THE LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL BOARD: Education Commissioner Johnny Key. Brian Chilson


The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports
a state Education Department audit has found the Little Rock School District  has been providing woefully inadequate help for students with dyslexia. Noted:

State Education Commissioner Johnny Key has been the “school board” for the district for 49 months, since January 2015 when the state took the district over.

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Superintendent Mike Poore, chosen by Key, acknowledges the shortcomings and promises to do better.

Members of the state Board of Education, which voted to have the state take over the district and which has resisted a return to local control, say they are angry about the situation. So is at least one member of the community advisory board appointed — by Key — to provide some input into the operation of the school district.

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Progress HAS been reported since the state’s hiring of a dyslexia specialist for the district three years into state control.

This is an important finding and work needs to be done.  Parents of roughly 1,000 students in need of services are understandably frustrated. It appears they’ve at last been heard.

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I wonder what a dyslexia audit would show for other school districts and charter schools. Are there good options for these dyslexic students at the laboratories of learning?

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