Little Rock School District Superintendent Mike Poore told the LRSD Board that 1,600 district employees have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That’s half of the 3,200 the LRSD employs. Another 200-300, who were late to register for a vaccine appointment, should receive shots next week, Poore said.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Cornerstone Pharmacy, Baptist Health, Don’s Pharmacy, Kroger and Park West Pharmacy have run vaccination clinics for the district.
During a public comment period, Teresa Knapp Gordon, president of the Little Rock Education Association, celebrated the vaccination effort, but also asked for a moment of silence for the educators who have died of COVID-19. She said four LRSD educators and 29 statewide have died of the coronavirus, and she cited numbers recently released by the Arkansas Department of Health: Cumulatively, there have been 10,062 cases among K-12 public school educators and 23,905 student cases. That means 12-14% of Arkansas teachers have tested positive for the disease (estimates on the number of teachers in the state range). Gordon noted that the longterm impacts of the disease on children aren’t known.
“Our staff are all suffering at this moment from some level of PTSD,” she said. “We were forced to go against the one thing, we as educators have always held sacred, which was putting our students at risk.”
The board later voted unanimously to accept the state’s latest criteria for the district to exit Level 5 intensive support. Most of it is pretty wonky, but the criteria crucially include an approved three-year balanced budget. In a recent midyear report, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education said the only criterion it was worried about was the budget plan. Deputy Superintendent Jeremy Owoh said the state would potentially reconsider whether the district had met the exit criteria in May.
The meeting marked nearly to the day the six year anniversary of the LRSD takeover by the state, Board President Vicki Hatter noted. Although a nine-member elected board now manages the district, the State Board has constrained the LRSD board’s powers: It can’t fire the superintendent, reinstate the teacher’s union or sue the state.