Bentonville's Student Services Now Under One Roof

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

BENTONVILLE -- A facility the School District opened last month allows families to access most of the services they need in one place, officials said.

The Student Services Center, 1000 S.E. 14th St., brings several departments together under one roof. Those departments include special education, federal programs, Section 504 and nursing.

At A Glance

Buildings Purchased

The Bentonville School Board agreed in December 2012 to buy the buildings at 1000 and 1002 S.E. 14th St. for $2.5 million. That money came from the district’s reserves.

Source: Staff Report

All of those departments now fall under the supervision of Tanya Sharp, executive director of student services.

"It's a center of support for students to allow those (department) directors to work in one place and improve their collaboration," Sharp said.

A family may come in to find out where to enroll their children. If their children are special-education students, they can find the appropriate information there.

If it's a family learning English, the English as a second language team is housed next door along with Gateway, the district's alternative high school program.

The person who handles social services also is based in the building. If people need clothing or school supplies, they would pick up those things at the Student Services Center.

The building also contains three training rooms, plus another one that remains unfinished.

"The intent is to house a lot of district trainings over here," Sharp said.

Janet Schwanhausser, federal programs director, said the increased collaboration among departments will result in better service to families.

"When I meet with a family who needs services, I don't have to have them call someone later or go across town. They're here in this building," Schwanhausser said.

Until recently, the Student Services Center's building was being leased by Novar, an energy management company. Novar moved to another part of Bentonville, according to Paul Wallace, district director of facilities.

"All we really did was come in and repaint the interior walls, and we had to construct a conference room," Wallace said. "We did do some tile flooring in a couple of the rooms. It was in pretty good shape when we moved in."

Novar donated numerous cubicles to the district to use in the center, Wallace said. The directors have offices, but the rest of the roughly two dozen employees in the building work in cubicles, which is a new experience for many of them. The building's staff had a breakfast meeting Thursday during which they discussed cubicle etiquette, Sharp said.

Some of the workers came from the district's central office. Others were based in schools throughout the district.

"That frees up space in the schools," Sharp said.

Amanda Musick oversees Section 504 services, among other things. Section 504 has to do with a federal law for people with disabilities.

"I think it was a great move for the district to put these student services in a centralized location and I think it really helps us to be better advocates for our students when they can come to one place and different needs can be met," Musick said.

NW News on 09/02/2014