Second High School Will Be Called Bentonville West

— Bentonville West will be the name and the wolverine will be the mascot of the second high school, the School Board decided Monday.

The board's decision on the name came on a 5-2 vote. Board president Wendi Cheatham and members Grant Lightle, Matt Burgess, Willie Cowgur and Lisa Clark voted for Bentonville West. Board members Brent Leas and Rebecca Powers opposed it.

AT A GLANCE

The 2014-15 Calendar

The School Board on Monday adopted traditional and nontraditional calendars for the 2014-15 school year. Both calendars include more makeup days built into them than this year's calendars had.

The traditional calendar has Jan. 16 and 19 set aside as the first two make-up days. Make-up days three through eight are scheduled for May 29 and June 4 through 8. The ninth and 10th make-up days would be the first and second days of spring break (March 23 and 24). The calendar stipulates Saturdays may be used during the second semester if the district needs to make up additional days.

The nontraditional calendar, which applies to Baker and Elm Tree elementary schools, also uses Jan. 16 and 19 as make-up days. The first three days of the February intersession are possible makeup days as well, along with the first two days of spring break and the first three days of the April/May intersession.

Once school year calendars are set, any changes must be approved by the administration, School Board and staff members.

Source: Staff Report

The school will be built on Gamble Road in Centerton, about seven miles west of Bentonville High School. It's scheduled to open in August 2016.

Lightle said he liked Bentonville West because it comes with the Bentonville School District's brand attached to it.

"The name Bentonville means something worldwide," Lightle said.

Burgess agreed.

"I'm a brand person, generally," Burgess said. "When people see Bentonville in the name, they have a certain expectation."

Powers, on the other hand, said she wasn't thrilled with naming all the high schools Bentonville, adding all of the communities within the district should be considered.

"You're going to offend some people with the Bentonville name," she said.

Powers also disliked the thought of the school going by four initials rather than three.

Leas said his only concern about Bentonville West was whether the second high school would always be in what's considered the district's west side. He suggested Bentonville Centerpoint as an alternative.

The community suggested several dozen names and mascots for the second high school. Board members whittled down the list to three names and four mascots, then asked junior high students to vote on them. Bentonville West received about two-thirds of the students' votes, with Alliance and Bentonville Alliance receiving the rest of the votes. Students also clearly demonstrated a preference for wolverines over jaguars, falcons and chargers.

Lightle said he liked wolverines, which is also the mascot of the University of Michigan.

"The University of Michigan is one of the premier public universities of this country and stealing a page from their book is not a bad thing," he said.

Mary Ley, district director of communications, thanked the board for honoring the students' wishes.

In other news from Monday's meeting, the board voted 4-3 in favor of the administration's request to eliminate Pre-AP Accelerated Algebra I from junior high course offerings for next school year.

Leas, Powers, Cowgur and Clark voted for the recommendation. Burgess, Lightle and Cheatham voted against it.

Administrators said the course was implemented under old state standards that have since been replaced by Common Core standards, which require significantly more standards be covered in seventh-grade algebra. The time allotted for students to absorb a deep conceptual understanding of all that material is not sufficient, administrators said.

The board's vote came after several students and teachers spoke at Monday's meeting against the administration's plan. Shahul Alam, a Bentonville High sophomore, said he's taking second-year calculus this year, something he wouldn't have had the opportunity to do if not for the chance to take Accelerated Algebra I in seventh grade.

Lightle said the option should be available for the district's most brilliant math students.

"The question is, do we trust our parents and students enough to know what the appropriate challenge is for them," he said.

Cheatham said she'd prefer to wait a year and get some more data before cutting the class.

NW News on 03/18/2014

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