The Reform Alliance coming to West Memphis

Statewide tour will share education options

By Ralph Hardin

news@theeveningtimes.com

LITTLE ROCK – The Reform Alliance, a nonprofit that works to ensure quality educational access for all K-12 students in Arkansas, will join the Arkansas Department of Education Office of School Choice and Parent Empowerment on a statewide tour beginning next week, holding town hall-style presentations to talk about all educational options and answer participant questions.

The tour kicks off at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Easterseals Arkansas, 3920 Woodland Heights Road.

While hosted at Easterseals, the event welcomes any family considering any type of school option, not just Easterseals Academy or private school in general, and will include food for those who RSVP using this form.

“Last week, as we celebrated National School Choice Week in Arkansas, we saw hundreds of families turn out in Little Rock and many more as we held community events throughout the state,” said Emmy Henley, managing director of The Reform Alliance. “All wanted to know more about the range of choices available to them, even if they didn’t plan to use them.”

“I didn’t realize there were so many different schools… like with charter schools and online schools and things like that,' said one visitor to the Little Rock event. “I didn’t know we had so many different choices.”

Many Arkansas families are in the same position, unaware of what options exist or what’s available where they live, said Henley. The tour is intended to continue the work of National School Choice Week and help families understand

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and navigate those options.

“Our goal is to cover everything from transferring between public districts to enrolling in charter schools to scholarship programs that can help pay for private school and even homeschool or microschool,” said Henley.

After Little Rock, the tour continues with evening events on Tuesdays and midday events on Wednesdays each week through early May, with February stops including:

• 6 p.m Feb. 18: Lawrence County Library in Walnut Ridge

• Noon Feb. 19: Craighead County Library in Jonesboro

• 6 p.m. Feb. 25: House of Opportunity in Forrest City

• Noon Feb. 26: West Memphis Public Library in West Memphis For a full list of tour dates and cities included, please see this flyer. Specific locations for later dates and RSVP links will be added soon at www.thereformalliance.org.

About the Reform Alliance

The Reform Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring every Arkansas student has equal access to a quality education.

We understand that each child has individual needs, so we strive to raise public awareness of all educational options for every family. Our team is committed to assisting Arkansas families with finding the best option for their child.