By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
It is more than a week since the public schools let out for the summer, but school is still in full swing at Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School.
Tuesday will mark the end of the first year for the school, which has drawn students not only from the immediate area but also Sherwood, Cabot, Ward and Beebe.
The school will have a new principal before the start of the next academic year.
On Thursday, it was evident the school year is drawing to a close. Promotion from kindergarten to first grade was being celebrated, and front-office workers were sorting through a pile of backpacks, coats and other items that had accumulated in the lost-and-found closet.
As names on identification labels were announced over the intercom, children neatly clad in blue uniforms came into the office to claim their things.
A poster of an architect’s drawing of the school with the inscription, “NothingLess Than Excellence,” hangs on the office wall.
Eight months after opening late due to weather-related construction setbacks, the building still faintly smells of new paint and varnish.
Jacksonville Lighthouse Char-ter School is one of 10 schools in five states founded and managed with the assistance of Lighthouse Academies, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prepare students for college through a rigorous, arts-infused curriculum. Lighthouse charter schools serve historically under-served areas; 88 percent of its students nationally qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. Regardless, all children are expected to excel in the program that emphasizes not only academics but good character and social skills.
The school has 344 students, kindergarten through sixth grade. Every year, a new grade is to be added through 12th grade.
Nigena Livingston, who has a track record with Lighthouse Academies and was brought in as principal to open the new school, will soon be saying her good-byes to its teachers and 344 students. Livingston, who has plans to marry, is moving back to her hometown, where her fiancé resides, Cleveland, Ohio.
PRINCIPAL WILL BE MISSED
Keri Urquhart, president of the school’s board of directors and whose daughter attended second grade at Lighthouse this year, says Livingston will be greatly missed.
“It truly has been a great year at the school, and Ms. Livingston obviously has been a huge part of that; she is top of the line,” Urquhart said. “As a mother I could not be more pleased. My daughter learned so much and had so much fun.”
The school year had not begun easily. With the building not ready for occupancy until late October, thankfully Second Baptist Church opened its doors to the school, and classes comprised mainly of students and staff, who were strangers to one another, crowded in.
“We’ve had some bumps in the road, having to transfer over from the church, but we got the school built in a year, and got 344 students from 20 schools all under one roof – that’s a huge undertaking,” Urquhart said.
Looking back over the first year at the school – and reflecting on state achievement test scores that were not as high as had been hoped, Livingston said that a lot of effort went into “learning logistics, putting processes in place, building relationships with families and learning to work together as a team.”
Next year, Livingston predicts, the focus will be “more on the mission of the school, differentiating instruction to meet the needs of the individual students and focusing on data to get every child to grow.”
As for the Benchmark exams, Livingston said the strong performance by the third-graders is proof of what can be accomplished. Eighty-percent scored proficient or above on the math and literacy tests, with only a “narrow gap” between white and black students. The school is about evenly divided between the two racial groups.
“They made huge growth,” Livingston said of the student body as a whole. “Obviously, we are not where we need to be, but we are pleased with the amount of success we’ve seen. The next step will be diving into the data with teachers and going forward.”
KEEPING KIDS ON TRACK
When a child misbehaves at Jacksonville Charter School, he or she may soon be in the office of Brad Burl, the director of school culture for a discussion about what went wrong and the conduct that is expected. A behavior plan is drawn up for the student, with teacher – and ideally the parents – providing direction in the follow-through.
A “student support team” of school administrators and teachers regularly meets to discuss individual students, hone in on problems and identify causes and solutions.
“They do fact-finding, make suggestions, draw up an action plan for the child and engage the parent and teacher,” Livingston said. “We keep parents involved, tell them ‘this behavior is unacceptable, your child can do better, we can help,’” Livingston said.
The kids at the beginning of the year who were chronically getting into trouble – dubbed “frequent flyers” – in time learned the error of their ways and “are not frequent flyers anymore,” Livingston said.
Indicators of the program’s effectiveness are the school’s 96 percent average daily attendance, a 5 percent suspension rate and zero expulsions are good indicators of the program.
“We don’t believe suspension fixes problems, but is only a punitive consequence,” Livingston said. “We are proactive, rather than reactive and are very deliberate and explicit about the behaviors we want to see. We don’t assume a child knows how to be polite or shoe respect.”
One such proactive move in the interest of civility was initiated by the fourth-grade teachers who saw a need for an upgrade in lunchroom etiquette among their charges. An etiquette coach was brought in, “we built it up and made a big deal out of it – and the kids loved it,” Livingston said.
NOT THE SCHOOL FOR EVERYONE
A high percentage of the school’s students will be returning in the fall. In February, 96 percent of the parents signed letters of intent saying to re-enroll their child. Yet, a “handful” of students, Livingston said, did leave during the school year for various reasons. Some moved away, for some the commute was too far, for some the school day – which ends at 5 p.m. – was too long.
For others, “the school was not a good fit,” Livingston said. “We ask a lot of our families and it was not what some expected.
We definitely want a partnership – if there are challenges, we expect them to problem-solve with us.”
Three of the 18-member teaching staff also departed during the school year.
“This is a very challenging environment,” Livingston said. “We put a lot on our teachers to come up with ways to help every child be successful.”
Several more teachers are not being invited back. Livingston declined to say how many, only that the majority of teachers will be returning.
The teachers not being re-hired were ones without state teaching credentials who failed to follow through on their promise to pursue them – or whose students did not make “significant” gains in learning this year.
“I am dedicated to finding the best teachers for our students,” Livingston said. “That is what our students deserve in the classroom.”
Educated in the public schools of Rochester, N.Y., Livingston said she had “phenomenal teachers.” But she still thinks about the ones who she feels let he down. “I still feel upset – I feel like they could have better prepared me. I think it is important to advocate for children having the best instructors. I am looking for teachers who are highly qualified and effective.”
EXCITED ABOUT NEXT YEAR
For teacher Nerinda Elliott, the school was a perfect fit. Fresh out of training at University of Arkansas at Ft. Smith, she was alerted to the prospect of teaching at the new charter school by her husband, Adam Elliott, also a teacher.
“The school is an example of everything we were taught in college,” she said. “This school actually does those things.”
Nerinda was hired to teach third grade, and Adam, kindergarten. Both will be back in the fall.
The arts-infused curriculum, one of the things that drew her to Lighthouse, really works, Elliott said. “The kids get a double dose of art and music compared to the public schools, and we have highly qualified specialists who come to the classroom.”
Multiplication tables were made easier put to song, and a geography lesson more meaningful with pictures drawn by the students.
“Students who usually sit back and don’t engage would step up and do their part,” Elliott said.
The school’s approach to discipline problems and building social skills is one of its strength, Elliott said. “It really builds a strong culture of positive relations – respect for one another, telling the truth.”
At the beginning of the school year, most of her students were strangers to one another. Now, Elliott watches with pride each morning, as students come into the classroom, “greet their neighbor, shake hands, look them in the eye and ask how they are and really mean it.”
Students are taught how to politely speak up for themselves or make a request when offended by a classmate. And when the tables are turned, and an apology is in order, students learn the difference between hollow and sincere words. A written apology that articulates how an action was hurtful is a common practice.
“This is to teach them how to carry through with a genuine apology,” Elliott said. “An apology letter is a very good way for the scholars to realize what they’ve done, when they put it in writing. We encourage stepping back and thinking, ‘how could you have acted,’ more than ‘don’t do that, stop that.’”
All teachers and students at Lighthouse will be together for another year. The practice, called “looping” provides continuity over two years. Elliott is excited about the prospect.
“I already know their names, what they are like, what they need to learn. The students are comfortable with me,” Elliott said.
“We won’t waste a month at the first of the school year. I love that.”
