Programming at the Ozark Natural Science Center will end after its last school visit in May.
The center has hosted 45,000 students from Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma since its inception in 1992, according to a news release sent Tuesday. Operations will be suspended after school programs end in May, said interim Executive Director Jenny Harmon. Schools were sent letters and center staff are trying to contact those who requested to rent the facilities, she said.
This year 2,760 children are scheduled to complete a two-day program that includes an overnight stay at the center, Harmon said.
A trip to the Ozark Natural Science Center has been a tradition for fifth-graders in Rogers and Bentonville schools since 1994. This year Bentonville will send 1,500 children to the center and Rogers will send another 1,100.
At A Glance
Ozark Natural Science Center
The Ozark Natural Science Center sits in the Bear Hollow Natural Area next to the 15,000 acre Madison County Wildlife Management Area. About 3,000 students visit the center each year from Arkansas and Oklahoma learning science and conservation through an overnight stay. The 88-acre center property has 8 miles of trails, several dormitories an outdoor classroom and an observation deck.
Source: Staff Report
On their trips children learn about team building, and see scientific terms in person, such as the dried up pond that illustrates evaporation, said Matt Garrett, fifth-grade science teacher at Old Wire Elementary School in Rogers.
“It’s a good way for the teacher to connect paperwork curriculum to the real world,” Garrett said.
The center has tried to hold costs down for schools, Harmon said. The price was $134 per student both this year and last year and an assortment of Northwest Arkansas schools have come faithfully every year.
“We are just now facing the music that we can’t sustain this program, she said.
The cabins have 68 bunk beds — allowing for two classes of 28 at a time. The center tries to have two, sometimes three, of the two-day sessions a week in order to be efficient with booking, Harmon said.
Their last school visit is scheduled for May 21-22 when students from Lowell Elementary School will visit. After that staff members will spend a few days filing paperwork before they leave.
If a donor stepped forward they may be able to carry on, Harmon said. If they close as scheduled the property will revert back to the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. The property includes a two-story administration building, field house, three dormitories, outdoor classroom and an observation deck that extends over a ravine.
The visit is tied to science and social studies in Bentonville classrooms, said Dena Ross, executive director of instructional services. Arkansas is the Natural State and the experience ties students to a uniquely Arkansas heritage.
Her own children went as fifth-graders and came home tired and dirty, but talking about what they had learned.
“They talk about it for the rest of their lives,” Ross said.
Both the Springdale and Fayetteville school districts have used the center’s science camp.
Springdale sent fifth-graders from as many as six schools in one year to the camp.
“We have been using the Ozark Natural Science Center and their curriculum is outstanding,” said Kathy Morledge, assistant superintendent. “We will miss them.”
Morledge added, however, the district has begun to transition away from using the center because of its cost. District officials said they think two Springdale schools used it last fall. None were scheduled to go this spring.
Alan Wilbourn, Fayetteville public information officer, said the center is a wonderful place, but it has been cost-prohibitive to send students.
John Colbert, associate superintendent for elementary education for Fayetteville schools, said Vandergriff Elementary School students went to the camp.
“I know the principal who took students there spoke highly of the program and felt it was very beneficial,” Colbert said.
The 88 acres deeded to the Ozark Natural Science Center were intended for education, said Chris Colclasure, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission director. The 397 acres that make up Bear Hollow Natural Area were deeded to the commission from the same property parcel in 1991.
The commission will wait for a formal announcement the center is closing before any decisions are made, Colclasure said. In a best case scenario, a donor could keep the center running, but if the commission assumes control of the property it could sit vacant, he said.
Dave Perozek contributed to this report.