Bentonville's Gateway Program Getting Staffing Boost

BENTONVILLE -- The School Board on Monday approved hiring up to three additional full-time staff members for Gateway, the alternative learning program for high school students.

Michael Poore, superintendent, originally asked the board to consider adding two staff members -- one math teacher and one English teacher -- which would have allowed Gateway's capacity to increase from 60 to at least 75 students.

Fast Facts

About Gateway

Gateway is the Bentonville School District’s alternative high school program. Some statistics about the program:

• Students who go through Gateway have seen their grade point average increase by an average of 0.68 per student. The average entry grade point average is 1.47. The average exit grade point average is 2.08.

• Students entering Gateway on average have completed 0.66 of each credit attempted. While at Gateway, students complete an average of 0.95 of each credit attempted.

• Thirty-two Gateway students received a Bentonville High School diploma for the 2013-14 school year.

Source: Bentonville School District

Rebecca Powers, a board member, urged the board to consider going a step further to achieve a capacity of 90. High school principal Chad Scott said a third additional staff member could get Gateway to that level.

"If we can do it, I think we should do it," Powers said.

The board voted unanimously in favor of that proposal.

Gateway was launched in 2008 to provide a small-school environment for students at risk of dropping out of high school. Class sizes are capped at 15 students and staff members monitor the students' attendance, grades and behavior closely.

Last year the program moved from the high school into its own space on Southeast 14th Street, half a mile north of the high school.

School administrators have a list of 140 students they believe would benefit from being enrolled in Gateway, Scott said.

"It's just a matter of how far we want to go down the list," Scott said.

The board recently negotiated a new three-year contract with Poore that outlines numerous goals the board would like him to achieve in the next school year. One of those goals is to increase the School District's graduation rate by at least 2 percent. Powers noted increasing Gateway's capacity would help the district reach that goal.

Each new teacher at Gateway costs the district about $65,000 per year, according to district figures. Scott said he has a person in mind to fill one of the new positions.

"We have a lady who filled in as a long-term substitute who has a passion for (Gateway) and wants to do it," he said. "You want to look for people who are good at making connections with at-risk kids."

Also on Monday, the board approved hiring an additional five full-time teachers to accommodate growth throughout the district. The high school will get three of those extra positions.

Dena Ross, executive director of human resources, said the high school has 4,307 students enrolled and 247 staff members. Last October, the high school had 200 fewer students and 250 staff members.

"So three additional teachers is very efficient. It's very tight," Ross said.

High school administrators had done all they could to make the scheduling fit the staff available, but at a certain point, "they got to gridlock," Ross said.

The other two extra positions approved by the board likely will go to Apple Glen Elementary and Old High Middle School, said Tanya Sharp, director of special services. Elementary and middle school enrollment numbers are increasing rapidly, Sharp said.

NW News on 08/12/2014

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