley said the district can make each of its pre-high schools specialty schools that students can choose from based on their interests.
The high school, meanwhile, will offer a diversity of programs, including early work experiences with community employers and the Hope Collegiate Academy, which enrolls students in college courses at UAHT, with the goal to earn a certification and/or Associate’s degree by the student’s high school graduation date.
Crossley also touted a cradle-to-college and career plan, which pairs newborns and their parents with services and counsellors to ensure a child’s school readiness, a recruitment and retention plan to increase the quality of employees and teachers, wrap-around services providing parent and baby college. He advocated for a millage increase from 34.7 to 38.7 mills to help upgrade facilities, increase employee pay and development of early literacy programs. In addition, he proposed increased scholarships for college or career certifications.
After Crossley’s presentation was a short break and then the regular April meeting of the Board of Education for Hope Public Schools was called to order. The primary business of the board was a talk from the district’s attorney, Whitney Moore, concerning the motion filed by state Attorney General Tim Griffin to request Western District federal Judge Hickey to allow the state to intervene to end the two consent decrees of 1990 and 2022 that set conditions of monitoring and meeting of goals so that the Hope Public School district can be declared unitary, that is no longer promoting separate policies governing students and staff based on race.
Griffin said in the brief that HPS is hiding behind these consent decrees to block parents of students living in the district from being able to exercise school choice allowed to them by state law.
Moore described the timeline of Griffin’s filings, which were submitted April 7. She said the district will not be in disagreement with the state’s intent to end the consent decrees, but would take issue with the motion’s statement that the state would be the best entity to prove Hope Public Schools are unitary. The district itself, Moore said, would have more extensive access to data showing its compliance with the consent decrees’ terms.
School board member Viney Johnson asked Moore what if the plaintiffs who had signed off on the decrees disagreed with the district’s findings that it is unitary.
Moore said that the plaintiff’s counsel would be contacted and consulted by the district and that plaintiff’s counsel had been contacted by the state prior to the filing of the motion. But Moore said if the plaintiffs oppose that Hope Public Schools are unitary, “the state has created trouble with the district.”
Moore and Crossley both confessed puzzlement that Griffin had said in the motion that Hope does not allow school choice. The board approved school choice in the district in a 2021 meeting. Crossley said several students had been accepted into the district under that policy.
Moore said the district has until April 26th to file its response. The earliest date for a court hearing is by late May or early June.
In other business, the board members were presented with a salary schedule for 2023-24 for certified teachers and staff, bringing starting salaries and salaries below $48,001 into compliance with the LEARNS Act mandates of $50,000 per year. Crossley said these changes could be carried in the near term, but raises based on experience and education would have to wait until the results of the millage election is known. When a vote was taken, the school board was tied between yes votes by Jimmy Courtney, Alvin Hamilton and Bubba Powers, and no votes by Kathryn Dickinson, Vinnie Johnson and Board President Linda Haynes. Margaret Moss was not in attendance to cast a deciding vote. So the meeting moved on, with the proposal likely to be voted on again in May’s regular meeting.
But the board did vote Classified employees a raise of 6 percent of this year’s base salary. The unclassified salary schedule, which changes some wage positions to salaries also passed.
Whitney Moore, HPS attorney.
