Education secretary to recommend increased support for east Arkansas school district

Yahoo

09-05-2025

State Education Board member Randy Henderson (left) and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva (right) listen to public testimony during a state board meeting on Mar. 9, 2023. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Arkansas' education secretary notified the state education board Thursday of his intent to recommend a Level 5 – Intensive Support classification for the Blytheville School District due to ongoing academic and administrative challenges.
Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said, with the board's support, he'd like to schedule a special board meeting in Blytheville in the next two to three weeks so they can hear from community members and formally recommend increasing the district's current Level 4 classification to the highest level of state support.
'This is a school district where there's opportunities for students and families to be very successful. There is no reason that this school district should continue to be the failure factory that it is,' Oliva said. 'And it's becoming more and more apparent the reason they're in the state they are is because they do lack governance and leadership.'
The State Board of Education visited Blytheville in August after being alerted to concerns with the Northeast Arkansas district last July. The district has struggled with declining student enrollment over the last decade, according to Deputy Commissioner Stacy Smith, who provided an overview of Blytheville's situation to the board at its monthly meeting Thursday. The district has 1,260 students this year, about half of its 2014 enrollment.
Students are struggling academically, according to last year's statewide testing scores, which showed more than half of students in English language arts and science and 76% of students in math scored in the lowest achievement level, Smith said.
About half of Blytheville's teachers are unlicensed, but the education department has helped them all get on licensure pathways, she said.
Arkansas Department of Education and Crowley's Ridge Education Service Cooperative staff have provided about 100 and 185 days, respectively, of onsite support and training, Smith said.
There's been a 'dance of inconsistency' at the district, which was making progress but now appears to be backsliding, she said. While staff members seem receptive to making changes, Smith said there's dysfunction between the central office and the Blytheville School Board because 'we don't have the right people in either place.'
Since 2018, the district has had two full-time superintendents and three interim superintendents. Jennifer Blankenship was appointed as the current interim superintendent on June 12, 2024. She also served in the interim role from July through December 2021.
After the previous superintendent was officially terminated last August, the board reviewed candidates in late November and decided to keep Blankenship. A consulting firm hired in February presented two of 13 applicants in late April, but the board declined to interview them and reposted the position.
'Our biggest concern at this point is we are in May and we have no superintendent, and we have walked with this district for an entire year providing lots of support,' Smith said.
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Though the board unanimously agreed to reject the superintendent candidates, Smith said there's a 'lack of coherence' and dysfunction within the board.
'When we were there before, much of the public comment in the meeting was about the dysfunction of the board, it wasn't about what was happening in the school,' she said. 'It was about this public image of the board.'
State education board members expressed support for Oliva's request for the special meeting, including Blytheville native Randy Henderson who said he was 'very disappointed' in the situation. Fellow board member Jeff Wood cautioned his colleagues that upgrading Blytheville's classification to a Level 5 isn't something that should be taken lightly.
'Level 5 intervention rarely has the celebratory results that we're looking for on the backside of Level 5; it is not an answer in itself,' Wood said. 'There is still a long road of work ahead even after Level 5 consideration. I would hope for a strong plan, decisive plan, quick action plan because one thing I learned in the Level 5 I lived through is just the slow process of it didn't work.'
Wood was appointed in 2016 to serve on the Little Rock School District's Community Advisory Board when ADE took over that district. When the district was returned to local control in November 2020, Wood was elected to serve on the district's new school board.
The process of considering the classification change must begin with written notification to the Blytheville School District about the intent to recommend the Level 5 classification, Smith said. The district has the right to appeal and ask for a hearing, or the board can make the recommendation without a hearing, she said.
If the classification is approved, the board can determine what sanctions go along with it, such as dissolving the local board or approving a state takeover of the district.
Districts currently under the Level 5 classification are Earle, Lee County, Helena-West Helena and Marvell-Elaine.
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