Nontraditional Schools Fire Up Again

BENTONVILLE — While most Bentonville students have a few weeks of summer vacation left, classes at two elementary schools resume Thursday.

R.E. Baker and Elm Tree elementary schools follow Bentonville’s nontraditional calendar that includes a seven-week summer break, about five weeks shorter than what the rest of the schools get. Traditional calendar schools start Aug. 19.

Both nontraditional schools will open with administrative changes.

Kim Sutton, Baker’s assistant principal the past two years, is the new principal there. Amy Hurlburt, who spent last year as an intervention specialist at Old High Middle School, is the new assistant principal.

Hurlburt was chosen for the job Thursday. She began moving her things into her new office Friday.

Matthew Allen is moving from Bentonville’s English as a Second Language program to be Elm Tree’s new assistant principal.

“I’m really looking forward to educating our kids and building a sense of community,” Sutton said. “We’ve got the best kids in Bentonville.”

The nontraditional schools have the same standards and follow the same curriculum as the others; they just have more breaks throughout the school year, including a two-week break in October.

Class lists were posted at Baker’s front entrance Friday. Many parents and students came out to find their names.

Inside the school, Laura Hughey, a first-grade teacher, was one of several teachers setting up their classrooms Friday. Hughey had help from her mother, Sandy Hughey, a retired educator.

Laura Hughey said she enjoys the nontraditional calendar.

“It’s good for the kiddos because they don’t have that long summer where they regress,” she said.

The more frequent breaks also are good for students, she said.

Shealei White is entering her first year as a kindergarten teacher at Baker after teaching kindergarten in Fort Smith. White also taught English in Guatemala and Ethiopia for two years.

White said she is “super excited” to be in Bentonville, in part because of the high level of parental support and involvement in the district.

She will spend the first day of school getting to know her students, getting them oriented to the school and establishing classroom rules with them.

She said the quality of a student’s kindergarten experience is crucial because it sets the tone for the future of their education.

“Every teacher is important, but we’re the spark that starts the fire,” White said.

Across the hall from White, fellow kindergarten teacher Marin Hamilton was setting up her own classroom Friday. Hamilton, who’s entering her seventh year in education and her sixth at Baker, said she already knows most of the children who will be in her class this year. Seven are siblings of students she’s had before and some are the children of other teachers.

“That’s neat because you already know the families,” Hamilton said.

Baker Elementary will host a “Meet the Teacher” event from noon to 1:45 p.m. Tuesday for kindergarten students and from 4:30 to 6 p.m. for all older students. Elm Tree will host an open house from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday.