ADE Briefs

EL DORADO—Area eighth-grade girls will have an opportunity to take part in the first-ever GLAMS: Girls Learning About Math and Science conference on May 17 at South Arkansas Community College. GLAMS’ hands-on workshops and breakout sessions in science, technology, engineering and math fields are designed to provide participants with fun ways to learn practical information. [...]

The Arkansas Department of Education’s State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) announces the launching of its newly designed and updated website. The SPDG’s primary mission is to provide professional development, consultation, and on-site technical assistance to districts and schools—helping them to address the academic and behavioral needs of at-risk, underachieving, unresponsive, and unsuccessful students. The new [...]

By a vote of 7-0, the state board voted to immediately revoke the charter of the Little Rock Urban Collegiate Public Charter. Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell cited the concern over a negative balance of $250,000 projected at the end of the school year.

By a vote of 6-1, the state School Board approved a request by the e-Stem charter school in Little Rock to expand its cap on K-4 students from 360 to 462 for the 2011-12 school year. Board members complimented the school for gains it had made in test scores over the past year.

The board revisited its denial of a waiver request for two days by the Elkins district. The board indicated it wanted to be consistent with accepting waivers of the Ozark Mountain and Deer/Mt. Judea districts. All three districts are attending school during spring break.

The board supported ADE recommendations to remove Osceola, McGehee and Mansfield from fiscal distress.

The board approved waiver requests by Deer/Mt. Judea for three days and Ozark Mountain for a waiver of two days. Those districts reported using days during spring break as make up. The board turned down requests by Elkins and Fayetteville for waivers from the 178 day requirement.

The board denied a request from the Cedar Ridge district to waive two days toward the requirement of 178 instructional days. The district offered to add one hour to the school day for 24 days. It didn’t want to make up snow days during Spring Break because students and teachers need the break. But Education [...]