LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The North Little Rock School District is looking to transform Seventh Street Elementary school from one of the worst-performing schools in the state to one of the best.
North Little Rock Superintendent Dr. Gregory Pilewski said that the school has been underperforming for several years— ranking in the bottom 5% of all 487 elementary schools in Arkansas.
The plan is nearly 60 pages long and Pilewski is looking for community approval before moving forward.
"Our proposal is to turn it from a Pre-k [through] five, to a pre-k [through] eight, over the next four years," Pilewski said.
On top of that expansion, the plan aims to increase enrollment, have teachers re-apply or get re-assigned and expand the curriculum. Broadening education topics to possibly include specialties like veterinary studies is something North Little Rock education board member Angela Person West is excited about.
"Yes, bring more specialties and areas of learning early on," West said. "You may have a child that may be interested in that they may not know exactly which way to start."
Meanwhile, community members like Kristina Gulley are taking the time to understand and ask questions about the plan.
"I think we need a little bit more feedback from it," Gulley. "Overall, I think that this change is going to be a positive move for the community as well as North Little Rock School District."
The importance of that feedback as stakeholders wanted more time to read over the plan, has led to administrators deciding to delay the vote on the plan from this week to possibly next month.
"The community would like some more time, and we're going to give the community more time to weigh in," Pilewski said. "You got to weigh in to buy in."
Pilewski wants to continue the discussion in a board meeting on Wednesday.
"We have about 180 days until we open the next school year," Pilewski said. "That just shows you the kind of planning in place that it's going to take in order to open the school successfully."
The school is also considering a new name for the elementary school to honor the North Little Rock Six.