Category Archives: Education

Terms-even-more-limited

Education, Politics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Until 2014, Arkansas had one of the strictest legislative term limits laws in the country. After November, it could be even stricter, and the result would be a new state Legislature four-and-a-half years from now.

Those things would happen if voters approve a ballot proposal that would restore limits to levels passed in 1992 – along with a major new one.

That year, voters enacted limits of three two-year terms in the Arkansas House and two four-year terms in the Senate. They also capped the state’s constitutional officers (governor, lieutenant governor, etc.) to two four-year terms and also limited congressional terms, but those were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading Terms-even-more-limited →

In an imperfect world, should teachers be armed?

Education, State government
David Hopkins
David Hopkins is superintendent at Clarksville.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Let’s start with the question that gets people interested: Should teachers be armed?

But before continuing, let’s go over some important but less controversial background information. On July 3, the 18-member Arkansas School Safety Commission appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson presented its preliminary report to him. It includes 19 recommendations, including school safety and security teams, strategies for reporting suspicious behaviors, enhanced access to student mental health services, and anti-bullying programs.

Some of the 19 could lead to legislation or regulations, while some simply recommend best practices for schools to implement.

Here’s one of the big challenges. In a country with 55 million schoolchildren, school shootings statistically don’t happen that often. But when they do, they are national tragedies that shatter parental and community trust. So what resources should be devoted to that kind of threat? Because inevitably in this imperfect world, they’ll come at the expense of other priorities, including academics.

Unless … you use the same resources for both purposes. And that’s where we get into the question of arming staff members. Continue reading In an imperfect world, should teachers be armed? →

School shooters: Tell us what they did, not who they are

Education

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Many questions are being tossed around the news media landscape regarding the causes of school shootings. Is it the guns? Violent video games? A lack of morals in society?

The one question members of the news media don’t ask enough is, how much of this is our fault?

As demonstrated in videos released this week that had been made by the Parkland, Florida, school shooter, journalists must be careful lest their breathless, wall-to-wall reporting and dramatization of a tragedy encourage copycat crimes.

A few thoughts …

– Responsible journalists should not give shooters the publicity they seek by publishing their names and likenesses. Otherwise, they’re encouraging people like the Parkland shooter, who in those self-made videos declared, “It’s going to be a big event, and when you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am. You’re all going to die.” Continue reading School shooters: Tell us what they did, not who they are →

Recess is back at 24 schools

Education

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Twenty-four Arkansas schools are giving their kids more time in recess, and the only bad news is that all of them aren’t.

As reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Monday, those schools are participating in a pilot program this upcoming school year. In addition to physical education classes, their students up to fourth grade will have 60 minutes of recess daily, while fifth- and sixth-graders will have 45 minutes. In contrast, the state minimum is 40 minutes of P.E. per week plus 90 minutes of additional physical activity, including recess.

Among the participating schools are Marguerite Vann Elementary in Conway, Elmer H. Cook Elementary in Fort Smith, and six elementary schools in North Little Rock.

Recess started increasingly being seen as expendable in the 1990s, and that trend continued after the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2001. As a result of its emphasis on test scores, letting kids play was seen as a luxury that schools and states couldn’t afford. After all, this is America, where the key to success is working harder not smarter, right?

Continue reading Recess is back at 24 schools →