Local Speak Up, Arkansas Forum a Hit

Local 'Speak Up, Arkansas' Forum a Hit

Nearly 50 parents, students, business people and educators rolled up their sleeves Thursday night in Mountain Home and tried to help Arkansas come up with ways to improve public education.

Speak Up, Arkansas! was held simultaneously in schools and other public meeting places in every country in the state from 6-8pm Thursday.

In Baxter County, the public forum was at the Hurd Student Center in Roller Hall at the Arkansas State University Mountain Home campus. In Marion County, the forum was at the Flippin High School cafeteria in Flippin.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Education sponsored the public discussion. It was created by the state Legislature in order to define "adequate" and "equitable" in relation to public education. The commission was formed in large part in response to the Lakeview School District case in which a Chancery Court judge found that Arkansas' system for funding public schools is both inequitable and inadequate under the state constitution - and, therefore, unconstitutional.

Karen Wallace, vice chancellor for development at ASUMH, and Lane Strother, Mountain Home attorney, served as facilitators of the meeting.

The Mountain Home forum drew people from every area of the community, including Bob Hackler - longtime Mountain Home resident and former area educator who was appointed to the Arkansas Department of Education four years ago by Governor Mike Huckabee.

Hackler now serves as Chairman of the Department of Education. He and his wife, Evelyn, both graduated from Mountain Home High School. Evelyn was a classroom teacher for 25 years, and she served as the first curriculum director at Mountain Home schools for seven years, Hackler said.

Hackler, who has been a classroom teacher, counselor, assistant high school principal, superintendent of schools, also served on the Mountain Home school board for 11 years. He said it was important to learn what the community thought should be done about education and he came home to find out.

The public meeting began with a videotape from members of the Blue Ribbon Commission which urged listeners to help them determine how best to lead Arkansas schools out of the problem.

The tape cited alarming statistics about Arkansas' standings in the national education scene.

Arkansas ranks 50th in per capita spending per student by state and local government
Arkansas ranks 49th in adults with bachelor degrees
Arkansas ranks 50th in adults with graduate degrees
Arkansas ranks 48th in spending per student
Arkansas ranges from 48th to 50th in teacher pay

In addition, these figures were cited by the commission:

66 percent of Arkansans are high school graduates
13 percent of Arkansans have received a bachelors degree
4 percent of Arkansans have received a graduate degree

The people who came to ASUMH to take part in the forum were quickly divided into several small groups. The groups then brainstormed for a little over an hour and came up with areas that needed fixing and some ways to do it.

Then, the participants voted on which were most important to them. The results will be sent to the commission to be tallied with other input from around the state.

In Mountain Home, participants were most concerned with:

Parental and community involvement in education
Stressing academics over sports
Preparing students for future employment opportunities
Returning to more child-centered education
Fostering learning environment that lets teachers teach
Focusing more on basic skills
Teaching to the different learning styles of kids
Salary increases for teachers
More funding
Smaller classes
Putting discipline back in teachers' hands
Teaching respect at home and enforcing it in the classroom

Cotter Superintendent Rick Keyes said that funding was the key.

"You need more money for teachers, smaller classes, facilities, and everything else," Keyes said.

"Dialogue is the first step in the process," Wallace said.

Mountain Home Public Schools Superintendent Steve Singleton said he thought the public involvement would be helpful.

"The more the public is involved in the process, the more people involved in education, the better it is," Singleton said.

Back to Community Commitment

The Strother Firm, P.A., #1 Cedar Square, 210 E. Seventh Street
Mountain Home, AR 72653 fax 870-425-1146 870-425-3464
info@strotherfirm.com www.strotherfirm.com
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07/11/2002 stlf302dw4