BENTONVILLE — Two candidates in a School Board runoff next month have different ideas on how to fix capacity issues at the high school.
Grant Lightle and Kim Mertes are the two candidates left in Zone 3 after the field was cut by three people Tuesday. Lightle received 205 votes (48 percent), while Mertes received 155 votes (37 percent). Mertes is a member of the School Board. The runoff is Oct. 9.
At A Glance
Millage Hike
A 6.7 millage increase was voted down by voters June 26. It would have provided $128 million for the district. Of that, $94 million was to build a 2,000-seat high school with space for culinary arts, auto repair labs and a science pathways program.
Source: Staff Report
Lightle supports a traditional high school. Mertes wants a career pathway option.
Lightle said Thursday there is “serious” capacity issue at Bentonville High School.
Brad Reed, district student services director, said data shows 3,904 students attending the high school this week. He said those numbers are still being reviewed for accuracy.
“The historic growth for the last decade has been around 500 or more students a year,” Lightle said. “We are adding almost a grade school worth of kids every single year. We need a solution for at least 1,800 to 2,500 kids at the high school level in the next eight years.”
Projections from district officials using a one percent increase in student growth shows 5,300 students at the high school by 2020, Lightle said. He said that number will most likely be higher.
Lightle said the high school’s ideal student capacity is 3,300 students.
“Anything beyond that and you start to have negative effects,” Lightle said. “To me, those curriculum issues are secondary to getting the capacity issue dealt with. I don’t feel like online or career options are going to take significant pressure off that need for core high school facilities.”
Mertes believes a career or vocational high school could be the best option to ease growth at the high school.
“Rogers is going forward with a New Tech high school,” Mertes said. “Why should they be the ones to pilot that in the area when we have been researching this?”
Bentonville administrators visited a New Tech high school in Texas in recent years, Mertes said.
“I think we can be on the cutting edge and offer something for not necessarily for college-bound students,” Mertes said.
Career pathways in aviation, computer technology, culinary arts, cosmetology, welding, medical and auto body are some of the options that could be offered. The school also could focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Mertes said.
“I think that is something that we can really do excellently because of the business influence in the city of Bentonville,” Mertes said.
Students could attend the career-focused school for a day and then Bentonville High School the next, Mertes said. High school administrators have said that is possible, she said.
“I think we can do that and meet the needs of a 1,000 students,” Mertes said.
It is possible extracurricular programs would not be split if a career-focused building was built.
“Competition makes you stronger,” Mertes said. “If you want to be first chair of the band playing the flute than you are going to work harder than someone settling for 10th chair. You have to give real opportunities for students and allow them to compete to rise to the top. There are loads and loads of opportunities to excel, but you have to give the time to make that work.”
Online classes is another solution to easing capacity at the high school, Mertes said.
“One thing that we are missing the boat on is online education,” Mertes said.
Driving the cost of building a second high school needs to be a focus of the School Board, Lightle said.
“We need a second high school, but the things that can be shared, should be shared,” Lightle said. He added a football stadium is one thing that should be shared.
“Why are so many other districts able to build buildings more cost effectively than we are?” Lightle said. “We have to figure out why. We need to be using the talents we have in our community that know construction. They can figure ways out to get these things done cost effectively. As long as we keep growing there are going to be other resource needs. We can’t put all of our needs in one basket.”
Mertes said she will listen to staff, faculty and administrators when making decisions regarding high school capacity solutions.
“If they give me new information that I have not thought of, I am going to listen to them because they are the ones in the trenches,” Mertes said. “They are there every day. We have to do something with growth and we have to do it in a way that people will pass.”