Haas Hall Plans Benton County School

The superintendent and founder of Haas Hall Academy in Washington County said he plans to open another school like it in Benton County in time for the 2015-16 school year.

Martin Schoppmeyer said he's trying to find a building for the school and isn't focused on any particular city. He said he expects to have a location identified by the time he must submit his application to the state this fall.

At A Glance

Haas Hall Mission Statement

“To provide an aggressive alternative to the traditional learning environment for scholars with high intensity of purpose, enabling them to succeed at the nation’s prestigious universities and to become pillars of their communities.”

Source: haashall.org

He isn't certain exactly what he wants to call it, but it would have Haas Hall in the name, he said. It likely would be for grades seven through 12. Schoppmeyer hopes the school will have a capacity of about 300 students.

"We wouldn't want much more than that because we want to maintain the small-school feel," he said.

Haas Hall Academy is an open-enrollment charter school focusing on providing students a rigorous college preparatory curriculum. It originally opened in Farmington in 2004 with 13 students in grades 10 through 12. Since then the school has added eighth and ninth grades, grown to 320 and moved to leased space on North College Avenue in Fayetteville.

The school has earned prestigious honors along the way. U.S. News & World Report last year ranked Haas Hall the No. 1 high school in Arkansas and the 115th best in the nation. Haas Hall normally receives hundreds more applications each year than it can accept because of its capacity restrictions.

Haas Hall officials estimate somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of their students come from Benton County. Open-enrollment charter schools are open to any students who live in the state.

Bethany Culpepper, a Bentonville resident, has a son who's a sophomore at Haas Hall. Having a Haas Hall in Benton County would save the family many hours of traveling and money spent on gasoline, she said.

"It's a sacrifice we chose to make and it's definitely worth it," Culpepper said. "I think there are a lot more parents in Benton County who would go if it weren't so far. A lot of times parents can't make that sacrifice."

A school like Haas Hall would make an important impact on Benton County, Culpepper said.

"This helps raise the bar for all the schools," she said.

Michael Poore, superintendent of the Bentonville School District, mentioned during a School Board meeting Monday the possibility of Haas Hall coming to Benton County. The district is looking at opening a charter school of its own in 2015 for kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We have to be ready to compete," Poore said.

Charter schools operate under a contract with the state that frees them from some of the regulations created for traditional public schools while also holding them accountable for academic and financial results. There are 35 charter schools in the state, including three in Benton County.

The Pea Ridge School District has won state approval to open a charter school this fall focused on business and manufacturing skills.

While Schoppmeyer looks to open a Haas Hall in Benton County, he's also working on plans to build a campus for the Fayetteville school on 17 acres at the intersection of Gregg Avenue and Van Asche Drive.

NW News on 04/02/2014

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