Considering how punishing a term on the Little Rock School Board can be lately, voters in the district’s Zone 4 are blessed with an embarrassment of riches. Two candidates who so want to try their hand at this arduous work that they’re willing to compete for it?
Eugene Krupitsky and Tony Rose, the two angling for the seat being vacated by Leigh Ann Wilson, are in a contest to represent a swath of West Little Rock for a 5-year term.
Board veteran Tony Rose has some experience here, having served on the Little Rock board from 2000 to 2006. He said he thinks he could help bring meetings back down to a reasonable length.
“The current board seems to be somewhat rudderless,” Rose said, pointing to the tumult of late over Superintendent Jermall Wright’s short-lived resignation. And he said there’s no excuse for meetings to run six hours or more, calling recent meetings a “parliamentary disaster.”
Watching the meetings was one of the reasons he “got agitated enough to run again,” he said. Being a grandfather to a special needs student was another inspiration.
If he wins, Rose said he would try to convince the board to bring a legal challenge over the school vouchers established by the 2021 LEARNS Act, and new laws that weaken employment protections for teachers. In fact, he wonders why they haven’t done it already.
“I think the district should have been suing from the get-go,” he said.
He wants equity for the district’s long-underserved Black students, a goal he said we can get closer to by rejecting “the racism of soft expectations.” A scholar and researcher, Rose wants all of the district’s 8th graders in algebra classes and all high school students to focus on academics first, career readiness classes second. Every student should graduate college-ready and prepared to step into their role as a global citizen, even if college isn’t their plan, he said.
He’s also big on making schools feel homey.
“I love kids and I think all of them should have the very cleanest and safest classes to learn in from the very best teachers available,” Rose said.
Rose and Krupitsky both said it’s time to call in a marketing professional to stop the enrollment bleed in the district, as students continue to bail in favor of charters and private schools.
Like Rose, Krupitsky acknowledged the tensions and inefficiency on display lately at LRSD board meetings, and said he has some ideas. A new sound system with mutable microphones would help; encouraging board members to ask questions of district staff ahead of meetings would streamline things, too.
“I tend to be the guy who can usually find common ground with everybody,” Krupitsky said.
Krupitsky has a business and finance background, which he says is something the board could use as the district grapples with implementing new regulations and requirements sent down from the state amid the budget concerns that come with enrollment numbers that have been headed in the wrong direction.
But he’s also quick to say that the district is on track in many ways. He’s a father of three LRSD students, and said he’s particularly pleased by early intervention programs that identify students with weaker reading skills and get them intensive intervention to bring them up to speed. He likes the tiered approach that sends extra resources to schools that need them.
Krupitsky credits the superintendent for these efforts, and acknowledged that Wright has his detractors.
“It appears to me he tends to be more of a visionary, not afraid to ruffle feathers,” he said. “That’s a good thing! Me, too.”
As for flagging enrollment, Krupitsky rejects the idea that the only way to handle loss of per-student funding is to shutter schools.
“It’s as if this is a final destination we’re just waiting for. I don’t think this has to be the story. I think we can change the dialogue,” he said.
One way to do that is to push back on the mistaken assumption that private and charter schools are inherently better.
“Test scores don’t necessarily reach that same conclusion. Before we start talking about shuttering schools, let’s tell the story of why people should come to the school district and reverse the numbers trend.”
As for the upheavals the district tends to suffer every few years with each change of leadership, the business-minded Krupitsky has a plan for that: The board should craft a strategic plan and stick to it, regardless of who’s at the helm.
“What if we had a 15-year vision to implement? You’re hiring somebody that you’re plugging in to continue to move the district in the same direction. It’s incumbent on the board to set that vision, and it’s the superintendent’s job to do it.”
This post was originally published on here
