Bentonville School District Targets Bright Futures

BENTONVILLE -- The School District wants to do more to eliminate complications in students' lives that could disrupt their education.

District officials will turn to Bright Futures, a program that aims to meet a student's personal needs through community partnerships, to accomplish that.

At A Glance

Bright Futures

The intent of Bright Futures is to meet any child’s basic need within 24 hours of identifying the need. This is done through a rapid-response system using existing resources and/or social media. In many cases, needs are met in minutes. The school system acts as the liaison between the student and the donor. Needs are identified by teachers, counselors and other school personnel.

Source: Bright Futures

"We have a very giving community," said Michael Poore, superintendent, as he discussed Bright Futures at a School Board meeting last month. "It's just a matter of trying to organize it in a more efficient manner to support our children."

The board voted unanimously at that meeting to move forward with implementing Bright Futures. The next step is to have a Bright Futures representative provide training for a variety of people who will be involved in the Bentonville program. That likely will happen in late August, Poore said.

The Bright Futures program originated in Joplin, Mo., in 2010. It sprang from that school district's effort to raise its graduation rate, according to Kim Vann, Bright Futures USA's executive director.

Joplin officials agreed poverty was holding back many students. The students' most basic needs would have to be met before they could focus on graduating.

"There was a lack of support for some of these kids in terms of some personal situations," Vann said. "It wasn't that the kids couldn't learn. We just didn't have the proper supports in place for kids in at-risk situations."

Bright Futures was launched as a way to address those needs by connecting community resources with students and families.

Joplin has seen its graduation rate soar from the mid-70 percent range to 86 percent since it implemented Bright Futures. Bright Futures wasn't the only thing that raised the graduation rate, but it provided a "backbone of support" for the district, Vann said.

Bentonville's graduation rate is 86 percent, Poore said.

"Is that good enough in our community?" Poore said. "There are things we can do to impact that, and we believe (Bright Futures) could be one of those things that could have an impact on providing support not only for seniors, but a child who's in second grade because that's where that dropout rate sometimes gets created if there's not the right and appropriate support."

Word about the success of Bright Futures has spread to Joplin's neighboring school districts and elsewhere. It's now used by 23 districts in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Virginia.

Pea Ridge is the only district in Arkansas that has implemented Bright Futures. The program started there last summer. Pea Ridge Superintendent Rick Neal said it's a way for a community to help raise its children.

"Our community is very involved with our youth, and I think that's the biggest thing Bright Futures has brought to our community," Neal said. "It brings everyone together."

Pea Ridge has its own Bright Futures Facebook page that had garnered 793 "likes" as of Friday. The page is used to advertise specific student needs.

On March 12, for example, a post was made that asked for shoes for two students. The need was filled by the next day.

Launching Bright Futures for the Bentonville School District this year is one of the performance goals outlined for Poore in his new contract. Charles Rateliff and Tom Seay, a pair of Bentonville residents and former Walmart employees, urged Poore to consider the idea earlier this year.

"People want to plug in. They just want to know how to do it," Rateliff said. "We need a framework or structure."

Mike Mumma, board president of the Bentonville Public Schools Foundation and a former principal, joined Rateliff and Seay on a trip to Joplin last month. They met with superintendent C.J. Huff to discuss Bright Futures.

"The greatest feeling a principal has is working with a child and seeing that child turn from sad to smiling because a need was met, and it doesn't always have to be academic," Mumma said. "Most of the time it's not. It's social and emotional. What we'd like to do is set up a program or a method where those needs could be met."

Grant Lightle, board vice president, said for a student who's worried about where his next meal will come from homework is usually far down his priority list.

"So I think (Bright Futures) is a no-brainer," Lightle said. "We have the resources in the community. We'd be crazy not to do everything we can to tap them."

Poore emphasized Bright Futures would not replace existing programs such as SnackPacks for Kids.

"It just helps coordinate it," he said.

Though Bentonville may be regarded as an affluent school district, some students still face challenging situations. The district had 42 students living in foster homes as of May. More than 4 percent of Bentonville students are considered homeless. The district also had at least 22 teenage mothers this past school year, Poore said.

Bright Futures does not work exactly the same in every community, Vann said.

"We have a framework we provide and share best practices, but it's very important that each community develops a flavor that is unique to the needs of their particular school community," she said.

Implementing Bright Futures comes with a one-time affiliation fee of $2,500. Typically a community business or organization offers to pay that fee, Vann said. For that fee a district receives its marketing and logo packages, social media package, training, a resource guide and ongoing support from the Bright Futures network, she said.

Vann added Walmart has been a great partner with Bright Futures in its affiliate communities.

"We're really excited to see this kick off in a community that's in the backyard of Walmart headquarters," she said.

NW News on 07/21/2014

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