Bom dia!
Or "Good day!" in Portuguese!
Several months ago I was doing my regular search for articles related to school consolidation in Arkansas and ran across the best headline!
"Guten tag, y’all; Lead Hill honors 20 foreign exchange students"
Fantastic!
Lead Hill, a public school in north Central Arkansas, has been fighting the battle of the arbitrary number for longer than we have here at Kirby. Historical records typically show only the schools who have, in almost 100 instances statewide to date, heartbreakingly lost their school, their identify and in many cases, the economy of their rural communities.
Where are the success stories?! Where is the documentation of the schools who have rallied their communities against the odds of the Mike Huckabee driven Act 60 legislation?!
Well, there isn't as much recorded positive news.
That isn't the case for Lead Hill School.
In the past several months I have read a lot about Lead Hill and their fight. After their numbers fell to 330, the spent one year in talks with neighboring school district Ozark Mountain about a possible administrative consolidation. They held countless public meetings in both towns, hammered out details and presented their plan to the Arkansas State Board of Education. You see, Ozark Mountain school is already a successful leader and partner in Arkansas, proving the success of administrative consolidation by administrating not one, not two, but THREE separate campuses.
In an article written by Renee Carr on March 12, 2012, "State Senator Johnny Key testified to the State Board that by approving the academically and fiscally sound plan, the State Board could make it clear that Act 60 is not about closing campuses but is about “administrative consolidation” as the law states."
Well guess what?! The State Board of Education VOTED IT DOWN.
Read this, from the same article - "Under the proposal, Lead Hill would add 330 students to Ozark Mountain’s 660 students, resulting in a school district of almost 1,000 students with four separate campuses. It is Ozark Mountain’s intent to keep all four campuses open. Here’s some down home reasoning: If OMSD has managed to keep three separate campuses afloat while educating students for the past eight years, the odds are in their favor of doing so with the larger Lead Hill student base. In fact, no other school district in Arkansas is more uniquely qualified to make this work than OMSD!
The community involvement makes Lead Hill special."
It continues, "State Board member Brenda Gullett, who voted yes on the proposal, compared the annexation to a marriage and underscored how much work and effort it would take to make it work. Superintendent Brown’s counter was dead-on when she remarked that a marriage between willing partners has a better chance of success than a shotgun wedding. Lead Hill had gone through a lengthy courting process and engagement to Ozark Mountain, but it seems the State Board has a shotgun wedding in mind. So much for local control!"
A quote by Rural Community Alliance President Lavina Grandon, “It’s just sad four appointed people on a board [the four on the State Board of Education who voted AGAINST this administrative consolidation,] have the ability to overrule the will of several thousand people,” Grandon said.
Since then, Lead Hill has FOUGHT BACK!!! They have rallied together in countless ways as a school and community. They have swelled their numbers to 375 last year, up from 361 in 2012-2013 and 332 in 2011-2012. Just last year, their local families hosted a total of 20 exchange students, who were made honorary members of Lead Hill in an article published in the Harrison Daily. Their school and communities have been recognized for volunteer work and the diversity their commitment to enrollment via exchange students has brought to their school! THEY are a success story! And they are STILL WINNING!!
~ ~ ~
Now let's talk about Kirby. Kirby School finished the 2013-2014 school year at 346 students. Kirby ran pretty solid at a little over 400 students until the closure of the local Bean Lumber company. Light on housing and up against the property values of a popular lake, Kirby area patrons spent their summer meeting, planning and fighting back!!
An economic development council has been formed by local volunteers, helping to identify properties for both industrial development and housing. A great deal has been accomplished in a short time. Patrons are also rallying by hosting exchange students. Last year, four students were hosted at Kirby. This year, 2014-2015, 16 students from eleven different countries now call Kirby their home for the year!
Local business owners, Sandra and John Garrett, have also utilized their access to the community as owners of Ernie Dunlap's store, to reach out to families in our area to invite them either to our school, or back to our school. They spent much of their summer standing in yards visiting with families all over the district. Also in their location, they have utilized the communications afforded by being a central stopping place in a one-stop light town. They have helped identify families in need of rentals and put them in touch with any availabilities.
A list of all rentals and homes for sale has been kept current by local volunteers and made available on the web and at Dunlap's store.
Kirby area residents have also recently formed the 60th chapter of the Rural Arkansas Alliance! The 60th Chapter to help REPEAL Act 60! More than 60 area patrons attended a town meeting held in the July heat to hear an update and learn about this organization. The RCA is an organized statewide non-profit advocate, giving a collective voice to Arkansas' rural schools. They have a list of policy accomplishments that are issues affecting rural Arkansas schools EVERY SINGLE DAY. The Kirby chapter, followed soon after by a 61st chapter from central Arkansas, now puts RCA membership at more than 1,600! The RCA's first, and largest priority, is the repeal of Act 60, as well as watching closely the various attempts at education legislation passed during each session, affecting us all.
Kirby School started school on Monday, August 18, 2014.
Last year, Kirby finished a mere FOUR students under the state mandated 350.
This year, Kirby finished its first day of school with an enrollment of 377!
The happy culmination of a great deal of community-wide efforts, prayers and sweat equity.
There is still much to be done. We recognize that hosting exchange students is a short term plan, but our efforts and ideas over the summer, were based on putting enough kids in our school to rise above 350, and get to work on our long-term solutions! This is without noting the wonderful benefit our communities get from these outstanding and brave kids from all over the globe!! I hosted last year and am hosting this year. It would be easy for someone outside of our area to assume we are just piling them in for numbers sake without any care for the students-- however, if you have never hosted, you cannot imagine how much you fall in love with these amazing, brave kids! All of my experiences with three exchange students has been wonderful! And my children get to enjoy diversity and learn new things! A win-win for us!
Now to continue work on long-term solutions!
So far so good!
God Speed and continued success to Lead Hill! Also, thank you to Ozark Mountain School, for being an example of a good neighbor who sees the benefit and possibility in administrating rural campuses. It warms my heart and gives me faith knowing that there are schools out there who place value on maintaining a school system instead of absorbing both it, and the communities that go with it.
And GO TROJANS!!
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