New charter school begins interviews for headmaster

Emily Hirsch (left), Arkansas campus director for Responsive Education Solutions, answers questions for Venetia Muench of Rogers during a public information session about the planned Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy charter school Tuesday at the Bentonville Public Library. Muench, who has two young children, said she wants to look into all of the educational options for her kids.
Emily Hirsch (left), Arkansas campus director for Responsive Education Solutions, answers questions for Venetia Muench of Rogers during a public information session about the planned Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy charter school Tuesday at the Bentonville Public Library. Muench, who has two young children, said she wants to look into all of the educational options for her kids.

Organizers of a new charter school planned for Bentonville started interviewing candidates for headmaster this week.

Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy will be the third open-enrollment charter school in Northwest Arkansas. Benton County School of the Arts in Rogers and Haas Hall in Fayetteville are the other two.

Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy will enroll up to 445 children in kindergarten through eighth grade its first year and add a grade each subsequent year, growing to an enrollment of up to 685 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the school’s charter application.

The state Board of Education approved the school’s charter in November. The school will focus on providing a classical liberal arts education to prepare pupils for college, organizers said.

“They study the ancients, and they move through history,” said Bethany Culpepper, a leader of the Bentonville-based Parents Seeking Options group that pushed for the new charter school. “Every year, they’re building on that.”

Science, literature and math lessons are built around the study of periods of history, she said. In the elementary years, pupils could read a children’s book based on Homer’s Odyssey.

“They’ve been exposed to it,” Culpepper said. “It’s not brand new material when they get to high school.”

About one-third of the work involved in opening a new school was completed with the approval of the charter application, said Virginia Perry, Arkansas regional director for Responsive Education Solutions, the nonprofit organization that will manage the charter school.

“We’ve been welcomed here with open arms,” Perry said. “The people here are very well-informed, and they advocate for their children. They want their kids to have the best education. They want their kids to be challenged.”

The Arkansas organization will contract with Responsive Education Solutions of Texas for some management and central business office services. The Texas organization operates more than 55 open-enrollment public charter schools in Texas.

Open enrollment for Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy will take place Jan. 28 through Feb. 22, with the school year beginning in August.

The next steps involve finalizing a location for the school and selecting a headmaster, Perry said.

The charter application listed the school’s location at 5121 Southwest Runway Drive in Bentonville. Facilities experts for the Texas organization are studying the facility to ensure it will meet the needs of the school or whether to pursue an alternate location, Perry said. They are studying whether the planned location provides adequate space for instruction, parking and infrastructure for computers, such as wiring.

Perry anticipates the organization will decide on the location in January and have a lease agreement signed by March.

Interviews for headmaster began this week and will continue through a statewide and national search for the school’s top administrator, Perry said. Top candidates will go to Texas for interviews with executives of Responsive Education Solutions.

Perry hopes to have the headmaster in place in March.She anticipates recruiting for teachers and other staff members to begin in mid-January, with hiring starting after the headmaster is in place.

Responsive Education Solutions has operated charter schools for 13 years in Texas, but the organization is expanding outside Texas with charter schools scheduled to open in the fall of 2013 in Arkansas and Indiana.

For several weeks, Responsive Education Solutions of Arkansas has spent time at the Bentonville Public Library answering questions about the charter school.

Emily Hirsch, a Responsive Education Solutions of Arkansas employee, has collected more than 50 forms over the past several weeks from parents interested in the charter school, and that doesn’t count the 100 or more parents who signed up to receive updates about the school through an e-mail distribution list.

Alicia Wiginton, a Bentonville parent, stopped at the Bentonville Public Library on Tuesday to inquire about the new charter school after seeing an advertisement in a newspaper.

Wiginton grew up in Mexico City and attended schools that focused on classical liberal arts.

“It makes sense to me to move my kids from public school where I know what my kids will be learning,” Wiginton said. “I learned Greek and Latin. I read the classics, Shakespeare since fifth grade. The emphasis in math and science is what is really attracting me. I want them to grow up and have a better understanding of what they need to know and get ready for college.”

During the open-enrollment period, Perry and Hirsch will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to noon Friday in the lobby of the Bentonville SpringhillSuites to distribute and accept applications.

Information about the school is available through a Facebook page for Parents Seeking Options. Responsive Education Solutions also has a website at www.responsiveed.com.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/20/2012

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