Board Grants Charter

High School To Open In Rogers In The Fall

— The principal of New Tech High School in Rogers will start handing out applications to attend the school today. Parent meetings for the new school begin tonight.

The Arkansas Board of Education approved Monday a charter for the high school in the Rogers School District.

There will be two meetings a week for the next six weeks to inform parents about what Rogers’ New Tech school will be like, said Lance Arbuckle, New Tech principal. Learning at the school will be based on projects, and administrators are planning for technology-focused electives such as digital photography and Web design.

At A Glance

New Tech High School

A series of informational meetings for the New Tech High School begins this week at Rogers high schools. Parents are welcome to attend any meeting or more than one meeting, said Lance Arbuckle, New Tech School principal.

Rogers High School:

• 6:30 p.m. today, lecture hall

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23, lecture hall

Rogers Heritage High School

• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, lecture hall

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 22, lecture hall

Birch Kirksey Middle School

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29, cafeteria

Elmwood Middle School

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30, library

Greer Lingle Middle School

• 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25, cafeteria

Oakdale Middle School

• 6:30 p.m., Feb. 21, gymnasium

Source: Staff Report

Enrollment will be by lottery, and the deadline for applications is Feb. 22. A waiting list will be prioritized by time of application return, according to documents filed with the state.

Project-based learning is powerful, teacher Mark Morley told the state board Monday. Morley attended a planning conference for the school last year and teaches Advanced Placement Physics at Rogers Heritage High School.

He talked about a student project that studied worldwide water shortages, then had students fundraise to solve the problem. Projects make students need to know, then understand what they do in class matters, Morley said.

“It gives them something to say about their high school experience other than graduating,” he said.

Board members had few questions for district administrators during their Monday appearance in Little Rock.

District officials researched options for three years before deciding on the New Tech network, Superintendent Janie Darr told state board members. Although Rogers students face their share of challenges — the district has many students classified as low-income or still-learning-English — achievement in the district is high, Darr told the board.

“We do whatever it takes to get the achievement up,” she said.

State board members asked Rogers officials to recruit all demographics for the school and asked about extracurricular activities. Students will shuttle to another high school for choir, orchestra, band and athletics during first and last period, Darr told the board.

More needs to be done, Arbuckle said.

Projects need to be designed and class schedules made up, but part of that will be determined by which students are drawn in the lottery. More information will be posted on the school’s website, nth.rogersschools.net.

Rogers New Tech will open in the fall at 2922 S. First St. at the site of the district’s alternative school.

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