Monthly Archives: June 2023

Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Library sponsored children’s author Thanhhà Lai for a talk, Q&A,

By Avery Jones | Editor

Delta Digital News Service

June 6, 2023

JONESBORO, Ark. – On the weekend of May 19 through 20, the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Friends of the Library sponsored children’s author Thanhhà Lai for a talk, Q&A, and book signing from 5:30-7 PM. She also did a presentation earlier in the day for students.

 Lai discussed her books and how they connect to her life as a child when she fled the Vietnamese War with her family. She signed copies of her newest book, When Clouds Touch Us, published this month. It’s the sequel to her highly successful first book, Inside Out & Back Again, published in 2011.

The library hosted the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Festival from 10 AM – 2 PM on the front lawn. Many crafts and food vendors came to celebrate, and the library gave away free copies of When Clouds Touch Us. International students from ASU-Jonesboro kicked off the festival with a drum performance, and later, there was karate lessons, a cosplay contest, and a tai chi demonstration.

A variety of arts and crafts vendors attended, including art, jewelry, cosmetics, and clothes designers. Almost all of the vendors were small businesses local to Arkansas. 

Marissa Clark from True North Designs featured her artistic engravings. She does her work with laser engravers and has been doing engravings for three years. She has enjoyed drawing and working with wood since she was young, however. 

She has her own shop and can engrave any design and customize anything of any material. A few of the items featured at her stand included home decor, wall hangings, and earrings.

A tai chi demonstration by the East Arkansas Area Agency on Aging during the AAPI Festival at the library. Photo by Avery Jones

Chenoa Summers of Anthropocenic Art was there to display her paintings. The name is in reference to how her artwork reflects the current period of the Earth whereas her earlier work mostly focused on prehistoric animal life. 

Summers is a biologist who likes to paint the nature that she studies. She has three degrees in science and is currently working on a biology degree. She mostly does watercolor paintings but also crochets. She primarily sells her work online.

Britni from Rosemore Creative displayed her homemade cosmetic and hygienic products. She sells facial care, bath salts and bombs, wax melts, candles, hand and body soap, among other things. 

She’s been coming to the library’s festivals for many years, but previously sold bags and other crochet crafts. She wanted to expand the kind of products she made, so she started teaching herself to make hygienic and cosmetic products last year. She primarily sells online.

Glitter Critter Studios was selling handmade clothes, earrings, stickers, and more. Their designs were very colorful and bright, almost cartoon-like. 

Heather, one of the artists, said that her work is inspired by things from her childhood and also the exotic animals she rescues in her spare time. She has been a professional freelance artist for the past five years.

Glitter Critter Studios is an artist collective studio made up of three friends, including Heather, located in Memphis. This was their first time in Arkansas and first time at one of the library’s festivals.

Another designer, Alexandra of Xandra Page Co., displayed her handmade jewelry. She started making and selling her jewelry in 2020, looking for a creative outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she’s been crafty from a young age and is self-taught.

Right now, Xandra Page Co. has turned into a full-time job for her. She also has a graduate degree in English but is enjoying where she’s at for the moment. She primarily sells online and also at some festivals. 

There were also some organizations there to represent themselves. The International Students Association from ASU-Jonesboro were there to talk about the kind of opportunities they offer for international students. This is the first time the association has been to the library’s festival, but they’ve been to lots of other events to represent and promote themselves.

They help to bring together international students on campus through various activities so that they can connect with others they have something in common with, get to know each other’s cultures, and become more comfortable in a culture that’s new to them.

The three international students from the association at the festival—Nihal, Mahita, and Pauline–showcased the diverse interests of the association, one being a computer science major, one a wildlife conservation major, and one having just graduated with a master’s in psychology, respectively.

A nonprofit organization called The Reform Alliance was also in attendance. Their focus is education equity for K-12 students in Arkansas. 

They raise awareness for all types of education options, including public, private, homeschool, and microschool. They also offer scholarships.

There were also a few food vendors there, such as Spice Girls Thai Street Food which soft-opened just this May. The food truck is an offshoot of the Sai Thai restaurant which closed in April. Spice Girls’ official grand opening will be June 1.

According to Valerie Carroll from Friends of the Library, the Craighead County Library hosts two festivals per year, and they choose a different theme each time. This is the first time AAPI Month has been the theme.

“I think that some of the folks from the Multicultural Committee are probably here at the event, but they do have a new committee where they’ve been trying to do some different things to widen out the cultural net, bring in some more people, and teach people who are here about different cultures,” Carroll said.

Avery Jones 

Avery Jones is a sophomore in the Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. She can be reached at: avery.jones@smail.astate.edu

Note: Feature photo by Avery Jones 

Valley View School Board discusses new state legislation impact

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Board tackles Arkansas Learns Act during summer meeting

June 12, 2023

Delta Digital News Service

By Caroline Cherry Averitt | Contributor

JONESBORO, Ark. – Last week, the Valley View School Board responded to the new Arkansas legislation by revising its board policies at the final board meeting for the 2022-2023 school year. 

   The Arkansas LEARNS Act, legislation signed into law in March, made changes to many policies in Arkansas schools. This legislation, a priority for Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders since she took office, became controversial across the state. 

   Due to its impact on schools, Supt. Roland Popejoy introduced Arkansas LEARNS as, “the elephant in the room.” 

   Arkansas LEARNS raised the minimum salary for teachers to $50,000 and requires each certified teacher receive a raise of $2,000. The state provides some of the money needed to supply these pay increases. 

   Sara Osment, the assistant superintendent, said, “The school district did have to provide additional financial support to provide some differentiation between what we were provided by the state just to make it a competitive salary schedule.” 

   School board secretary Lee Lane said the biggest change the LEARNS Act will make for Valley View will be the pay raise for teachers. 

   “We’re not as funded as other schools within the region, and so we have to look at every penny,” Lane said. 

   “We’re not as funded as other schools within the region, and so we have to look at every penny,”

– Lee Lane, Valley View School Board Secretary

   Since Arkansas LEARNS requires a minimum salary of $50,000, schools like Valley View must provide competitive salaries for veteran teachers from other parts of the budget, rather than the state provided money. 

   “That law, really kind of took 15-year teachers and bumped everybody up to possibly what they were making. So, it gave no incentive or increase for those teachers that had seniority. So, we had to sit down and really look at our budget. Because that’s got to come from somewhere,” Lane said. 

   “That law, really kind of took 15-year teachers and bumped everybody up to possibly what they were making. So, it gave no incentive or increase for those teachers that had seniority. So, we had to sit down and really look at our budget. Because that’s got to come from somewhere,”

– Lee Lane, Valley View School Board Secretary

   He said he hopes in years to come, the board will be able to continue to give raises to experienced teachers. 

   In other business, the board voted to revise its policy due to Arkansas legislation concerning preferred names and pronouns of students, specifically with students identifying as transgender. 

   The new law requires teachers to call students by the name and pronouns listed on their birth certificate. The legislation allows parents to approve a name or pronoun change for their children.

   “We have had students that have wanted to or identified differently and wanted to change their names, but we have used a similar process to what is now going to be in law with regard to how (the legislation) addressed it,” Popejoy said. 

  “We have had students that have wanted to or identified differently and wanted to change their names, but we have used a similar process to what is now going to be in law with regard to how (the legislation) addressed it,”  

– Valley View School Board Superintendent Roland Popejoy

   He said the legislation required the board to approve a specific policy, but it will not cause a major change in the districts existing procedure. 

   “We always want to actively involve our parents in that process, and help to make sure our children feel apart and welcome, but it’s very important that the parents are involved in that process,” Popejoy said. 

   The Arkansas legislation included some optional policies the board could approve or deny at its discretion. The only optional policy the board rejected would change requirements for parental leave for teachers. 

   The legislation increased maternity leave, for new biological mothers and foster mothers of children younger than 12 months old, from four to 12 weeks. 

   The board decided against the approval of this optional policy due to budget concerns. The board will revisit the regulations when clearer rules and regulations become available. 

   “There may be items that have fiscal impact on the district that we are not privy to or aware of as an unintended consequence of the law. And so, we want to make sure that we are watching that and not obligate ourselves to funding that benefit whenever there is going to be a shortfall on what the state will provide,” Popejoy said. 

   He said the state would provide the wages for substitutes for teachers taking parental leave, but would not pay the teacher’s salary, which would need to be paid by the district. 

   “We want to provide benefits that meet the needs of our staff, but also focus on what everybody is eligible for. So, if we have staff members that have already had their children, then they would not be eligible for that necessarily,” Popejoy said. “If we have individual staff members that are not able to have children, you know, that would not really be equitable for them.” 

   Both Popejoy and Osment began their roles as superintendent and assistant superintendent this academic year.  

   “(There have been) lots of changes and learning a lot of things but overall, I thought it was very successful year and we’re glad to have one year and our belts,” Osment said. 

   Popejoy said he feels optimistic about next school year, despite the many changes. 

   “I’m excited for the opportunity to keep making good impact on our kiddos,” Popejoy said. 

Caroline Cherry Averitt

Caroline Cherry Averitt is a junior at Arkansas State University from Jonesboro, Arkansas. Her major is multimedia journalism with a minor in writing studies concentrating in creative writing. She can be reached at: caroline.averitt@smail.astate.edu

Note: Feature photo by Caroline Cherry Averitt.