Jonesboro elementary schools aim at students' needs; convert to magnet schools

In August the Jonesboro School District elementary schools will become magnet schools. Magnet schools are schools designed around a theme.

The curriculum meets the Arkansas Department of Education guidelines, but is "taught with a slant that is more interesting to students that go there," said Donna Creer, executive director of the Magnet School Review Committee in Little Rock. "A magnet school is a school that attracts students based on their interest, need or ability in a particular area."

Creer said that drop out rates for magnet schools are lower than the state average, and test scores for students from magnet schools are higher when compared to the state average. Creer said that the data used to support these claims was several years old.

Dr. Kim Willbanks, assistant superintendent for elementary education was closely involved in the decision to bring magnet schools to Jonesboro.

"The Jonesboro district had been investigating the Magnet concept for several years before I came on board," Willbanks said. "This year we actually took groups of parents and community members to visit various districts who had implemented the Magnet Schools. After making those visits we were very impressed."

Debbie Pelley, a retired Westside school teacher of 27 years, is an outspoken critic of the magnet schools. She does not agree with the Jonesboro School District's analysis.

"I do educational research," Pelley said. "I do a lot of studying of state test scores, and I pull out the fallacies."

Pelley said her research shows magnet schools produce low test scores, high drop out rates, and that students coming from magnet schools are more likely to need remediation when they advance to high school.

Willbanks disagreed, and said that Pelley is using misleading information to support her position.

Pelley dismissed Willbanks's criticism, and called the magnet schools a "fad."

"It's a progressive idea," Pelley said. "You have administrators who are more concerned with making a name for themselves than their students."

Pelley said her research revealed a myriad of other potential pitfalls with the magnet schools, such as busing problems that she said would lengthen the school day, enrollment problems because students apply to the magnet school of their choice rather than being assigned. Pelley said this led to children from more affluent families getting their first choice and children from less privileged families being forced into the poorer schools.

Pelley questioned also the cost of implementing and running the magnet schools. She said that administrators from failed magnet schools in Arkansas and Tennessee told her federal grants were highly competitive and difficult to secure. Pelley questioned how the district intended to pay for the magnet schools.

Pelley pointed to Hot Springs' magnet schools as an example, and said that the district's own reporting on test scores shows that their schools produce lower test scores and higher remediation rates than Jonesboro schools.

"We looked at Hot Springs," Willbanks said. "They have a magnet program in the elementary and their junior high at well. We have only two themes that are similar."

Willbanks said that comparing the Jonesboro and Hot Springs school districts is an unreliable method. She pointed to the diversity of factors that make up each school district: size of district, minority enrollment, organizational structure, curriculum in math, literacy and student-teacher ratio.

"You won't find two districts that are the same," Willbanks said.

Willbanks said that she has overwhelming support from Jonesboro residents for the magnet school decision. "I have spoken to between 12 and 15 civic groups and all the parent groups. As a whole the number of supporters are greater than the number who are pessimistic."

The five elementary schools affected by the changeare Philadelphia Elementary, South Elementary, West Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary and the Sixth Grade Academic Center.