AEA President Carol B. Fleming Statement on House Passage of Unvetted Voucher Bill Lawmakers continue to ignore calls to slow down extreme bill or answer questions about potential negative impacts on children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Liz Picone, Arkansas Education Association

501-375-4611, lzpicone@aeanea.org

Little Rock, ARKANSAS — Today the House passed SB294, the sweeping voucher reform bill introduced by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders little more than two weeks ago.

Despite calls from educators, parents, disability advocates and others to slow down and answer questions about the bill’s negative impact on students, public schools, educators and families, the legislators continue to move the bill towards passage at breakneck speed.

Speech-language pathologist, twin mom, and Arkansas Education Association President Carol B. Fleming released the following statement in response:

“The voices of hundreds of educators, parents, disability advocates and others have been ignored by those who represent us. Despite pleas to our legislators to slow down and answer questions about the negative impact this bill could have on our children, it continues its sprint through the capital.

“The best decisions for our students are made with teachers and parents at the table. Educators have spent countless hours combing through the bill’s 144 pages and each time we come away with more questions than answers. At every turn, our requests to meet with the governor or the bill’s authors have been ignored or deflected.  

“If supporters of the bill are so confident about it, why are they trying to push it through so quickly without meaningful discussions? What are they afraid of and what’s in there that they don’t want us to know?”

Educators: There are higher priorities for improving public schools than voucher schemes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Liz Picone, Arkansas Education Association

501-375-4611, lzpicone@aeanea.org

Vouchers take scarce funding from public schools and give it to unaccountable private schools

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-Arkansas) introduced her omnibus education reform package Wednesday, called the Arkansas LEARNS plan, that would increase teachers’ salaries in exchange for implementing unpopular and destructive voucher schemes.

The following statement can be attributed to Arkansas Education Association President Carol B. Fleming:

“Every student deserves a well-rounded curriculum that will nurture imagination and a desire to learn. This mission is what Arkansas educators wake up every day working for. Spending money on voucher programs means denying students the opportunities they deserve in their neighborhood public schools. When our leaders choose to fund voucher programs, they pick and choose which children can pursue their dreams. Educators, parents, guardians, and students should be very concerned about the proposal’s impact.

“Vouchers take scarce funding away from public schools and give it to private schools that are unaccountable to the public. Arkansas needs to focus on investing in our public schools — where 90 percent of our children go — instead of diverting money from them to give to the 10 percent who attend private schools. By taking funding away for public schools, vouchers will harm rural communities, where public schools are popular and remain the only option for most students.

“The Arkansas Education Association has long been a leader in advocating for increasing the salaries of Arkansas’ hardworking and dedicated teachers to help us recruit and retain high-quality educators in every classroom. While we’re encouraged to see this issue of low teacher pay addressed after years of our advocacy, we urge the Arkansas state legislature to do so without harming students through voucher schemes.

“There are higher priorities for improving public schools. If we’re serious about every child’s future, let’s get serious about doing what works. And what works is resourcing our neighborhood public schools so that all students have inviting classrooms, a well-rounded curriculum, class sizes that are small enough for one-on-one attention, and support services such as health care, nutrition, and after-school programs for students who need them.”

AEA Welcomes Interim Executive Director

Liz Picone Brings Decades of Association Experience 

The Arkansas Education Association is excited to announce Liz Picone has taken the helm of the state’s largest professional organization for educators as Interim Executive Director.  

Picone will lead the organization over the next six to eight months while the AEA Board of Directors conducts a search for a new director and plans to immediately focus on membership growth. 

“Arkansas teachers and education support professionals are at the heart of all we do and the source of AEA’s power,” Picone said. “Our members allow us to provide professional development programming, educator support and advocacy for students and educators at the local and state level.” 

Picone is now in her 28th year of association staff experience. She brings a wealth of experience as an Organizational Specialist serving National Education Association members across the country from Pre-K to Higher Ed. Picone has worked in more than 35 states assisting with membership campaigns, political campaigns, leadership development, coaching staff and serving as a thought partner for Executive Directors. 

Liz taught Orchestra in the Texas Public Schools for 13 years before she began her association career. 

“Coming from the classroom, I know the value of an organization that has your back and amplifies educator voice,” she said. “Over the last three decades, I’ve seen the incredible things educators can accomplish when we work together, and I look forward to working with Arkansas educators to spread the word about AEA’s work to improve student learning conditions and school employee working conditions.” 

The recruitment drive will begin April 1st, when educators can enroll early to receive benefits for free through the remainder of this school year.  

“Early Enrollment is a wonderful opportunity for educators to join the association and discover the many benefits of membership,” Picone said. “We also look forward to a return to more normal back to school events following years of disruption brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.”  

Picone holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Eastern Illinois University. She also holds administration and supervisor certifications from the University of Houston and Sam Houston State University. Picone is a graduate of the Harvard Trade Union program and one of a select group of Association Executives that qualify for the Certified Association Executive (CAE). The CAE credential is the marker of a committed association professional who has demonstrated the wide range of knowledge essential to manage an association in today’s challenging environment. 

She replaces former Executive Director Tracey Ann-Nelson, who left the association for another position following seven years at AEA. 

OMICRON CHECK IN STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING WHILE EDUCATOR VOICES ARE IGNORED

Arkansas’s students are suffering from emotional distress, learning loss, and undernourishment as the state experiences a rapid surge in COVID-19 infections, according to a recent survey conducted by the Arkansas Education Association. In addition, the majority of survey respondents believe a brief virtual shift would be the best option to limit daily disruptions and keep students and educators safe. 

“We have learned the hard way it is more difficult than ever to be an educator,” said AEA President Carol Fleming. “With no option to pivot to virtual, and AMI days running out, we wanted to get a broader perspective of what our educators are experiencing and what insight they could provide into the ever-growing need for mitigating the effects of the virus on students and educators.” 

STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING 

While educators are worn thin from trying to stay healthy and keep their families safe, they have also had the added stress of worrying about the well-being of their students. An overwhelming majority of respondents, 94.07%, reported that their students have suffered some level of emotional distress due to the pandemic. 72.44% reported some level of undernourishment in their students, and 96.69% have observed academic losses.  

“Our top priority is to keep our students and educators safely learning in their classrooms – and we have the tools to make that possible,” Fleming said. “Educators are always showing up for their students – but we need the support and resources to do what we love most. Whether it’s repairing broken, outdated HVAC systems or addressing the shortages of rapid tests – we’re asking for what is needed to make in-person learning safe.” 

EDUCATORS FEEL IGNORED 

“Educators are on the front lines of this pandemic and have become experts on delivering meaningful instruction during this health crisis,” Fleming said. “However, it seems most of them are not even being asked what they think.”  

Most respondents, 72.08%, disagreed with the statement “My district is listening to educator input as it relates to COVID-19″. Furthermore, 63.76% disagreed with “My district is treating me in a way that makes me feel respected and valued.” To that end, only 46% of respondents feel comfortable reporting health and safety violations.  

AMI DAYS ARE RUNNING OUT 

Many schools had to close because of staffing shortages due to rising infection rates, using their 10 allotted AMI Days (Alternative methods of instruction). While the use of AMI days can help keep educators and students safe in the short term, they are currently capped at only ten (10). Once a school exhausts their days, the school calendar will be extended into the summer break. 63.10% of respondents reported that their school is using AMI days in response to the omicron spike. While the legislation states that AMI can be delivered virtually, educators reported that 62.22% are being mandated to conduct synchronous instruction.  

“Educators know how important it is to remain flexible in responding to unprecedented and rapidly changing circumstances – we have shown up every day the past two years, adapting and innovating the ways we teach and interact with our students,” Fleming said. “But right now, our districts don’t have the flexibility they need. If districts exhaust AMI days and the school calendar is extended, what does this mean for educators who are teaching virtually and then making up days at the end of the school year?” 

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? 

We sent four hypothetical options for educators to choose what they feel schools should be doing to keep themselves, their families, and their students safe. 50.38% agree that schools should move to virtual instruction until positivity rates begin to decline and 29.50% wish to remain in-person, but with strong mitigation strategies such as mask mandates. 9.39% would like to return to a hybrid model of teaching both online and in-person, and 10.73% would like to see virtual options and mask mandates eliminated while keeping schools open.  

“We know the impacts of the pandemic can look different from community to community,” Fleming said. “Each school district across the country needs to bring together parents, educators, administrators and elected officials to collectively make local decisions that will best keep our students safe.” 

Register NOW for the 2021 Forrest Rozzell Lecture

Join us for our 2021 “Hybrid” Forrest Rozzell Lecture with Dr. Charlotte Parham!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY 

A Revisit to W.E.B. Dubois Truth, Knowledge, and Sympathy in Public Schools

Thursday, November, 4th

6-7 PM

Brown vs. The Board of Education was the historic Supreme Court ruling that made racially segregated schools illegal. Desegregation was an important and necessary time in American history, but it was difficult for all involved. White teachers were unprepared to deal with teaching children who were deemed inferior. Black families were hesitant to entrust their child’s education to an unwelcoming environment. These issues of the 1950s strangely find themselves as relevant discussions in 2021.

For schools systems to provide safe, rigorous, and optimal environments where all students can succeed, there was and still is a need to address the school systems’ social systems. This system involves the human mindset and perspective of both teachers and families. The sociologist W.E. B. DuBois (1935) recognized the complexity of desegregation, positing that effective changes to the social systems must involve three critical components: truth, knowledge, and sympathy. This lecture revisits Dubois’s essential elements of truth, knowledge, and sympathy; and discusses how those components can provide a foundation for equitable education systems.

For more than 20 years, Charlotte R. Green Parham has been an educator in the Arkansas community. Dr. Parham served as an elementary teacher, gifted specialist, principal, and district administrator. She is a national consultant and author who currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Central Arkansas. Her research focuses are systems of equity, academic achievement gaps, school readiness, and disruptive innovation.

Dr. Parham is the executive director for Arkansas Imagination Library, the state’s affiliate for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library book gifting program. She is also the founder and CEO of Strategic Inc., a consulting firm that partners with schools and various organizations to support areas of equity and literacy.

The 2021 AEA Forrest Rozzell Lecture will be held both in person and online. Doors open at the Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock, the lecture will begin at 6:00 pm, following a reception with boxed heavy appetizers. This hybrid event will qualify for Professional Development Credits.