Two Compete For Bentonville School Board's Zone 4 Seat

BENTONVILLE -- Kirsten Johnston will challenge Willie Cowgur in one of two races this year for seats on the Bentonville School Board.

Johnston and Cowgur will run for the Zone 4 seat. Only residents of Zone 4 are eligible to vote in this race. The zone covers much of east and northeast Bentonville and southeast Bella Vista. It's defined roughly by North Walton Boulevard on the west side, Central Avenue on the south side, Bella Vista's Dartmoor Road on the north side and Little Flock's Rocky Ridge Trail on the east side.

School board elections will be Sept. 16. Early voting begins Tuesday and will be available at each of the three Benton County Clerk's offices: 215 E. Central Ave., Bentonville; 1428 W. Walnut St., Rogers; and 707 Lincoln St., Siloam Springs.

NWA Media asked both Zone 4 candidates to respond to four questions related to this race. Candidates were asked to keep their answers to fewer than 200 words. The questions and candidates' answers are provided below.

Q: Why are you running?

JOHNSTON: I got involved supporting the second high school. Iʼm grateful that is now part of our districtʼs plan. That experience taught me the necessity of speaking up. Because I believe a "ready to learn" environment is essential in education, I want to be on the School Board to focus on issues that distract the districtʼs ability to educate. Many people acknowledge these challenges.

First, a 2007 board-appointed task force recommended the district streamline to a three-building system at a cost of $5 million. Since 2005 we have built eight buildings, yet even as we continue to build, we donʼt have a plan to reduce the number of buildings students transition through.

Consistency for students is educationally significant. Putting off that investment costs us in multiple ways. The dropout rate at our high school is an example.

Second, the way we transport students is expensive to everyone involved. Our administrators and teachers spend enormous energy on car lines, time and energy they should be devoting to education. Because we have a small-town infrastructure, an efficient bus system which gives parents a real choice to put their children on the bus should be a priority.

COWGUR: I'm running again because I love this district. I was born and raised here and graduated from Bentonville High School, and I want us to continue to be the leader in education.

I have a vested interest in the success of the district as I have three kids that are/will be students within the district. Also, we have had some challenges over the past couple of years and I don't want to walk away until these challenges are addressed.

I also want to ensure that the administration and staff are heard. I don't think the board listens enough to the administration and teachers. The administration and teachers know what is best for our students and we need to listen.

I feel that I have done this and will continue to do so.

Q: What's the biggest challenge you expect to confront as a board over the next five years, and how should the board approach it?

JOHNSTON: I believe establishing a unified vision is our greatest challenge. What do we want our district to look like in five years and beyond?

Our growth provides the opportunity to shape our district in ways many districts cannot because they lack the resources. Our rapid growth, in some ways, has been divisive -- for instance, the second high school. Failure to have a district vision will continue to result in squandered energy and resources. A district vision can unite. "Being the best in the state" is both vague and shortsighted.

As a member of the School Board, I would support a vision that includes choices for all students, with resources wisely allocated to make them available; provides opportunities for real-world and hands-on training as essential elements of education; supports the vital link between exercise and learning at the elementary level; and addresses the fundamentals of providing environments where students are ready to learn.

With proper vision and planning, we can harness our growth to invest in the teaching, transportation and transitioning of our students from kindergarten through high school graduation. I look forward to helping shape that vision.

COWGUR: We do have some challenges ahead of us. The biggest challenge I believe the district has is the number of different schools that are coming to the area.

Within the last couple of years, we have had the Classical Academy open and Hass Hall has announced that it will be opening a school in the Bentonville area.

If we don't give our kids and parents options within the district, we are going to lose a lot of great kids and teachers. The district had a great opportunity to offer another option and different learning environment with the conversion charter school that was presented to the board and voted on in June.

The board failed to support this option, so we will have to continue to work on a plan to give our students and parents options within the district.

Q: School District administrators this year proposed converting R.E. Baker Elementary School into a charter school, but the School Board voted it down. How did you feel about that proposal?

JOHNSTON: The board was evenly split on this proposal and my opinion mirrors that.

There are three reasons I supported it. First, parents with choices regarding their childrenʼs education correlates with improved student performance. Second, a charter school would have brought $850,000 of investment into the district. Third, the STEAM model teaches with hands-on learning and supports the necessity of evolving educational methods to compete globally.

There are three reasons I opposed it. First, a primary purpose of a charter school is to focus on low-achieving students. Because we have several elementary schools with over 40 percent low-income students, I believe that placing a charter school in one of those buildings would provide the most incremental benefit to the district.

Second, there was no plan to pay the additional transportation costs. Third, there was a hope, but no plan, to share STEAM methods with other elementary schools.

We have a need for progressive education and choices, such as a charter school. This proposal proved the district has teachers and administrators who are already pursuing that. I look forward to an improved proposal being introduced and passed.

COWGUR: I was very disappointed that the board did not support this. Bentonville is known to be the leader in education not only in Northwest Arkansas but also the state, so we should have passed this without any question.

We had an opportunity to do something innovative in the district that would have continued to separate us from the other districts in the area. We had administration and staff with over 1,000 years of educational experience and 90 percent of the community that took the survey tell us that this was the right thing to do for our district and we failed to listen.

The conversion charter school would have used existing facilities and staff with no extra expense to the district. Conversion charter schools do provide funds to the school through grants that are only available to conversion charter schools.

The STEAM curriculum puts an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math. The opportunity to expand these subjects will prepare and guide students to future careers in STEM fields. The arts provide the creativity portion of the curriculum. This would have been a great opportunity for the district and I really think we should look at this again.

Q: Why are you the better candidate for this position?

JOHNSTON: One of my strengths is a desire to understand all sides of an issue and a willingness to ask questions. In fact, itʼs most important for me to talk with those who donʼt share my opinion so I can understand why they believe as they do.

This dialogue involves board members, administrators, teachers, and parents -- both in and out of Bentonville. I've never been satisfied to continue doing something just because thatʼs the way itʼs always been done. I believe that happens sometimes in this district.

Because my children have attended school in two other districts outside of Arkansas, I have had the opportunity to experience solutions to problems that exist in this district. For example, we lived in districts in which all students were bused to school in a reasonable amount of time. Car rider lines did not exist.

While I have opinions, Iʼm also flexible. Many times Iʼll start out believing one way, but after looking at facts and discussing with multiple people, my point of view evolves. I will invest the time to understand the issues, respect opposing points of view, and strongly advocate for what I think is best.

COWGUR: After serving three years on the board and being the longest-tenured board member, I understand what the district needs to be focused on to continue to move us forward as the leader in education. Also, by living in the community my whole life, I have a very good understanding of what the community expects from the district.

As I review information and data when making decisions, I make the decision that is best for the overall district, not what is best for a certain part of the district. I feel like I have taken this approach the last three years that I have served on the board and will continue to use this approach.

NW News on 09/05/2014