Arkansas Educator Volume 39, No. 1 by Arkansas Education Association

ARKANSAS

EDUCATOR PROUDLY PUBLISHED BY THE ARKANSAS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

N O 1 | SUMMER 2017

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INSIDE: Eyes on the Prize – AEA President Focuses on Students • From the Classroom to the Capitol – Teacher Impacts State SPED Policy

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EDUCATOR VOLUME 39 NO 1 SUMMER 2017

CONTENTS 4 A Letter from the President

PRESIDENT BRENDA ROBINSON VICE PRESIDENT CATHY KOEHLER SECRETARY-TREASURER BRENDA BROWN AEA-NEA DIRECTOR CAROL FLEMING AEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TRACEY-ANN NELSON EDITOR KYLE LEYENBERGER

6 That’s a Wrap: 2017 Legislative Session & Public ED 8 Turn Up the VOLUME on Educators’ Leadership Skills 10 Legal WIN: Educators Awarded Pay for Extra Duty

VISIT US ONLINE AT: aeaonline.org/AREducator Follow us on Twitter @ArkEducation Become an AEA Facebook friend. ARKANSAS EDUCATOR is published as a service to all members of the Arkansas Education Association 1500 West 4th Street Little Rock, AR 72201 t: 501-375-4611 f: 501-375-4620 tf: 800-632-0624 ADVERTISERS Advertising contents should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising rates are available upon request. Advertising is printed as a service to readers and publication does not imply Association endorsement. The Association reserves the right to refuse any advertising.

16 Feature: “I’m a Teacher.” President Brenda Robinson focuses on student success

19 SPARKS Program Engages New Educators 20 ESP Profile: Super Man Camden ESP mentors students & leads by example 11 Ready, Set, Read Across America 12 Member Profile: She’s got the Power Cabot teacher influences statewide Special ED policy

24 AR Educator Q&A With State Board of ED Chair Mireya Reith 26 From the Desk of the Executive Director

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A LETTER FROM THE P RE S IDE NT

WELCOME TO THE NEWLY REDESIGNED ARKANSAS EDUCATOR As my term ends, I am incredibly grateful for all of the talented, empowered and dedicated members who have worked together to ensure Arkansas educators and their students have the support they need to succeed. This position has taken me across the state, country and even the world to see the great work being done in classrooms and school buildings, from the Arkansas Delta all the way to Finland. I’ve taken great pleasure in sharing these experiences with our members and Arkansas lawmakers as they craft new legislation for our state. But it’s not about me. As president, my focus was, and is always on our students, and how we can support you and your colleagues as you provide them with a quality education. Over the last four years, I worked hard to establish strong relationships with our elected officials, but it was your collective voice that protected members from a catastrophic increase in health insurance premiums. Together, we have engaged the Arkansas Department of Education to improve the way TESS is applied, and we ensured ESSA, the new federal accountability framework will include educators’ input at both the state and local levels. Your voices rang loud and clear in the marble halls in Little Rock, and gave our legislators the courage to stand up to special interests attempting to dismantle public education two legislative sessions in a row. We know the well-funded campaign against public schools won’t stop. It’s more important than ever for educators to tell our stories and correct the negative narrative being pushed by school privatizers. We get up and go to work every day to ensure our students achieve. Standing strong together, and speaking up is the only way we can protect public education for Arkansas children. I truly appreciate everyone’s hard work over these last 4 years, and I know that work will continue as we build a strong electoral strategy to hold lawmakers accountable for their decisions around education. Now is also the time for educators to add their voice as Arkansas drafts our ESSA implementation plan. I am leaving this office, but I will remain an active and engaged member of my local when I return to teach 2nd grade this Fall. I am happy to know I will have the privilege to continue to work alongside the finest educators in the nation. Join me in welcoming the upcoming leadership team: President-Elect Cathy Koehler, Vice-President Elect Mary Knight and Secretary-Treasurer Brenda Brown! Our mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the state to fulfil the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world. Together, we are the AEA!!

Brenda Robinson, President

ABOUT PRESIDENT ROBINSON: Brenda Robinson, an English teacher in the Pulaski County Special School District, is completing her second term as the president of the Arkansas Education Association. Before her role as president, Robinson also served as AEA’s vice-president and secretary/treasurer. Brenda’s focus as AEA President has been advocating for great public schools for every Arkansas student. Brenda is a teacher that has worked with the Governor, legislative leaders and with her colleagues to support quality teaching and learning in education. Her passion has been and remains student literacy.

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That’s a Wrap!

THE 2017 LEGISLATIVE SESSION IS IN THE BOOKS

What does it mean for public education?

The AEA lobby team, working in conjunction with AEA members, was at the Capitol each day of the legislative session advocating for public education every step of the way. In January, we kicked off the 2017 legislative session with a hugely successful Legislative Conference. AEA members packed the headquarters building to sharpen their legislative advocacy skills. Members heard updates on major public education issues and talked directly with lawmakers about their concerns. Attendance at this year’s Legislative Conference was more than double previous conference attendance.

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This heightened level of member engagement paid off. AEA members responded every time the call went out to elevate educator voices about legislative proposals moving through the legislative process. Educator voices were heard and lawmakers responded. In addition, many of the lawmakers that AEA members supported during the 2016 election cycle were engaged in public education issues this session at a much higher level than in years past. These relationships proved to be critical to the effort to defeat voucher-like bills and other issues that were introduced that would have harmed public education in Arkansas. Dozens of bills affecting public education were filed this session. Here are some major legislative proposals that were discussed this session. Below are some key legislative proposals that were introduced this session.

2017 Regular Session Major Public Education Proposals that Became Law Include: • HB1621 School elections no longer held in September. Can be held on preferential primary date or general election date as of Jan. 1, 2018 • HB1014 $400 Increase in each step of minimum teacher salary schedule • HB1424 Streamlining changes to Teacher Excellence & Support System (TESS) • HB1608 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) school accountability plan • SB549 Creation of a new pilot program to expand recess • HB1461, HB1567 & HB105 Expanded “Succeed Scholarship” voucher program • HB1014 $250 Tax deduction for educators purchasing classroom materials

Major Public Education Proposals that Died Upon Adjournment or Were Defeated Include: • HB1222 & SB746 Education Savings Accounts (vouchers) • HB1017 Waiver of Teacher Fair Dismissal Act • HB1820 Expanded process to waive educational standards

Public Education-Related Constitutional Amendments Four amendments to the Arkansas Constitution were introduced in the 2017 legislative session. Three of the proposed amendments sought to erode the landmark Lakeview decision that has drastically improved how Arkansas’s public education system is resourced among other significant advancements. AEA actively opposed all 3 of the resolutions that contained substantive language as they would dismantle the state education funding process. Fortunately, none of these proposals advanced. SJR5 AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION PROVIDING THAT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SHALL BE THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE EVALUATOR OF WHETHER THE SYSTEM OF FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SATISFIES THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION by Sen. Alan Clark (R) Lonsdale, would have designated the General Assembly as the sole and exclusive evaluator of whether the state’s public school system satisfied the requirements of the state constitution. This resolution failed to advance and died upon adjournment. SJR3 by Sen. Blake Johnson (R) Corning and HJR 1005 by Rep. Mark Lowery (R) Maumelle are both titled THE PUBLIC EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP AMENDMENT OF 2018 and contain the same language. These resolutions would have amended the Constitution to specify that the actions of the General Assembly with regard to the supervision of public schools do not violate the state Constitution’s requirement for the state to maintain a public school system.

Find a full run down of all public education bills filed this session & a summary of new public education laws including ones that impact the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System on the AEA website: http://bit.ly/ LegSummary The 91st General Assembly convened at the State Capitol on January 9, recessed on April 3, and formally adjourned sine die on May 1. This session, lawmakers filed a total of 2,015 bills and joint resolutions.

HJR 1010 AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OFFERED TO THE CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS by Rep. Jim Dotson (R) Bentonville proposed this measure but it remained a shell bill through the duration of the legislative session and died upon adjournment.

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SUMMER 2017

Educators

TURN UP the VOLUME at 2017 Summer Leadership Conference

Corrie Tucker followed her mother’s footsteps into public education. “She taught for 36 years,” Tucker says. “I remember being a little girl and everywhere we would go her former students would come up and go, ‘Hi Mrs. Tucker, do you remember you were my teacher?’ Just seeing the impact she was able to have on her students made a difference in my life, and so many of my teachers really helped me along the way and encouraged me and got me to where I am.” Tucker says one of her mentors was the president of her local, a strong advocate for the Arkansas Education Association and a model leader in the district. “She was someone who I admired, so obviously something that was important to her became something that I was interested in,” Tucker says. “As a newer teacher, I found a camaraderie and a group of people who could help me with any questions or just who already had experience in the field and who I could talk to and relate to about things that were happening to me in the workplace.” Tucker was elected president of the Springdale Education Association this April, just in time to join about 130 other educators for AEA’s Summer Leadership Conference in Hot Springs. “I wanted to find ways to become a better leader for my local association and

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learn about how I can rev up my local,” she says. “I learned a lot about new member benefits, and that was very helpful to me and I think that would be a good tool to use to help get more members for our local organization.” The presentations offered a wide variety of skill building exercises, including new ways to use technology in the classroom and ways to organize and mobilize members in local and state level politics. “It is up to us to grow as leaders and bring new skills, fresh ideas and knowledge back to strengthen our local associations, school districts and communities,” says AEA President Brenda Robinson, who led a session on story branding, and hosted local presidents for a breakfast and workshop to help them excel in their positions. “We need to support and lift one another to solve the many significant challenges facing public education in our state.” Teachers who attended the conference were eligible for nine hours of professional development credit, but many education support professionals also attended the conference. Brig Caldwell, a Student Relations Coordinator and Community Relations Liaison at Rogers Heritage High says the conference is important for anyone who wants to build their skillset, or network with other professionals. “Educators ask their learners to continue to grow,” Caldwell says. “We need to hold ourselves to that same accountability. If we’re not attending conferences or professional development, or collaborating among people on the local, state and national level, then we’re not doing our best for our learners.”

Caldwell attended a breakout session explaining how educators can get involved in the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act to improve student learning and their own working conditions. The accountability framework gives states authority to create their own rules on what student success looks like, and is an excellent opportunity to improve Arkansas’ Public Education system.

“It is up to us to grow as leaders and bring new skills, fresh ideas and knowledge back to strengthen our local associations, school districts and communities.”

SAVE THE DATE

– AEA President, Brenda Robinson “My position in my building is always advocating for students and families,” he says. “What we’ve continually learned through leadership is to gather the information and then leverage your own network, resources and connections to use as a stronger unified voice.” Tucker also attended the session, and says public policy debates during the legislative session are the reason she has become a more active member. “A lot of the bills that were trying to be passed obviously affected public education,” she says. “People are trying to find their role in how to combat some of that, and it really stood out to me and made a difference in my involvement.” She says the conference gave her plenty of ideas to build strength as the new leader of her local, and inspired her to remain informed and engaged. “If anyone is interested in a leadership position within their school or local organization, this conference is a great starting place,” she says. “I want to make a difference like [my mother and mentors] have and I want to make a change in our world and I feel like it starts with educators and loving on children.”

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE The Arkansas Education Association is focused on ensuring that every student has a caring, qualified and committed teacher. To help educators be their best, we host an annual professional development conference in Little Rock. Our conference is the most comprehensive professional development conference for educators in Arkansas.

JOIN US NOVEMBER 2 & 3! ROZZELL LECTURE Each year, as part of our Professional Development Conference, we host a speaker as part of our Rozzell Lecture Series. This year, hear from Jahana Hayes, 2016 National Teacher of the Year Throughout her career, Hayes has been honored time and time again for her unwavering dedication to her students inside and outside the classroom – a commitment Hayes inherited from the teachers who saw in her the potential to overcome the abject poverty that surrounded her childhood.

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EDUCATORS AWARDED PAY FOR EXTRA DUTY AT RECESS Professionally certified educators need time during the school day to perform tasks that necessary for effective classroom instruction to take place. That’s why, in 2003, the Arkansas Legislature passed a law (the “duty time” law) that says teachers cannot be assigned more than 60 minutes of student supervision – including recess supervision – each week. The law formed the basis for a challenge that started in 2014 with the Pulaski County Special School District’s grievance process by members Pam Fitzgiven and Janice Lewis. In 2012, the District started assigning teachers recess duty. Before 2012 noncertified employees had supervised recess. The additional recess duty put Lewis and Fitzgiven over the 60-minute limit as they were already performing 60 minutes of before and after school duty. Both of them had been assigned 2 ½ hours of duty each week. So, Lewis and Fitzgiven continued to perform their assigned duties and, with the help of their UNISERV Director, Sandi Roy, they followed the District’s grievance process. While their grievance was ultimately denied, the grievance process helped develop the facts and issues that ultimately formed the basis for Lewis’ and Fitzgiven’s legal claim. In 2014 Lewis and Fitzgiven filed suit against the District. The District defended the suit by claiming that since the State Department of Education permitted school Districts to count “recess” as part of the student “instructional day,” “recess” must therefore be an “instructional period.” In 2016 Circuit Judge Tim Fox disagreed, holding that “recess” was still “recess” because the children got to go out and play. In April of this year, the Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Fox’s decision that the District violated the duty time law by assigning Lewis and Fitzgiven more than 60 minutes of supervision each week. They were both awarded pay for the extra duty time and the District was directed not to assign them more than 60 minutes of duty in the future.

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Ready, Set, Read.

NEA’s Read Across America calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA’s Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages. Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers. AEA President Brenda Robinson travels the state in her Cat in the Hat outfit, and teachers and principals seem to be more than happy to dye their hair green or be duct-taped to a wall if it boosts their students’ reading.

1. Students from Baseline Elementary in the Little Rock School District celebrate at the Dickey Stephens Ballpark

2. President Robinson and Governor Asa Hutchinson kick off Read Across America in Arkansas

3. President Robinson takes a selfie with students and educators from the 4.

Malvern School District

4. Read Across America event with the Arkansas Travelers baseball players

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MEMBER PROFILE COREY RENEE JOHNSON

SHE’S GOT THE

POWER COREY RENEE JOHNSON IS A POWERHOUSE IN THE CLASSROOM AND

AT THE CAPITOL. SHE’S A TEACHER WITH A VISION FOR HOW TO IMPROVE SPECIAL EDUCATION AND A LEADER COMMITTED TO MAKING SURE EDUCATORS AND POLICYMAKERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST IDEAS. I have a love for teaching and sharing my ideas, a passion for sharing what I know works,” she says. Johnson started off in general education, teaching elementary school in Pulaski and Cabot school districts, but quickly found her calling. “I really loved small group reading instruction and working with the challenging kids and the kids who were struggling to read,” she says. “That led me to study different ways to teach reading and reading disabilities, and that eventually led to getting my certification in Special Education.” Johnson has been teaching SPED at Ward Central for nearly a decade, where she serves in a resource classroom for kids with a wide range of disabilities.

“What’s unique about the resource setting is that these kids can spend a pretty good part of their day in the classroom with the right support,” she says. “Part of my job as the resource teacher is also to educate the general ed teachers so they have the support they need to meet the needs of our student that we share.” Johnson has a knack for developing creative solutions in the classroom. She recently developed a new approach for a student who is severely apraxic, meaning he had difficulty getting the sounds in a word in the correct order. “Everything I’ve been taught didn’t work, so I had to come up with some things on my own,” she says. She used a technique called finger spelling, but with a twist, creating a color-coded glove that helped the student visualize the sounds.

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When AEA invited educators to come to the 2015 legislative session during spring break, Johnson decided to participate, visiting the Capitol for the first time. “So many doors opened at that time,” she says. “It was such an education for me because I had never been involved before. I didn’t know anybody. I had never written a letter to a representative before. I didn’t know who did what or how to talk to lawmakers.” But with the help of AEA, she began to get a feel for how the process works and met various key players and lawmakers. “They held my hand and took me to each room, introduced me to legislators, explained what was going on and how to read the agendas, and how to dig deeper,” Johnson says. “I’ve learned so much.” Johnson introduced herself to Rep. Sheilla Lampkin, who was sponsoring legislation to establish a Special Education Task Force. “I told her that I was a special ed teacher and if she ever needed me I would love to be involved,” Johnson says. “He went from writing six words—and the letters were not in the right order, or you could not tell what the word was at all—to that day he wrote 90 words in sixteen complete sentences,” she says. “And 73 of those words were spelled perfectly! It was incredible. It just clicked for him and he was so excited. He’s more confident. He sees the results. It makes sense to him. When it was time for him to go to class, he wanted to keep writing. I had to send a note to his teacher: I cannot get him to stop working!” Johnson’s passion for training and sharing ideas is rooted in these kinds of successes. “It starts with the classroom because I get excited when I see success in my students, and I immediately want to share with someone,” she says. In early 2015, Johnson attended a professional development program where state Senator Joyce Elliott, a former classroom teacher, spoke about the need for teachers to be engaged. “She really charged us with: don’t go in your classroom and shut your door,” Johnson says. “You need to know what’s going on right now. Pay attention because the kids need your voice.”

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That summer, Johnson was named to the task force as a representative of AEA. The task force gathered a wide variety of research and information on special education, and then carefully whittled it down to a 93-page report. “They really gave me a voice,” she says. “Anything that came up that would directly impact the classroom, I had a chance to tell them exactly how that would impact me.” Johnson actively pushed for reforms such as smaller class sizes, reductions in unnecessary paperwork, partnerships with universities to allow education students to provide support and get on-the-job training, incentives for new teachers to get involved in SPED, and other initiatives. Many of these reforms were included in the final recommendations and some are already having an impact. During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers increased catastrophic funding for special education by $4 million after the task force found the program severely underfunded.

“Everyone knew that was not all that we needed but that was a first step,” Johnson says. “We got the conversation going and we were starting to look at the severity of what the need is and what we need to keep fighting for.” Other recommendations don’t require legislative action, and Johnson says the Arkansas Department of Education has taken them to heart. ADE created a paperwork reduction task force to examine what is actually required by law, and what pages could be eliminated. The task force then surveyed parents, administrators and teachers, and was able to cut the paperwork load by 11 pages in a student’s annual review. “I immediately felt it,” Johnson says. “I went from 4 hours a student to 1 hour a student on completing paperwork.” Johnson is now serving on a dispute resolution committee to examine individualized education programs. The goal is to improve the process and ensure parents are involved and have a voice when the plans are created. She says this stakeholder

collaboration is the greatest thing to come out of the work at the Capitol, and it was apparent from day one.

Johnson made sure to present this concept of a better infrastructure for SPED training to the task force.

“I think the whole goal of the task force was to take down the silos of the different organizations and to come together and work on making special ed better,” she says. “Seeing so many different people with different stakeholder groups showing up to each meeting and being dedicated to the work was both empowering and encouraging.”

“I would love to see all schools implement a model that’s very similar to what we’re doing in Cabot,” she says.

Johnson’s impact isn’t limited to just the Capitol or her classroom. She is also a powerful voice for more avenues for the training and support that SPED teachers need, and that Johnson herself has been instrumental in developing back in Cabot. “When we talk about special ed retention rate and how teachers don’t stay because it’s so hard and overwhelming, my take on that and my push is that if we had good training and good support, they would be able to do their jobs and feel successful,” she says. Johnson works with the school district’s literary specialist to design and develop training specifically for new teachers going in to special education in the Cabot School District. “Because of that, I know things that are going on not just in my building but with my school district and with new teachers,” she says. “I went to our curriculum director a few years ago and said that I had a dream that Cabot School District would have coaches for special ed teachers just like we have coaches for gen ed teachers.” Thanks to the collaborative effort, the district now offers six full days of special ed training on implementing effective research-based strategies in the classroom, developed around students’ needs. At the end of their training, the new teachers do a site-based observation training in Johnson’s classroom. “They get to come spend a day seeing how all of those strategies that we’ve taught them play out,” she says.

She also wants to see more educators raising their voices on public policy. During the 2017 session, she tracked legislation and shared the information on Facebook. “At first, it’s overwhelming to follow everything that’s going on,” she says. “But AEA explained everything I needed to know and really opened my eyes to things. I realized how easy it is to be involved.” Those posts evolved into a daily discussion in her district, and as a result many more teachers and education professionals are aware of activities at the Capitol. For the first time, the district is offering a legislative update session for professional development this Summer. “The conversation in our district alone has been so much better,” she says. “I feel like everyone is just a lot more aware and a lot more interested.” As the newly elected President of the Cabot Classroom Teachers Association, Johnson hopes the new platform will help her get even more members involved. “I never would have considered [becoming President] before all of this because I wouldn’t have thought I knew enough,” she says. “I have so much information now to share, that this will be a good avenue for me to be able to do that.” Even with her accomplishments as a trainer and in pushing for better policies district and statewide, the grounded connection to the classroom remains powerful for Johnson. “Too many teacher-leaders leave the classroom,” she says. “I feel strongly that to hold my relevance with teachers and training teachers, I need to be doing the things that I’m telling them will work. It’s not just theory, it’s practice.”

I HAVE A LOVE FOR TEACHING AND SHARING MY IDEAS, A PASSION FOR SHARING WHAT I KNOW WORKS” – Corey Renee Johnson

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AEA President Brenda Robinson is ready to return to the classroom.

“I’m a teacher.” Brenda Robinson’s Arkansas Education Association presidency started off with a bang when the Clarksville School District decided to bring guns into the classroom and school buildings. “I ended up on CNN in my first two weeks to talk about staff, teachers and education support professionals being armed with guns in school and why that’s an issue,” she says. “The safety of our students was most important, and bringing more guns into the building just is not safety.” While the Clarksville situation made national ripples, a much larger crisis hit the Arkansas School Employee Health Insurance plan. In the summer of 2013, a 50% hike in premiums was announced for the following year. “We were used to an increase each year, but 50% would have been devastating to our public education system,” Robinson says. “Students would lose veteran educators who couldn’t afford the huge increase.” AEA hosted meetings all over the state to explain the situation with members, get their input on potential solutions and ask them to put pressure on elected officials. While Robinson worked on leadership at the Capitol, members met the crisis with a surge in participation, flooding the Governor and lawmakers with calls and information about the impact of the hike.

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“We encouraged our locals to have their own rallies in their districts and invite their legislators,” she says. “It was very important for those legislators to really hear from them about what the impact would be on students.” Lawmakers heard the call, and in a special session came up with a plan to limit the increase to 15%. “The plan the legislators enacted into law wasn’t perfect, but it was the best plan at that time,” Robinson says. “They took away access to the plan for education support professionals with less than 30 hours, including bus drivers, custodians and food service workers.” The result wasn’t ideal, but it did show the power AEA members have collectively, and it was a fitting beginning for Robinson’s tenure. “We really focused our campaign around the impact on students and not the adults,” she says. “In this position, I’m interacting with adults, but my focus has always stayed on student and teacher learning.” Robinson worked hard along with AEA staff over the last four years to engage with an increasingly conservative legislature, and help them see the connection between teacher and student success. “We were strategic in creating relationships with some of the legislators that hadn’t been fans of AEA,” Robinson says. “I think that’s one of the greatest impacts that I’ve experienced.” The relationship building couldn’t have come at a better time, as a nationwide effort to undermine public schools surfaced in full force in Arkansas during the 2015 session. AEA members, working together with parents, administrators and other education stakeholders protected students from an attempt to hand schools in distress over to charter corporations. “Having the opportunity to travel the country to attend meetings, having conversations with educators, we all have the same issues from state to state,” she says. “Special interests are trying to dismantle public schools.” The same people behind the 2015 bill introduced a voucher bill two years later that would divert public dollars to unaccountable private

schools. Again, a groundswell of public opposition beat back the well-funded privatizers’ key piece of legislation. “The bill had nearly two dozen co-sponsors, and seemed inevitable,” Robinson says. “Fortunately, with coalition partners, we were instrumental in educating the public as well as legislators on why this kind of voucher would be devastating for students and public education.” During the session, AEA and other partners announced a set of education improvements that are already helping students around the world. “It’s important that we also offer solutions to the bills we oppose,” Robinson says. “It was wonderful to have those legislators listen and become fully engaged in the conversations.” Robinson was able to see many of these policies in action when she traveled with a group of state NEA affiliate presidents to Finland, which has some of the world’s top performing public schools. “Finland looked at the research from the United States and put those recommendations in place,” Robinson says. “For example, we use Project Based Learning which focuses on content and they use Phenomenon Based Learning which focuses on skills.” She says teachers go through vigorous vetting and education and preparation, but once they’re ready, they have freedom in the classroom. “They trust their teachers 100%,” Robinson says. “They give them the autonomy and that’s what we’re missing in the United states. There’s too much control from above, and not enough space for teachers to think about what children need.” The country does not have vouchers or charter schools, and instead focuses on ensuring quality at every school building. “They value public education and education for all children,” Robinson says. “That’s the difference in the United States. I don’t see that same enthusiasm in the U.S. or Arkansas that builds a culture supportive

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1. 1. President Robinson presides over the 2016 AEA Representative Assembly 2. Throughout her tenure, the President stayed connected to the classroom through her love of reading, including this visit with elementary students in the El Dorado School District 3. Part of the President’s role is serving as the public face of the AEA, here she advocates for public education in an interview with KATV’s Janelle Lilley

of teaching and learning. We must stay vigilant and begin having conversations with legislators and others.” Robinson also pushed back against school privatizers’ false narrative that public education is failing. “For too long, this negative narrative about public education has gone unchallenged,” she says. “Every day we get up and work to make sure students are successful, but unfortunately public education’s story is not out there.” Robinson used her position to promote this role teachers and education support professionals play in student’s lives. “I’ve always kept my eye on the prize which is student success and student learning and then supporting teachers to make sure they’re good at their craft,” Robinson says. “Once they’re good at their craft then student learning will occur.” During Robinson’s second term, she spread the word about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was signed into law in 2015 to replace the overly punitive measures of No Child Left Behind. “A child is more than a test score and NCLB punished schools and educators based on one test score,” Robinson says. “ESSA asks us to look at how our students growing, how are they being successful?”

3. Robinson has been calling on educators and the community to guide the new rules through public comment. The Arkansas Department of Education hosted a series of town halls to gather feedback, and is now asking for input on a draft version of the rules. “This is a perfect opportunity for parents as well as educators to really have a voice about what’s best for our students,” Robinson says. “What are the indicators that show children are successful beyond a single test score? What do the schools our students deserve need to look like? How can we make sure all of our students are successful no matter what zip code they live in?” One of Robinson’s passions, reading, is a building block for student success. Robinson has a master’s degree in reading, and in addition to teaching elementary and middle school, she has served as an intervention specialist. She’s very familiar with the compounding struggle children face when they aren’t reading at grade level.

I’m a teacher, that’s what I do. I’m going back to do what I’ve been advocating for.” – Brenda Robinson

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“Students need to read for fun, and for comprehension,” she says. “Sometimes children can call words but if you ask them what they just read, they can’t tell you. They can read quickly and swiftly, but they were just focused on reading the word, not the content.” Those children then have difficulty during testing, because they can’t understand the questions, and the issue won’t go away on its own. “I’ve seen it in 3rd grade where they were struggling, fifth grade, sixth grade,” she says. “You have to go back and help them figure out something that they didn’t receive.” AEA provides professional development to support educators and education support professionals to better hone their skills. Before becoming President, Robinson used to invite parents to her classroom to teach them reading strategies. She was able to bring that passion with her, often donning a Cat in the Hat costume for NEA’s Read Across America campaign. “Reading has always been my love and it’s just evolved even greater with Read Across America,” she says. “The kids love it, they’ll scream and holler, ‘hey Cat in the Hat! I like your tail.’” She plans to continue the program after she returns to the Pulaski County Special School District this Fall. “Some of these children don’t have books in their homes at all,” she says. It’s just a great way to engage them and encourage them to continue to read.” Her experience over the last four years has given her plenty of new ideas for her first graders too. “I’ve gone many places and seen different things happening in classrooms that are just awesome,” she says. “I’m going to emulate some of those efforts.” Robinson says her time as president was rewarding, but often exhausting, and she’s ready to return to the classroom. “I’m a teacher, that’s what I do,” she says. “I’m going back to do what I’ve been advocating for. This experience opened my eyes to a lot of things that have been going on and I see things in a different light.” And she will bring that knowledge to her local, willing to help in any way she can. “I will just have to see what the need is,” she says. “But I will continue to be an active member. I always tell educators from across the state that they need to get involved, number one in your local association. When your local is strong, you have more voice. That is how you make change.”

The SPARKS conference brings new teachers and support professionals together for a weekend. Ashley Kincannon began her career four years ago, but the Hot Springs teacher just joined the Arkansas Education Association, and a new program is helping her find out more about the association, while learning skills and making connections. “Diving into what’s here for me as an AEA member has been really good,” Kincannon says. “It caught me. I’m here and not going anywhere.” The Sparks conference brings new teachers and support professionals together for a weekend. However, Sparks isn’t a typical professional development event. The agenda is adaptable, allowing educators to have meaningful discussions around issues they’re experiencing.

“It’s just a way to establish trust and some relationships. You find out why you should become an active member and care about your professional association.” She says the bubble she was living in popped after joining AEA. “Public education is under attack,” she says. “That’s not something we can deny.” She says AEA made it clear that she needed to be informed and engaged in local, state and national policy, and taught her how. The friendships built during the Sparks retreat will be invaluable as she continues to advance her career, and speak up about public education’s importance. “I’m here for the power of those relationships and building this future,” she says. “There is power in numbers. There’s strength in your voice. Every one of us needs to be taking the time to educate ourselves. This professional organization really works to educate you on what’s going on with public education and how can you get involved.”

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SUMMER 2017

ARKANSAS EDUCATOR

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ESP PROFILE STEPHONE AVERY

ONE OF THE FIRST FACES THE CHILDREN AT CAMDEN FAIRVIEW INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL SEE EVERY MORNING IS ALWAYS SMILING.

Stephone Avery, a custodial maintenance supervisor at the school, serves as crossing guard when students arrive. Directing traffic, pointing, and bouncing on the balls of his feet, Avery is like a wind-up doll of positive energy: high fives, fist bumps, inside jokes and inspirational advice. “Make good choices,” he tells one child. “There’s my man!” he hollers to another. A student asks him to make a muscle. Avery laughs, responding: “I don’t have any muscles. I left them at home!” It’s infectious. Sleepy kids suddenly get a pep in their step when they see Mr. Avery. “I do that with purpose so I can meet the kids as soon as they get off the bus or out of the car,” he explains. “I can say good morning and I can tell what kind of mood they’re in.”

That’s vital information he can pass on to teachers or administrators, he says. Avery does all of the things you might expect at school: he sweeps and mops, takes out the garbage, helps with audiovisual and computers, keeps the hallways and the grounds clean, fixes whatever breaks. But he also does a whole lot more, acting as a mentor and role model to students. Recently the principal asked Avery to try communicating with a student who was having consistent behavior problems.

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SUMMER 2017

HE’S AN INSPIRATION TO THE KIDS AND HE’S AN INSPIRATION TO THE TEACHERS. HE’S OUT HERE SMILING, TELLING THEM GOOD MORNING, WAVING AT THEM. HE DOES ALL THE LITTLE STUFF AND THE KIDS DON’T FORGET THAT.” – Jacqueline Smith Literary Facilitator

“I built in about 15 or 20 minutes a day where he would work with me and talk with me,” he says. “It was like a debriefing. I would talk him down from his escalated emotions and just check in, talk about his family, talk about his life, ask questions and listen.” Thereafter, every time the student saw him in the hall, he would let Avery know he was behaving in class, proudly informing Avery a few weeks later when he was allowed to go on a field trip. It’s all part of Avery’s philosophy that a school should seek to teach the “whole child,” and every employee in the school has a key role to play in doing just that. “We call ourselves ESP—education support professionals,” he says. “A child has to be healthy. They have to feel safe. The bus driver is the first one to see the child. Cafeteria workers are feeding the child. And many times, we have the flexibility in our schedule to really stop, sit down, and listen and give the kids eye-to-eye contact. Everybody that works in a school should be called, in some kind of way, educators.”

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Avery’s commitment to the students gives him an outsized presence at the school. “He’s not just a figure here on campus that does custodial work,” says Jacqueline Smith, a literary facilitator at the school. “He’s an inspiration to the kids and he’s an inspiration to the teachers. He’s out here smiling, telling them good morning, waving at them. He does all the little stuff and the kids don’t forget that.”

Avery grew up in Camden and went to college in Monroe, Louisiana on a football scholarship. A defensive back and running back, Avery helped lead the squad to a conference championship. That earned him a tryout with the Green Bay Packers. “I got to play in some preseason games before I got cut, so I have lots of football stories,” he says. “The kids ask me about it all the time.”

like myself. We have to train fellow workers to know that they have the power and they can gain the knowledge to be an asset and be a part of educating the whole child.”

Avery returned to Camden and was working a maintenance job at a local plant when he decided to take a job at the school ten years ago. “I came in thinking I really wasn’t important to the process, only the teacher was important,” he says. “But after six months or so, it clicked. It began to be more of a career than just a job.”

AEA has helped him see the importance of staying engaged politically, he says. “Through AEA, I found out how the things that happen on a local level are actually just an offshoot of things that happen at the Capitol,” he says. “To really make a difference, you have to be political and get politically involved.”

Early on, the principal began to encourage Avery to connect with certain students that looked up to him.

Avery now regularly emails his state senator and representative to make sure they understand how proposed legislation could affect him and his colleagues.

“I was still green, but she saw something in me,” he says. “I didn’t know I had that gift. There were some kids with behavioral problems, and she asked me to talk to them. My [job description] said ‘or any duties assigned,’ and I said, well that’s my duty. Helping the kids stay engaged or have a positive attitude, it’s all about their education.”

“If you have a name with a story, that’s the most powerful thing you can do when you’re communicating with a lawmaker,” he says. “Many times they don’t know all the ramifications of what a bill will do, so you have to bring that to them. It makes being in an association really worthwhile because you have that power, not only to vote but to be heard by the people who actually sign the bill.”

In his first year, Avery started a program for three to six students per year to do flag duty, putting it up in the morning and taking it down at the end of the day. “I show them how to fold the flag, why you don’t leave it out overnight, to walk it with honor,” he says. “I use that as a teaching moment about duty, honor, and respect.” Avery also got involved with the AEA and NEA, serving as a member of the state board and chair of the state advisory committee, as well as a national trainer on “teaching the whole child.” “I saw a lot of people disengaged or frustrated,” he says. “I said, what can we do? If nobody is there to represent the ESPs, they might look over us. I saw the opportunity to keep our voices at the table. If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” He participates in around ten trainings a year, both locally and nationally, connecting ideas between what’s happening on the ground in Camden and the policies and educational strategies developing on the state and national level. “I try to be a resource,” he says. “When it comes to trainings, I like to say I’m a good ROI [return on investment]. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that we have to empower people

WE CALL OURSELVES ESP—EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS. EVERYBODY THAT WORKS IN A SCHOOL SHOULD BE CALLED, INSOME KIND OF WAY, EDUCATORS.” – Stephone Avery

AEA named Avery ESP of the Year in 2016, giving him more opportunities to spread his message of the importance of ESPs around the state. Even as he travels around Arkansas, and the country sharing what he’s learned, he remains rooted in his work at Camden Intermediate. “I might go to a national conference and train more than 100 people,” he says. “I still come back here and clean toilets. What I do there is awesome, but what I do here is awesome too. I have my hands on the ground.” If Avery sounds like a busy man, there’s more: he’s been a full-time pastor at St. Paul Christian church in Camden for six years. “At the end of the day, I’m at peace,” Avery says. “I’m worn out but it’s for a good cause. My saying is: make it happen. Same thing I tell the kids, ‘Whatever you need to do, just make it happen.’ I try to be that person and lead by example.”

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SUMMER 2017

with MIREYA REITH Arkansas State Board of Education Chair

What were your goals coming in as board chair of the State Board of Education?

In June 2016, Mireya Reith of Fayetteville was unanimously elected by her colleagues to serve as chair of the Arkansas State Board of Education. Reith was appointed in 2011 by then Governor Mike Beebe for a 7-year term. She is the first Latina and one of the youngest board members in Arkansas’s history. Mireya is the executive director of the Arkansas United Community Coalition (AUCC) which is an immigrants’ rights nonprofit. The organization brings together Arkansas-based organizations and individuals, across sectors, with the mission to empower Arkansas immigrants and their communities through leadership development, organizing, advocacy, the promotion of civic participation and immigration service navigation. Reith is a graduate of Fayetteville High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Maryland and a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York.

As a community organizer, it was tremendously important to me that our board not just look at themselves as passive participants in the education policy process. The board enforces policies others put in place, but we can also have a proactive influence through agenda setting, in how we talk about issues, who we engage and how we engage them. I wanted to inspire my colleagues to have meaningful conversations with all of the people we affect and break down some of the barriers in communities so we can all work together toward better policy outcomes.

What do you see at the charge of the State Board of Education and who is the Board accountable to? Our legislators set education policy, and the board puts in the processes, rules and regulations around that legislation. We are also the board to the Department of Education. We’re there to bear witness to their work and be ambassadors in those efforts and also to inform them in their decisionmaking process. But there are a couple places where law has given us some space and those have been some of the more controversial issues. We do have decision making authority over charter schools as those have developed. Waivers have also been put under our authority, so we think of that in this kind of realm of what was at

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least intended as innovation, we have control over. Board members serve at the pleasure of the Governor, but I’ve always felt that we’re accountable to all Arkansans, anyone who pays taxes into the education system and who benefits and engages with it which we know is almost all Arkansans.

With such varied situations in school districts around Arkansas, how do you ensure students around the state have opportunities to succeed? One of my key takeaways from this time is there is no silver bullet in education. As much as possible, we need to make sure our local communities are involved and informed in that decision-making process. It all begins with data and understanding the local circumstances. A lot of the conversation in my time at the board is how to get that information in the hands of teachers so they can make the decisions at the most micro level which is our classrooms.

What trends do you see having the most significant impact on education in Arkansas over the next few years? The Every Student Succeeds Act is going to be tremendously important. We are revisiting our accountability framework in Arkansas, and ESSA gives unprecedented control to the states. I do think that the outcome of our plan and then the ongoing community and teacher engagement, getting feedback, is going to be tremendously important.

ADE has done a tremendous amount of research on these attrition rates and it’s an epidemic, especially when we start talking about rural Arkansas and the Delta. We have communities there where it’s even higher than 36%. You have parts of the state with good performing schools and districts that can afford to compensate teachers well, and then you have a lot of the state that is desperately trying to bring teachers in and get them to stay. It’s hard to get parents involved when they don’t think a teacher will be around long term, and the kids themselves are sometimes coming from very challenged circumstances and challenge those teachers. It is a systemic and difficult environment. We need to be creating a support network for teachers so they’re not alone in this and offering some incentives. We’ve also seen some success with “growing your own,” whether that’s helping inspire kids from a young age to go into teaching or creating alternative pathways to come back into teaching. The people that are going to commit for the long term to our communities with the highest attrition rates are the people who call those communities home. Ultimately, it’s going to take a community wide effort. This issue is at such an epidemic level, the schools and districts can’t solve it on their own. They need the support of their local chambers and their local politicians to really address this issue.

Email us, and email us often. If you can, show up in person or request a meeting with a state board member, but speak with us. Communicate with us. Do not assume that we know the perspective of anyone, let alone teachers. My colleagues are individuals with the best of intentions, but not all of us are education experts and, even if we are, we’re not necessarily an expert on a specific community.

What has surprised you most about your experience on the board? I went into the SBE owning that I was a novice in education. I know policy. I know process. I understand community engagement, but I’m actually not an expert in education. One of the things that surprised me from the get go, I’m not the only one in that position. You can’t serve on the SBE if you work for our public school system, so there is an inherent setup that people who aren’t public education experts are the ones that are there. I don’t think that’s always a negative thing in that we can bring some different perspectives to the table, but when I say, “don’t assume we know,” I just can’t emphasize that enough. We need the community, we need teachers to help inform us on these issues so we can make the best decisions possible, and I think that’s tremendously important.

Who have been the biggest influences on your life and why?

a memory of my early years that does not include bullying. Second grade was that pivotal year for me where my teacher saw me as a student with lots of potential like everyone else. She kept me after school and helped me instead of sending me to therapy. That year I made straight A’s and I never stopped making straight A’s after that.

MIREYA REITH

Bureau of Legislative Research released a report showing the 5-year attrition rate of Arkansas teachers is over 36%. How can we best retain experienced educators?

Decisions you make as a state board member have a significant impact on educators and their students. How can educators ensure board members hear their voice?

Q&A

Also, the conversation around choice in Arkansas isn’t going to go away. I think the extent to which we look at the impact on our public school system as a whole, not looking at things in educational silos but the interrelativity is going to be something that greatly impacts what the future of education looks like. We need to make sure that the choices of some don’t undermine the ability of a quality education of another.

Bullying did continue to be a challenge, but my parents taught me that you don’t fight bullies with fistfights. The way, especially as immigrants, to fight bullies was by proving their assumptions wrong. We were going to have just as many opportunities as they were and the American dream was just as accessible to us through educational achievement.

As the first Latina to serve on the State Board of Education, what do you hope your legacy will be? Being the first Latina on the State Board of Education is the fulfillment of that aspiration of my parents and the American dream, that a girl could start off in life in special education classes and then go on to become the chair of the state board of education. I hope with that it’s not just the fulfilling of their dreams but the dreams of every parent from whatever background in Arkansas that wants to believe their kid can have opportunity in life. My legacy, I hope, is that it is possible for folks from any walk of life to go on and become a part of our decision makers, and not just that we can, but we should. The conversation really does change when you have people from diverse backgrounds making decisions.

My family has been tremendous, and I also want to celebrate my second-grade teacher Mrs. Meneke. As a child, I had a number of reasons to not be excited about going to school. In first grade, I went to a school that had never had an English language learner, and I had a very strong accent. They thought it was a speech impediment. I was sent to a trailer every day to basically get that accent out of me, and when I mispronounced things I was hit by a ruler. When the system treats you differently, kids treat you differently as well, and I don’t have

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SUMMER 2017

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TRACEY-ANN NELSON

ducational practices, laws and delivery strategies are constantly evolving and the Arkansas Education Association evolves along with them.

As executive director, I am proud to lead a team of staff dedicated to supporting education professionals as we enter a new chapter in public education in our state. While much has changed in recent years, what hasn’t changed is AEA’s commitment to communicate with our members. In an effort to improve communication, we are reviving our Educator magazine. AEA members can expect to receive this magazine quarterly. This year, there are things that have and will have an impact on your district, your school and your classroom. Those changes include the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – the federal law that recently replaced the largely failed law, No Child Left Behind. In addition, the Arkansas State Board of Education continues to approve district-level requests to waive many educational standards including teacher certification, class size, etc. In contrast, during the latest legislative session, the AEA successfully worked to limit the impact of vouchers, the expansion of punitive actions against students and advocated for an increase in the minimum teacher salary. Additionally, we worked with the Arkansas Department of Education

to improve the Teacher Excellence and Support System (TESS). We are committed to ensuring that TESS is utilized as an instrument to support, develop and improve teachers. In addition, TESS should help identify opportunities to recognize educational excellence taking place in schools across Arkansas. AEA’s staff stands ready to walk alongside members to ensure you are empowered to be at your best for your students, your profession and for each other, all while navigating this ever-changing public education landscape. I hope you will find the Educator to be a platform to highlight the transformative work that AEA members do in classrooms, school buildings and communities every day. This is your magazine. It will also serve as a space to learn about new trends in public education, share ideas, learn about what’s happening with local associations across Arkansas and to stay up-to-date with political and policy changes impacting public education.

Tracey-Ann Nelson AEA Executive Director

EDUCATOR This is YOUR magazine – Let us know what you would like to see. Send story ideas to kleyenberger@aeanea.org 26

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