BENTONVILLE — Short-term solutions to crowding at Bentonville High School will be the focus of a committee of parents, teachers and students that met for the first time Tuesday.
Kim Garrett, High School principal, led the discussion. She said the group will provide district administration with options.
Officials have said ideal capacity for the school is 3,300. Enrollment shows 3,904 students attend the school.
Garrett said enrollment has grown by 300 since last year.
“We will have to continue to use this campus for the next few years,” Garrett said. She said the committee is only focusing on short-term solutions, not long-term options that would need a millage increase.
School Board members are expected to present another millage increase package to voters in the future. District officials have said it could take three years to build a high school following a millage increase.
A 6.7-mill increase was turned down by voters June 26. It would have included $94 million for a 2,000-student high school.
At A Glance
Millage Failure
A Bentonville School District 6.7-mill increase turned down by voters June 26 would have included $94 million for a 2,000-seat high school. Athletic fields were included in the package for $23 million along with money for improvement to Bentonville High School, heating and cooling systems and technology infrastructure.
Source: Staff Report
Committee members were asked to think of options to solve capacity issues in the next three years.
Jolene Murphy, a parent, offered a few ideas while brainstorming in a small group. One was reducing a seminar hour in order to fit more class time during the day. Seminar hour is time students use to meet with advisers, study or receive extra help from teachers.
“That could accommodate more students,” Murphy said.
Options mentioned included summer school, an optional hour added to the day, lecture hall style classes, online classes, portable buildings, rental options, night school and eliminating less popular electives.
Susan Flint, co-president of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization, mentioned the Arkansas Department of Education has laws restricting the district from using some of the ideas.
“What about getting with the Department of Education and seeing if there are any waivers?” Flint asked.
Garrett said meetings will focus on pros and cons of the options discussed by the committee.
“Our idea today was to get our ideas flowing,” Garrett said. “We need something to solve the growth but we need to make sure we keep our standard of excellence.”
The committee will meet every other week, Garrett said. She said times and dates are yet to be determined. The committee could meet three to five to times. Recommendations will be given to district administration.
Jordan Sheppard, a senior at the school, said he was interested to see where the discussion goes in the future.
“I think they have presented some good ideas,” Sheppard said. “The ideas have provoked a lot of thoughts.”
Sheppard said more research is needed to determine which ideas are good solutions.