By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The state Board of Education today tabled proposed rules for the licensing of school administrators after the superintendent of the Arkansas Correctional School complained that the rules would be unfair to prison teachers.

William “Dubs” Byers told the board he objected to proposed rules stating that experience as an adult education teacher “is not recognized as classroom teaching experience” and that an administrative internship must be performed “in a traditional P-12 (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) school setting.”

“We just feel like we have been relegated to second-class educators,” Byers said.

The rules suggest that “because we don’t teach in a P-12 school system, that our teachers somehow do not get the necessary experience or have the necessary experience to be effective in administration,” but that is not the case, Byers said.

Beverly Williams, assistant education commissioner for human resources and licensure, told the board that teaching in a non-traditional setting such as a prison or hospital is very different from teaching in a traditional school setting.

“Being a teacher in a prison with an armed guard does not help you learn classroom management skills that you could transfer into Arkansas public schools,” she said.

But Williams said that in the past when prison teachers have sought administrator’s licenses, the Education Department has worked with them.

“Anyone who has sought a principalship license in a prison or a hospital has been able to obtain them. We’ve worked with them to partner with a local school district for them to go in and intern,” she said.

Byers said the Correctional School has already lost one teacher to the public school system this year because the teacher wanted an administrator’s license, and spending time teaching inmates “didn’t count.”

Board Member Brenda Gullett of Fayetteville said she had a problem with limiting teachers’ ability to advance.

“When people come here to teach, it limits their opportunities for what they could achieve and move forward with, from having taught at a prison,” she said.

The board also tabled proposed rules requiring beginning teachers with initial or provisional licenses to teach in a traditional school setting. Chairman Naccaman Williams of Springdale said the board needed more time to consider what the role of the Education Department should be regarding the Correctional School.

Byers said after the meeting he was glad the board members listened to his concerns.

“I felt like they wanted a fair hearing,” he said.