Dear Gus,
Today’s Leadership Greater Little Rock session was focused on education, but it was a weird one because the coronavirus is rushing into the state. I woke up around 5am to send emails cancelling our Saturday night ARS event. (And later today the Central Arkansas Library System will cancel my book launch event.) Our panels included UA-Little Rock Chancellor Dr. Christina Drale, Philander Smith College President Dr. Roderick Smothers, LR Christian Academy Principal Dr. Gary Arnold, eStem Charter School Principal John Bacon, LR Central High School Principal Nancy Rousseau, and James Reddish from the LR Chamber to talk about Ford Next Generation Learning in Central Arkansas Schools. We were also supposed to have superintendents from area schools, but they all cancelled because the state was insane. Our meeting was at the Arkansas State University offices across the street from the state capitol building, where the governor addressed the crisis in a press conference, but we watched it on television together. Since we’re all a bunch of leaders in various fields, everyone was texting and calling like mad, scrambling to cancel events we were leading. I know it’s vastly different, but I couldn’t help but note a similar feeling to when terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Towers in 2001. It’s the way these crises heighten the collective anxiety of a room. In a weird way--as terrible as it is--I love the rush of it. Reminds me of being at The Defense Information School at Ft. Meade, when they put our class in a giant Army tent and let us run communications from there about mock incidents. I can still remember fielding calls about a (mock) helicopter crash. I loved the thrill of it all. But this threat is real, and you and Papou are especially susceptible to it, and that terrifies me.
After the superintendents cancelled their panel, the chamber threw together a panel with the folks they could find in the building, so ASU System President Dr. Chuck Welch and ASU VP of Government Relations Shane Broadway spoke to us about higher education in Arkansas and how it interacts with the government. It ended up being my favorite panel of the day. Shane Broadway and Papa were good friends, so it was nice to catch up with him.Â
After all the panels finished, the Leadership Fayetteville kids joined us for cocktails on the patio. They were in town for their government session, but the capitol shut down this afternoon, so they won’t be able to finish their session. We were supposed to have our military-focused session next week at Little Rock Air Force Base, but they cancelled it today. It’s a weird time.
Dad.
Little Rock, Arkansas. 3.12.2020 - 1.53pm.
SIDENOTE 1: We got word that Pulaski County Schools would be closing while we had the three principals on the panel. They got the word at the same time we did. The eStem principal sighed and said something about having to deal with parents. The LR Christian guy puffed up his chest and said something to the effect of “We’re private and no one can tell us if we’re cancelling school.” The LR Central principal said, “I’ve got to find a way to feed my kids. So many of them get their only meals in our cafeteria.” Mom and I already talked about wanting you to go to Central, but still, I texted her in that moment to say, “I would put up a strong fight to get our kids to Central.” Because I want you in a school where the leaders care about the students they’re responsible for more than anything else.
SIDENOTE 2: I got a Facebook message from Ross Jefferson this morning letting me know that my friend Micky Stuart was killed in a head-on collision last night. Tomorrow, his wife will call me and ask me to write his obituary, which you can read here. And here’s another thing I wrote about him.
