A Letter from the President

SUMMER 2020

As this issue goes to press, Arkansas’s educators are in a terrifying position, forced back into school buildings five days a week while much of our state remains a hot spot for the coronavirus.

While many are happy to at least get to see their students again, the health risks associated with our current caseloads remain far too great to justify a return to statewide in-person learning. To make things even more frightening, the lack of free-flowing information means educators don’t know if a missing student or colleague is infected, on quarantine, or just out for some unrelated reason. Parents don’t know if schools will remain open week to week, or even day to day, as new positives force shut downs at a moment’s notice. AEA advocated tirelessly in the months leading up to school reopening saying that the conditions in our state are simply not safe to reopen schools statewide. We partnered with the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and others to make the case. While we continue to advocate to the executive branch and raise our members’ concerns and to present data to make the case, our educators are on the front lines. Please, if you see or experience something unsafe, let your local building rep, president or UniServ Director know immediately. We need this information in order to bring awareness of building-level conditions and ensure health and safety guidelines are being followed. Unfortunately, Arkansas’s students and educators lost time together this Spring, and we all spent the Summer attempting to limit the spread of the coronavirus in hopes that we could safely reopen our schools. In this issue, educators from across the state offer their experiences during these lost months, talking about what was going through their minds as we watched efforts to contain the virus flounder while state leadership charged ahead. We also meet Little Rock School Nurse Jamie Alverson, who says the response to the pandemic shows just how important our schools are to the social fabric of our nation and how much our educators are willing to sacrifice to meet their students’ needs. Then we head to North Little Rock, where manufacturing teacher and local President Patrick Bruce is building his students’ confidence and hands on skills, while providing stable leadership in a district with high administrative turnover. While the country remained on lockdown, the brutal murder of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests that continue today. Earlier this summer, educators organized a march for justice here in Little Rock. We spoke with some of the participating educators to find out why they showed up. This issue’s Q&A features a school counselor in Dumas, who shares advice for helping your students deal with the upheaval caused by both the pandemic and the social issues plaguing our country. As educators, we are lucky to have an opportunity to work with children and young people as they form their values and world view. We must also offer them compassion and guidance during these turbulent times. It is also our duty and responsibility to work for a better, fairer and more just world. Black Lives Matter, and the people of Arkansas must show it through our actions.

Carol Fleming, President, AEA

ABOUT PRESIDENT FLEMING: Carol B. Fleming MS, CCC-SLP is a speech language pathologist currently serving as President of the Arkansas Education Association. Before taking the helm of the state’s largest association for education professionals, Fleming spent two decades working with students at Pulaski Heights Middle School within the Little Rock School District. Fleming has worked to ensure good public education policies at the local, state and national level. As a parent of an adult with special needs, she is reminded daily of the importance of advocating on behalf of the professions and those served which has fueled her passion for education, leadership, and professional issues. Her goal is to get others to become involved to support successful public schools.