According to Hannah Burdette, founding member of the
LRSDSA, on behalf of her constituents: “On February 1st,
students from the Little Rock School District (LRSD) met to organize the
foundations of the Little Rock School District Student Association (LRSDSA).
The team of students, working throughout Sunday
afternoon, represented three of the five high schools in the district (Hall
High School, Little Rock Central High School, and Parkview Art/Science Magnet
High School). The students capitalized on momentum generated by the Arkansas
State Board of Education’s recent takeover of the LRSD– and subsequent
dissolution of the district school board– to create a groundbreaking camaraderie
between students.
“The LRSDSA plans to provide representation for the
students of the district in the political bodies that dictate the future of
education. The working mission statement of the LRSDSA was drafted during the
meeting and reads, ‘The LRSDSA is an association of students united to amplify
our voices and dedicated to empowering students to speak out in their
classrooms, schools, and community in order to create continual implementation
of reform in our district.’ The students of the LRSDSA are students who stand, ‘dedicated
to ensuring our voice and our vote in our education.
“The students founding the new association feel that
their collective voices have gone unheard by the Arkansas State Department of
Education. Over the past several weeks, these students spoke at out at LRSD
Board of Directors meetings, community forums, and a special meeting of the
State Board of Education to plead for the continuation of the LRSD Board of
Directors.
“The LRSDSA believes that those in charge of a school district
must possess an intimate knowledge of the communities surrounding struggling
schools and be willing to recognize student voices as equal to those of
administrators and teachers. This intimate connection is easily lost in
bureaucracy, as demonstrated by the decision of five members of State Board of
Education to vote for a State takeover, thereby disregarding the voices of
students who spoke out and implored the members of the Arkansas State Board of
Education to allow students from each high school to work with the LRSD Board
of Directors, community members, teachers, and administrators to improve
education across the district.
“The Little Rock School District Board of Directors was a
democratically elected body and provided a seat for a student ex officio at
every meeting. Several students engaged in forming the LRSDSA worked on the
campaigns of school board members, and many students formed personal
connections with the board. The Arkansas State Board of Education currently
allows for no official student representative at their meetings and often
schedules these meetings during school hours, making it impossible for students
to attend meetings concerning their education. The LRSDSA seeks to change that.
“Additionally, the LRSDSA plans to make known to the
Arkansas State Board of Education and to the public that they are displeased
with both the dissolution of the LRSD Board of Directors and the silencing of
student voices through a peaceful demonstration on Thursday,
February 5th, 2015. At 5pm, students will march from
the Arkansas State Board of Education at 4 Capitol Mall to the LRSD Central
Office– the location of LRSD Board of Directors meetings– located at 810 West
Markham. The organizing students emphasize that this demonstration will be done
peacefully and encourage any community supporters to join them.”
The LRSDSA - Our Education, Our Voice, Our Vote:
The Little Rock School District
Student Association recognizes that when students feel they have lost influence
in their education it becomes necessary to organize and lobby for their
rightful influence. The LRSDSA exists as an advocate for reform
in a time of strife and division in our district, the consequences of which
have served to further polarize students’ rights. The issues listed
below are not exhaustive, they are a compilation of issues and grievances seen across
the district by thousands of students. These issues are a developing
platform on which we may build the progressive change we wish see.
We wish to see recognition of student voices as they are
critical in advocates for the crafting educational policy.
We wish to have students provided a representative voice
with direct influence on policy making in all administrative decisions
involving students on the district and school level.
We wish to see reform of student assessment in the
classroom that takes into account the individual strengths’ and weaknesses of
students.
We wish to see a substantial decrease in the emphasis and
frequency of district wide standardized testing as a means of measuring student
and school performance.
We wish to see a reform in district treatment of English
as Second Language students that take into account the individual difficulties
of taking on the American public education system while still learning the
primary language of that system.
We wish to see the Little Rock School District take
substantial steps to engage the communities of Little Rock as a uniting force
to overcome the disadvantages students are presented based on socioeconomic and
racial divides.
We wish to see an end of discrimination towards students
on campus based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, class, or any other forms
of personal identity that draw prejudice.
We wish to see all students adequately advocated for in
all matters and in at levels of schooling and the rights of individual students
protected from violation.
We wish to see the Little Rock School District remain a
public, free, and open district welcoming equally of all students with a desire
and passion to engage in meaningful learning and scholarly development.
Our power as students is only recognized when it is
seized by the students themselves. It is the democratic duty of those that have
had their rights suppressed to rally against that suppression and towards a
bright future of success where students have gained their seat at the table of
reform in the LRSD.
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