News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Arkansas education board dissolves Blytheville school board

Published

2 months ago

May 29, 2025

arkansasadvocate.com – Antoinette Grajeda – 2025-05-29 13:47:00

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
May 29, 2025

The Arkansas State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to dissolve the Blytheville School Board and place the district under a Level 5-Intensive Support classification due to ongoing academic, financial and administrative issues.

The board authorized Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to assume the board’s duties, appoint a superintendent and pursue the possibility of a transformation contract, a provision of the LEARNS Act that allows struggling public schools to partner with an open-enrollment public charter school or another state board-approved entity to create “a public school district transformation campus.”

Education secretary to recommend increased support for east Arkansas school district

Oliva notified the board on May 8 of his intent to recommend the state’s highest support classification. He initially alerted the board to his concerns with the Northeast Arkansas school district last July.

Over the last year, the Arkansas Department of Education has provided on-site support to the district, ADE Deputy Commissioner Stacy Smith said at the state board’s special meeting in Blytheville Thursday.

The district is one of the lowest-performing in the state, struggles with declining enrollment and has financial issues, Smith said. Fiscal year 2025 revenue is down by about 15%, and the district has spent $1.5 million that was not budgeted, she said.

Teachers and administrators have been receptive to the state’s help, and Blytheville has “a bright future,” but more assistance is needed, Smith said.

“People are showing up, but this is a district that is in need of a lot of support to be able to get them out of the hole that they’re currently in,” she said.

Oliva notified the Blytheville School District of his recommendation of a Level 5-Intensive Support classification and the state board’s special meeting via a letter dated May 14. An ongoing lack of a permanent superintendent, delayed staffing decisions and stalled hiring processes have led to “organizational instability, weakened strategic planning efforts, and impeded the district’s capacity to effectively support students and staff,” according to the letter.

In addition to an “absence of coherent leadership,” the letter also cited “inconsistent governance structure” and “chronic student underachievement.”

The district appealed the recommendation in a May 21 letter, which prompted a hearing at Thursday’s special meeting. The letter, signed by Interim Superintendent Jennnifer Blankenship and board President Desmond Hammett, argued the district has “worked tirelessly” to implement the education department’s recommendations and “demonstrated both measurable academic progress and consistent good faith efforts to comply with all directives.”

Specific actions include hiring a school improvement consulting firm, increasing the number of fully licensed educators and assigning mentors to novice teachers, the district leaders wrote. The letter also rebuts “chronic student underachievement,” noting that one school improved from an “F” ranking to a “C” ranking in one academic year.

Let us know what you think…

Additionally, the district’s letter takes issue with Oliva’s past characterization of it as a “failure factory,” which “undermines the morale of educators and students,” its authors said.

“It is difficult to accept the designation of Level 5-Intensive Support while actively doing everything we were advised to do,” the letter states. “Rather than punitive reclassification, we respectfully submit that BSD’s path would be better supported by continued partnership, encouragement, and recognition of its progress.”

The letter’s authors said they also “strongly disagree” with Oliva’s comments about a lack of “coherent leadership” and “inconsistent governance.”

Blytheville has had two full-time superintendents and three interim superintendents since 2018, Smith said at the state board’s May 8 meeting. Blankenship was appointed as the current interim superintendent on June 12, 2024. She also served in the interim role from July through December 2021.

After the previous superintendent was officially terminated last August, the board reviewed candidates in late November and decided to keep Blankenship. A consulting firm hired in February presented two of 13 applicants in late April, but the board declined to interview them and reposted the position, Smith said.

According to the district’s letter, the board voted to delay interviews because it hadn’t received certain requested information.

“Unfortunately, the ADE observer left the meeting without seeking clarification, which may have inadvertently contributed to subsequent misunderstandings about governance stability,” the letter states.

At Thursday’s meeting, Hammett said the board didn’t refuse to interview the two candidates, but instead extended the application deadline by two weeks to gather a larger pool of applicants.

Arkansas education board removes Lee County’s fiscal distress status

Smith confirmed that Blytheville’s school board decided at its May 22 meeting to interview three applicants. One interview was scheduled for Thursday, and Smith said she “would be embarrassed” to interview a superintendent on the same day that the state board is considering whether to dissolve the school board.

“While it may be embarrassing to some,” Hammett said, the board was committed to continuing its work. Blytheville has only been working with the state for a year, Hammett said, and he believes the district can continue to improve.

The state board’s discussion of Blytheville’s circumstances at its May 8 meeting was “disappointing and discouraging,” but the school board “rose to the challenge,” he said.

“We didn’t tuck our tails, we didn’t run away from the challenge,” he said. “We became more committed, more engaged to show that we’re not dysfunctional, that we’re willing to do the work.”

Much of Thursday’s discussion centered on frustration with the board’s actions, or lack thereof. Oliva discussed “frustration of how much we have to babysit the people that are elected to govern the district.”

Meanwhile, members of the public like Blytheville native Bradley Ballard requested the state board dissolve the school board “before more damage is done.”

“This [mess] is the result of a board that is too prideful to lead and too fractured to function,” Ballard said. “We cannot keep pointing fingers while our children fall through the cracks. Today you have the power to stop this. You can cut through the chaos and bring order, accountability and hope back to our schools.”

The state board granted his request and voted to dissolve Blytheville’s school board and give the district a Level 5-Intensive Support classification. Blytheville joins four other districts that already have the state’s highest support classification — Earle, Lee County, Helena-West Helena and Marvell-Elaine.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Arkansas education board dissolves Blytheville school board appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This article provides a factual and balanced account of the Arkansas State Board of Education’s decision to dissolve the Blytheville School Board due to academic and administrative failures. It includes statements from both state officials advocating for intervention and district representatives defending their progress, offering multiple perspectives without apparent editorializing. The tone is neutral, focusing on governance, accountability, and educational outcomes without promoting a particular political ideology or partisan framing. Overall, the content adheres to straightforward reporting on policy and administrative actions within public education.

Up Next

U.S. Supreme Court permits deportation of another half million migrants, for now

Don't Miss

Officials still searching for Grant Hardin | Day 5 Update

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Arkansas can outlaw public school ‘indoctrination’ and ‘critical race theory,’ appeals court rules

Published

11 hours ago

July 16, 2025

Staff Editor

arkansasadvocate.com – Sonny Albarado – 2025-07-16 16:52:00

by Sonny Albarado, Arkansas Advocate
July 16, 2025

Arkansas’ ban on “indoctrination” in public schools doesn’t violate students’ free speech protections because the government has a right to dictate what is taught, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday.

The three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a lower court’s ruling that blocked enforcement of part of Arkansas’ 2023 education overhaul law. The panel sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky in May 2024 granted a preliminary injunction against the section of the LEARNS Act that prohibits “indoctrination” in public schools. Section 16 of the law specifically bans the teaching of “Critical Race Theory.” Rudofsky’s ruling applied only to the students who had sued, not the Little Rock High School teacher who was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The suit argued that the “indoctrination” section of the law violated the U.S. Constitution’s First and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee the rights of free speech and due process, respectively.

Arkansas officials appealed the preliminary injunction, arguing free speech protections don’t mean students can demand that public schools teach certain topics. The appellate panel agreed in its 18-page ruling, written by U.S. Circuit Judge L. Steven Grasz. Circuit Judges James B. Loken and Raymond W. Gruender were the other members of the panel.

“The students concede the classroom materials and instruction they seek to receive constitute government speech. This is fatal to their likelihood of success because the government’s own speech ‘is not restricted by the Free Speech Clause,’ so it is free to ‘choose what to say and what not to say,’” the panel said, quoting from a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Shurtleff v. City of Boston.

“Since the Free Speech Clause does not give the students the right to compel the government to say something it does not wish to, they cannot show a likelihood of success,” the appeals court ruling said.

Attorney General Tim Griffin in a statement called the appeals court ruling “an important win for the LEARNS Act and for the rule of law. With its ruling today, the Eighth Circuit continues to ensure that the responsibility of setting curriculum is in the hands of democratically elected officials who, by nature, are responsive to voters.”

The panel also ruled the district court erred in granting the preliminary injunction based on the likelihood the students might succeed on their argument that the First Amendment protects a person’s right to receive information. While students have a free-speech right to receive information, they can’t dictate what schools include in their curriculum, the panel said.

“Though a listener’s right to receive information means the government cannot stop a willing private speaker from disseminating his message, that right cannot be used to require the government to provide a message it no longer is willing to say,” according to the appeals panel.

“We do not minimize the students’ concern … about a government that decides to exercise its discretion over the public school curriculum by prioritizing ideological interests over educational ones,” the panel wrote. “But the Constitution does not give courts the power to block government action based on mere policy disagreements.”

The First Amendment right to receive information doesn’t authorize a court to require the state to retain curriculum materials or instruction, “even if such information was removed for political reasons,” the ruling said. “Since the speech belongs to the government, it gets to control what it says.”

In spite of its ruling in favor of the state’s position, the panel noted: “Government speech is not immune from all constitutional challenges, and our holding does not suggest otherwise.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

The due process argument

The district court’s preliminary injunction excluded the teachers who sued because, Rudofsky wrote, they did not show irreparable harm arising from Section 16 of the LEARNS Act.

The teachers had argued the law forced them to self-censor in their classroom instruction, but Rudofsky ruled that the speech they were allegedly censoring was the state’s, not theirs. The teachers also argued that the law’s indoctrination section was so vague that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.

The teachers filed motions in the appeal making similar arguments, but the appellate panel declined to consider the vagueness claim because the teachers didn’t file a separate appeal.

Arkansas Advocate Editor Sonny Albarado can be reached at salbarado@arkansasadvocate.com

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

SUPPORT

The post Arkansas can outlaw public school ‘indoctrination’ and ‘critical race theory,’ appeals court rules appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This article presents the legal ruling on Arkansas’ LEARNS Act banning “indoctrination” in schools with a clear emphasis on judicial deference to state authority over curriculum. The language and framing largely reflect a perspective supportive of limiting classroom content according to elected officials’ decisions, aligning with conservative views on education and opposition to Critical Race Theory. However, the article also includes relevant legal context and quotes from both sides without overt editorializing, maintaining some balance. The overall tone and focus on upholding governmental control over curriculum suggest a center-right leaning in its presentation.

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Arkansas National Guard Texas flooding mission extended

Published

3 days ago

July 14, 2025

Staff Editor

arkansasadvocate.com – Antoinette Grajeda – 2025-07-14 14:10:00

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
July 14, 2025

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders approved a weeklong extension of active duty for Arkansas National Guard troops assisting officials with recovery efforts in central Texas due to deadly flash flooding.

Twenty-two Arkansas National Guard troops who deployed to the Lone Star State last week were originally scheduled to conclude their work on July 12. They’ll now continue their duties through Saturday, according to a press release.

Arkansas emergency management team to assist with Texas flood recovery efforts

Nearly two dozen troops and four Black Hawk helicopters are assisting with the transportation of search and rescue personnel in central Texas.

In addition to the team of 22 soldiers, which consists of pilots and crew chiefs and six maintenance personnel, two other troops are serving as liaisons in Arkansas to coordinate direct support to deployed soldiers as needed, according to the release. Their mission was also extended through Saturday, though orders may be adjusted based on mission needs.

The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management joined recovery efforts Friday when it deployed a specialized two-person team to Texas that will support resource tracking, documentation, situational awareness and operational reporting, according to an agency news release. Team members will also act as liaisons between Texas and assisting states.

At least 120 people died and 160 remain missing after heavy rains led to flooding in central Texas on July 4, according to The Texas Tribune.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

The post Arkansas National Guard Texas flooding mission extended appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This content presents a straightforward news report on the Arkansas National Guard’s assistance in Texas flood recovery efforts, without evident political commentary or opinion. It focuses on factual information about troop deployment, official actions, and the ongoing disaster response, maintaining a neutral tone typical of impartial reporting. Therefore, it reflects a centrist, neutral political bias.

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Bentonville police search for possibly armed man on Crystal Bridges trails

Published

3 days ago

July 13, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-07-13 21:36:10

SUMMARY: Bentonville police are investigating reports of a possibly armed man seen on Crystal Bridges trails around noon today. Authorities conducted an extensive search on foot and with drones but did not find anyone. At the time, several areas of Crystal Bridges were restricted to the public, but officials confirmed there is no ongoing danger now. The venue is currently closed as a precaution, prioritizing the safety of members and guests. News teams are seeking more information from local law enforcement and Crystal Bridges, but no further updates have been provided yet. The situation remains under active investigation.