For good of kids

Lawsuit seeks to protect schools

Iwas a school board member in the Marvell-Elaine School District (MESD), and I’m a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the state concerning the plan to sell our school district to a charter-school management company. I am also the chair of the group Concerned Citizens of the Marvell Area, and am writing to dispel some of the rumors, misinformation, and propaganda state leaders are spreading about our lawsuit.

Concerned Citizens of the Marvell Area, which consists of many MESD parents, employees, and residents, is working to protect our school district from the harm that would be caused by a rushed charter-school takeover. We want the state to invest in what is proven to help kids improve their education and stop playing political games with our kids and community.

This lawsuit will not cause the district to be consolidated or closed; we have already obtained a court order prohibiting the state Board of Education from closing, consolidating, or dividing the district. The court order also stops mass layoffs of teachers and staff and gives members of the MESD community a much-needed opportunity to weigh in on the terms of this contract before it is finalized.

We are deeply invested in the future of MESD. We have kids and grandkids in this district. Some of us work for MESD. Many of us attended MESD schools when we were younger. We have built our lives in this community, and we understand how important schools are for the health of small, rural towns like ours. We are your friends and neighbors, not outof-town political activists. We have lived in Marvell for a very long time and will still be here when all of this is over. Those calling the shots from the Capitol are the ones playing partisan games with our kids.

We sued because we are deeply concerned about the terms of the “transformation contract” with Friendship Education Foundation and what it will mean for our kids. We don’t believe it will improve education for our children, and it could result in the loss of our schools in a few years after this charter experiment inevitably fails.

We also sued because we have doubts about the specific charter-school management company that was chosen, which does not have a strong track record. And we have concerns about the $650,000 cost of the contract to be taken out of the district budget. Our school is already under-resourced, especially considering the high needs of many of our students. We don’t need the state to outsource its own management and oversight responsibilities after voting last April to take over the district and dissolve our elected school board.

This entire process has been rushed, sloppy, and secretive from the start. The Legislature failed to follow the Arkansas Constitution when it hastily passed the LEARNS Act last session. Then the state board insisted on applying it prematurely, even after lawyers warned that it wasn’t yet law. The “transformation contract” with Friendship Education Foundation

was formed behind closed doors and approved with one day’s notice that the board would hold a special meeting during the workday in Little Rock, making it very difficult for any Marvell or Elaine residents to attend.

The board didn’t even release the terms of the contract to the public before voting on it, making it virtually impossible for us to provide input before it was approved. Asking the courts to require the board to slow down and follow the law does not mean that a “transformation contract” can never occur, but it does provide people in Marvell and Elaine a much-needed opportunity to have a voice in this process. Our first priority is to make sure any future plan will benefit our students.

Our lawsuit is also an opportunity to stand up for the valuable MESD employees who have been mistreated throughout this process. At the end of April, most MESD employees were unceremoniously fired when they received a notice of contract nonrenewal. The only reason the district cited for their termination: the new “transformation contract” at issue in our lawsuit. These employees, many of whom have served the district for decades, would be out of a job right now had we not successfully sued to stop the layoffs.

Ibelieve the people of Marvell and Elaine have the desire and the capability to lead our own schools, whether that is through the return of an elected school board or the creation of a very different type of “transformation contract” that empowers local residents and better serves our students and staff. We need a plan that engages our community and invests in proven solutions to boost learning and help kids in poverty succeed. We need to invest in after-school and summer programs, extra help for low-income kids, and retaining high-quality teachers.

I know that MESD families want their children to thrive just as much as any other parents in Arkansas. No one cares about our students’ future as much as we do. We care enough to go to court and fight for what is right.

So, before you believe the state’s propaganda about our lawsuit and view us as villains, please remember who we are and what we are trying to accomplish. Our lawsuit is the only reason there is now a court order prohibiting the closure or consolidation of our schools, halting the mass layoff of our teachers and staff, and pausing the creation of an expensive “transformation contract” so that the community can weigh in on its terms.

These are all good things that benefit MESD, and we are proud to be fighting for them in court.