In The Matter Of: DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CHARTER AUTHORIZING PANEL October 13, 2020 Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 Original File CAP - 10-13-20.prn Min-U-Script® with Word Index 1 ARKANSAS DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CHARTER AUTHORIZING PANEL OCTOBER 13, 2020 9:00 A.M. - 4:41 P.M. A P P E A R A N C E S PANEL MEMBERS: MS. DEBORAH COFFMAN Chairperson/DESE Asst. Commissioner - Public School Accountability DR. NACCAMAN WILLIAMS Former State Board of Ed. Member MR. PHIL BALDWIN CEO, Citizens Bank MS. ANN CLEMMER Division of Higher Learning - Senior Associate Director, Government Relations/Special Projects MS. SONJA WRIGHT-McMURRAY Division of Career & Technical Education - Associate Director for Career Readiness ADE LEGAL COUNSEL: MS. MARY CLAIRE HYATT DESE Attorney ALSO APPEARING: MS. TRACY WEBB DESE Coordinator of Monitoring and Systems Support LOCATION: ARKANSAS DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION - Auditorium #4 Capitol Mall Little Rock, Arkansas Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 2 I N D E X Page Preliminary Matters. 3 Consent Agenda . 3 Hearing Procedures . 4 1: Cave City Middle School Career/Collegiate . 5 2: Batesville Charter High School . 70 3: Academies at Rivercrest High School . 126 4: Vilonia Pathways Academy . 171 5: Drive Academy (PCSSD) . 235 Adjournment . 293 Court Reporter's Certificate . 294 Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Good morning. The October 3 13, 2020 meeting of the Charter Authorizing Panel is 4 called to order. I'd like to welcome everyone to the 5 Arkansas Department of Education auditorium and ask 6 you to please silence all of your electronic devices. 7 The Charter Panel oversees the authorization, 8 renewal, revision, and revocation of charters. And 9 our members today joining us online virtually are 10 Sonja Wright-McMurray, Dr. Naccaman Williams, and Ann 11 Clemmer. And here in the auditorium with me is 12 Phillip Baldwin, and I'm Deborah Coffman. 13 We will facilitate a fair and responsible 14 hearing today. And I request that each of you as you 15 come to the microphone to please state your name and 16 title for the record. And I'll ask you to speak 17 clearly into the microphone so that we can hear you 18 and so that our audience that's joining us virtually 19 can hear you. The entire meeting is being live- 20 streamed and recorded, and a transcript of the 21 meeting will be posted on the DESE website. 22 MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING 23 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: So with that, I'll ask our 24 members to look at the minutes, and if there are any 25 corrections -- Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 4 1 Hearing none, I'll accept a motion to approve. 2 MR. BALDWIN: Motion. 3 DR. WILLIAMS: Second. 4 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Motion by Mr. Baldwin, the 5 second by Dr. Williams to approve the minutes. 6 All those in favor? 7 (UNANIMOUS CHORUS OF AYES) 8 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Thank you. Motion passes. 9 HEARING PROCEDURES 10 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: All right. Ms. Hyatt, if you 11 will, come and explain the process this morning? 12 MS. HYATT: Good morning. Mary Claire Hyatt 13 with the Department. 14 I think -- well, I don't think Ms. Clemmer has, 15 but most of you have been through this before. But 16 just to give you a refresher, before every hearing 17 Tracy Webb will introduce the applicant. We have 18 five today. Before the hearing begins, Ms. Coffman, 19 you'll want to swear all of the parties, except for 20 the attorneys. The district conversion applicant 21 will then have 20 minutes to present its application 22 to you. No one has signed up to speak in opposition 23 for any of the applications during the hearing piece, 24 so you can skip the 20 minutes for opposition which 25 then gives the applicant an additional 5 minutes. Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 5 1 Following, you can ask questions of the Department, 2 the Division, the applicant, or anyone else that's 3 here. 4 For the parties, please state your name before 5 you talk, even if you have spoken before, so that it 6 helps us keep a clean record. I do think we have 7 some community partners and community members that 8 are here to speak on behalf of some of the 9 applications. Those people will need to speak during 10 the 20 minutes of the presentation. I also think we 11 have some elected officials that are here to speak on 12 behalf. Those, you can do them three ways: they may 13 speak before the hearing, they may speak during the 14 20 minutes, or they may speak at the conclusion of 15 the hearing before you engage in discussion. That's 16 up to the official how they would like to do that and 17 the applicant. 18 Following the conclusion of the questions and 19 the discussion, you have a host -- you know, a host 20 of options -- I'm not sure I said that right -- to 21 choose from, and we can go over them at that time. 22 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Thank you. 23 ACTION AGENDA 24 1. CONSIDERATION OF DISTRICT CONVERSION CHARTER SCHOOL 25 APPLICATION - CAVE CITY MIDDLE SCHOOL CAREER AND COLLEGIATE Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 6 1 PREPARATORY 2 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Ms. Webb. 3 MS. WEBB: The first item on the agenda is the 4 Consideration of District Conversion Charter School 5 Application - Cave City Middle School Career and 6 Collegiate Preparatory. The Cave City School 7 District is requesting a district conversion charter 8 license for their middle school. The proposed school 9 will serve up to 375 students in grades 6-8. Cave 10 City also holds a charter license for their high 11 school which was granted in 2015. 12 Today they have Representative Stu Smith here to 13 speak on their behalf. From the District they have 14 Superintendent Steven Green; Mark Smith, the middle 15 school principal; Dr. Cheryl Bell, the middle school 16 assistant principal. And they have two onsite -- I 17 mean on Zoom, Marc Walling, the high school 18 principal, and Vickie Green, the high school 19 counselor and charter director. 20 So we will let Stu Smith, Representative, speak 21 first. 22 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Let me start by -- all those 23 speaking on behalf of Cave City charter application, 24 if you will stand and raise your right hand please, 25 even the ones on Zoom. Do you swear or affirm that Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 7 1 the testimony you're about to give shall be the 2 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? 3 (ALL SPEAKERS ANSWERED AFFIRMATIVELY) 4 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Thank you. Representative 5 Smith, you're recognized. Good morning. 6 REPRESENTATIVE STU SMITH: Thank you, Committee, 7 for letting me speak here today in front of you. I 8 would just like to say a few words on behalf of Cave 9 City. They are a rural community made up mostly of 10 farmers, farmhands, skilled laborers, and hardworking 11 people. They have a very successful charter model 12 currently at the high school where students graduate 13 with industrial certifications and cost-free college 14 credit. Cave City is a small district; it's a very 15 supportive community. They've established many 16 community partnerships there. There's actually only 17 two school districts in all of Sharp County, 18 including Cave City. So they've done some great 19 things. What impresses me most though are the people 20 that work at this school. They're great folks, good, 21 honest, hardworking folks, just like the people in 22 the community, just like the students they have in 23 their school. And they always make sure that the 24 best interests of the students come first. So I 25 think this is a great opportunity for them to move Sharon K. Hill, CCR (501) 680-0888 - October 13, 2020 8 1 forward and it's something that will greatly benefit 2 their students in the future. Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Thank you, sir. 4 Mr. Green, do we have your -- is your mayor on 5 Zoom? 6 SUPT. GREEN: Yes. 7 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Okay. 8 SUPT. GREEN: Yes, ma'am. 9 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: All right. 10 SUPT. GREEN: I just want to say thank you so 11 much for your time today and it's a great opportunity 12 for our school and this would mean so much to our 13 school and our community. And we just appreciate you 14 so much for considering us today. 15 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Thank you. 16 SUPT. GREEN: It's good to be here. Thank you. 17 CHAIRMAN COFFMAN: Mr. Anderson. 18 MAYOR ANDERSON: Thank you very much. I 19 appreciate you allowing me to speak here this 20 morning. I'd also just like to add my support for 21 the middle school charter. If you look at the 22 success that the high school charter has had, I think 23 it's clear to see that Cave City is on the right 24 track and we're very excited about this in the 25 community. You know, as you know and as Sharon K.