780 students earn Seal of Biliteracy
780 students earn Seal of Biliteracy
A total of 780 Arkansas high school students – a record high for a year – have earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy in English and in one or more additional languages by the time they complete high school.
The Seal of Biliteracy, recognized in 48 states and Washington, DC, is intended to encourage students to pursue skills in multiple languages. It can be used as evidence of language skills that are attractive to future employers and college admissions officers.
Since the 2017 pilot year in Arkansas, a total of 3,309 students from 80 of the state’s public and private high schools have achieved certification in 19 languages other than English.
Those languages are Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Filipino, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu and Vietnamese, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
The Arkansas Board of Education officially endorsed the seal in June 2018. The seal is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
The Springdale School District has the most certified students to date with 1,070.
Seventeen high schools have first-time recipients.
Property purchase
for school finalized
The Jacksonville / North Pulaski School District finalizes the purchase of a property for a new Bayou Meto Elementary School.
The 19 undeveloped acres on Arkansas are 107 miles 2 miles south of the current school.
The purchase price is $ 321,000. The district intends to provide Cory Nicholson, who is the seller of the property, with the current Bayou Meto site, including the relatively new multipurpose building. The bulk of the old school, however, will be demolished when the new school opens for 460 students.
The Jacksonville district – a long-running federal school desegregation lawsuit – is replacing all of its schools with new buildings, per a judge’s order. Four schools, including a new high school and middle school, have been completed to date. There are two more elementary schools to go to.
Jacksonville grads
receive an offer
The Jacksonville / North Pulaski School District is inviting their soon-to-be-high school graduates to purchase $ 10 a piece for their school-issued computer devices.
The Chromebooks are personal devices that students have used throughout their high school careers.
Superintendent Jeremy Owoh said district leaders decided to make the offer after hearing other districts were doing the same.
Districts in state
applaud teachers
Teachers in districts across Arkansas and across the nation were honored in myriad ways this past week as part of Teacher Appreciation Week.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, for example, district leaders organized for the Tazikis restaurant company to distribute more than 1,200 box lunches to teachers at 26 sites, according to the district’s social media account.
Another example of honoring teachers occurred at the Little Rock School District’s Stephens Elementary, where Little Rock provided $ 100 to each of the 32 faculty members in Myron Jackson’s The Design Group. He did that, he said, with the condition that the teachers use the money for themselves.
Group to perform
at Carnegie Hall
The Singing Senators from Joe T. Robinson High School in the Pulaski County Special School District will travel to New York City next month to perform at Carnegie Hall.
The Robinson group, collaborating with performers from Berryville High School, Una Voce and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Choir, will perform under Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria” under the direction of Lorissa Mason.
The trip to Carnegie Hall, one of the most famous concert halls in the nation, will take place June 23-27.
The Joe T. Robinson Choir Boosters are currently collecting donations to help offset the expense of the trip. Questions about donations can be directed to [email protected]