BENTONVILLE — Students attending Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy will be challenged, headmaster Timm Petersen told families who showed up for an afternoon orientation session Thursday.
“Self-esteem comes from true accomplishment,” Petersen said. “We’re not going to be one of those schools where everyone gets a ribbon just for showing up.”
The new charter school for grades kindergarten through eight is scheduled to open for the first time a month from today. It is operating out of leased space at 1302 Melissa Drive.
The building has been renovated to fit the school’s needs. Grades kindergarten through second will be on the first floor and grades three through eight will be on the second floor. There are 19 classrooms, two cafeterias, two computer labs and a library.
Nearly all of the rooms are empty, however, because the school is still waiting for furniture to arrive.
“We’re waiting as fast as we can for it,” Petersen said. “It should be coming any day.”
Heather Miller, a third-grade teacher, was in her classroom Thursday arranging some bookcases and other things she had brought in herself.
Miller, who moved to Northwest Arkansas from California last year, has worked in education for 12 years, all at the elementary level.
“I’ve never come into a classroom that is a fresh template,” Miller said. “It’s really exciting for me.”
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy is the first charter school in Bentonville. The Arkansas State Board of Education last year approved it to open with 445 students in grades kindergarten through eight. It plans to expand by one grade level each year.
The school will focus on a classical curriculum. Students will read from classic literature and examine events that were taking place at the time those books were written, Petersen said.
Students will learn how to learn, how to communicate and how to ask good questions to help facilitate their learning, Petersen said. In addition, students will be taught that character and integrity matter, he said.
At A Glance
Charter School Openings
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy still has slots available for the upcoming school year for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. Anyone interested should visit nwaclassical.com and click on the “how to apply” tab.
Source: Staff Report
He also emphasized parents will have to be involved in their children’s education in order for students to succeed.
“The bottom line is, the person who’s ultimately responsible for your child’s education is you,” Petersen said.
Students will wear uniforms. One incoming kindergartner was wearing her uniform at Thursday’s afternoon orientation. Petersen asked her to stand up with him at the front of the room.
“This is Elizabeth. Doesn’t she look nice in her uniform?” Petersen said.
Kristen Caldwell, the mother of a kindergarten student at the school, said she and her husband felt their daughter needed a smaller learning environment than the school she otherwise would attend in the Rogers School District.
“I’m thrilled,” Caldwell said. “I really like Mr. Petersen and everything the school stands for. And we like the idea of being part of the first class.”
Students will be picked up and dropped off at the back of the building and enter through a cavernous room Petersen said would serve as the school gymnasium.
A playground will be installed on grass behind the building, but probably won’t be ready until September, he said.
The school is being run by Responsive Education Solutions, a Texas-based organization that runs numerous other charter schools, most of which are in Texas. The organization also is opening schools in Little Rock and Pine Bluff this year.