We commend Springdale schools for the results of hard work and innovative education taking place within the 21,000-student school district. Granted, our commendation doesn’t come with $25.8 million attached to it, but hopefully it’s worth a little something.
The district received news last week it was one of five districts nationwide to earn a Race to the Top Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education. The massive grant is the largest the district has ever received and will be paid out over the course of four years. It’s also the only time the federal agency has selected an Arkansas school system to receive one of the annually awarded grants.
The enormity of such a grant cannot be overstated, nor can the great deal of work Springdale’s educators put in that gave the district a chance to be considered in the heavy competition for the funding.
Let’s be real here: Springdale occasionally gets lost in the shuffle of Northwest Arkansas.
Fayetteville is the university town; Bentonville is home to Walmart and now a major cultural institution; Rogers has become a giant of retail operations. Among the many things Springdale can be proud of, however, is a school district that perhaps more than any other knows how to stretch a dollar a long, long way. The huge district has kept up with student population growth rates that would frighten some school districts. Through it all, Superintendent Jim Rollins and the school board have operated in a most fiscally responsible way while working to deliver strong education to the multi-language population of students they serve.
It is through the hard work of board members, administrators, support staft and, of course, those front-line teachers that Springdale positioned itself for success in earning this grant. The district was a finalist last year but did not earn the award. With a firm belief in the innovative and successful work they were doing, school officials learned from the 2012 experience and reapplied this year with amazing results.
The grant lasts four years, but the opportunities it will create will last long beyond that time frame. District oficials plan to invest in programs that aim to produce improvements in student achievement. The district will provide laptop computers or iPads to all students in grades 6-12. It will expand its environmental and spatial technologies program to more schools. It will support creation of a “school of innovation” to allow students to learn at their own pace and finish high school with a diploma and an associate degree.
One of the grant program’s goals is that its recipient schools become shining examples to educators across the country, and we believe Springdale has every potential to fulfill that mission exceptionally well. Indeed, it’s because Springdale is a district that’s been doing the job well that national education leaders realized the effort was worth a significant investment of extra dollars.
Now, after much patting on the back and deserved congratulations, more hard work is ahead for the district, with thousands of students to reap the benefits for years to come.
The district as a whole deserves kudos for a job done well.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/24/2013