How We See It: Bentonville District Moves With Unity Toward Bright Future

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Like the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bentonville School Board has had it's share of split decisions. But last week was a time for unity.

School officials gathered in a pasture in Centerton to ceremonially break ground for the new Bentonville West High School, home of the Wolverines. In a nice touch to the otherwise predictable style of such events, the shoveling of dirt exposed streaks of blue and gold sand to celebrate the high school's colors.

What’s The Point?

Last week, the Bentonville School District took some important steps toward a brighter future for students, faculty and staff, and the community as a whole.

The community deserved the celebration after the long haul it needed to reach this day. The two years scheduled for construction is but a fraction of the time that was necessary to debate how to properly expand the district in a way to relieve the overcrowding at the existing Bentonville High School.

Soon, work crews and equipment will populate the 90-acre site on Gamble Road, with a goal of getting those first students in the building in August 2016.

"Many people thought this day would never come," said Wendi Cheatham, the school board president.

She's right. Two years ago school district voters rejected the board's first millage request to build Bentonville's second high school. What's to be built is a much lower-cost version that voters backed last September.

Groundbreakings are good times to look to the future and forego hanging onto the past. However convoluted or contentious the process was to get to this week's event, little can be gained by concentrating on the struggles. Hopefully, the turning of dirt can not only serve as a new beginning for bright futures for Bentonville students, but also serve as a ceremonial burial to some of the acrimony the high school debate fostered.

The school board on the same date found unity in approving a new three-year contract for Superintendent Michael Poore. It was a four-month, arduous process preceded by deep divisions about Poore's future. The board eventually voted to negotiate with Poore to include detailed goals in the contract. Those fall into categories of academic achievement, financial stewardship, strategic leadership and community and public relations.

A signed contract resulting from an earnest effort for the superintendent and school board to understand each other should provide greater stability for the future as all parties worked to understand and be understood. It is important for this district to move forward and build a reputation as an organization focused on a better and brighter future.

Everyone involved took some major steps toward that goal this week.

One last note: Bentonville broke ground on a second high school this week. There are those in the community who continue to claim some secret conspiracy by which Poore, who was originally an advocate of a ninth-grade center, and others are simply waiting to pull a last-second switcharoo to maintain Bentonville as a one-high-school town. We find such talk ludicrous and intentionally damaging to the forward-looking plans of the school board and the superintendent. At this point, if someone is advancing such conspiracy theories, one must examine what motivates him. It's certainly not what's best for the students, faculty, staff and administration of the Bentonville School District.

Commentary on 06/28/2014