ROGERS -- A vote next week at Benton County School of the Arts will determine if it will be new or familiar faces on the School Board.
Four seats are up for election Tuesday, and three are contested races, including incumbent David Russell, 51, facing challenger JP Trevino, 36, for Position 4.
Russell sat on the committee to renovate the school's Performing Arts Center. The sound is better, but there's more to be done with lights and other improvements, Russell said. He encouraged the committee to dream big because the building is a showcase, he said.
"You can figure out a way to pay for things. Some things just take more time," he said.
Sponsorships could pave the way for improvement, he said.
His international business background, project management skills and budgetary experience, make him a good candidate, Russell said.
Trevino said changes at the school in the past year made him want to get more involved.
"I'm just a simple guy with a simple background, but I love my daughter," Trevino said.
He's seen good teachers leave. Pay needs to be more competitive and he wants teachers to have a voice on the board, even a non-voting one.
"A happy teacher is a happy student," he said.
The school could be promoted better, Trevino said. His co-workers have asked if his child attends a private school and he said he's heard people from Springdale assume their child couldn't attend because of the Benton County name.
Russell said the marketing effort the school is developing could help bring in more money.
Trevino has been a WatchDog Dad, but said he'd like to see more options for parent volunteers as mentors, or to bring arts experience to students.
Trevino is a musician and his wife is a painter. His daughter's arts education doesn't end at 3 p.m. when she leaves school. She gets private lessons too, but arts should be the backbone of the school, he said.
Some of the arts focus has been lost in the past few years as administrators focused on test scores, Russell said, but changes this year should bring more arts classes back. He'd like to see more dance styles or more advanced dance taught, or additional band or orchestra instruments and graphic arts extended to the middle school.
"There are things we don't do," he said.
Not every child will be an artist, but an arts background can make them creative problem solvers in the business world, Russell said.
NW News on 04/26/2014