BENTONVILLE -- Haas Hall Academy officials said they were pleased with how the first days of classes went this week at the charter school's new Bentonville campus.
"It's gone well," said Rod Wittenberg, headmaster at the Bentonville school. "The parent support has been tremendous. It's great to see our terrific faculty in front of the scholars doing what they're passionate about."
Nationally ranked
U.S. News & World Report has named Haas Hall Academy the best high school in Arkansas for four straight years. The school ranked 175th in the nation in the web-based publication’s 2015 list. Bentonville High School was ranked second-best in the state and No. 886 in the nation.
Source: Staff Report
Haas Hall opened in Farmington in 2004 with about a dozen students in grades 10 through 12. Founder and Superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer moved the school to a leased space in Fayetteville in 2009.
This year he moved that school again, this time to what he said is a more suitable building in Fayetteville. He also opened a Haas Hall in Bentonville. Both schools are for grades seven through 12. The combined enrollment as of the first day of school Thursday was about 640, Schoppmeyer said.
The Fayetteville school is at capacity. The Bentonville school still has openings at the 10th- through 12th-grade levels, Schoppmeyer said.
The Bentonville campus is on Southeast J Street, about half a mile south of Bentonville High School. The facility Haas Hall is leasing was completed last week, according to project manager Scott Wuerdeman of Crossland Construction.
The building contains 22 classrooms. Just inside the main entrance is a large open area that includes a few tables and chairs. In addition, there's carpeted, amphitheater-style seating where classes can gather or children can eat lunch. Another multiuse space is available at the top of the amphitheater seating.
Lee Anne Henry of Whiteline Designs in Fayetteville provided the vision for the interior design, Wuerdeman said.
"She did a great job putting everything together. We were there to build her idea," he said.
Ally Fisher is a seventh-grader at Haas Hall Bentonville. She and her parents toured the building together Monday, three days before classes were set to start.
Shara Fisher, Ally's mother, said it was Ally who suggested going to the school.
"She was interested in a smaller environment," Fisher said. "A lot of autonomy is placed on the kids, which Ally enjoys."
Admission was determined through a lottery because applications at the seventh-grade level far exceeded available spots. Ally's name was one of those chosen.
The Fishers live in the Bentonville School District, and Ally attended Barker Middle School last year. They said their switch to Haas Hall had nothing to do with the quality of the School District.
"We have very much loved Bentonville schools," Fisher said. "We would not have been frustrated at all if our number had not been chosen (in the lottery)."
Wittenberg came to Haas Hall after working for nearly six years as a project leader at national wildlife refuges in Nevada and Nebraska. Before that he helped out at Haas Hall along with his wife, who was a science teacher at the school.
Wittenberg, in addition to his administrative duties, will teach two sections of life sciences.
"I missed teaching. I missed being around young, enthusiastic, energetic people who were eager to learn every day," Wittenberg said, about why he accepted the job.
Lin Chen is among the new faculty members. Chen, a native of China, is teaching art and Mandarin Chinese this year. She and her husband live in Charleston, just east of Fort Smith. She was trying this week to find an apartment in Bentonville to live in part time.
Chen, a painter, formerly taught art at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. She cited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as a major reason for wanting to teach in Bentonville.
"The art community is really emerging here," Chen said.
She got into her classroom for the first time Monday. It's a little smaller than she's used to, but she will make do with what she has, she said.
Chen admitted to being a little nervous about teaching junior high and high school students.
"I expect this will be a whole new learning curve," she said. "I'll get to know my students and their learning styles and see how I can tailor my experience to their needs."
About 105 of Haas Hall's students are from the Bentonville School District, Schoppmeyer said. District officials had expressed frustration earlier this year about how long it took for Haas Hall to provide that number.
"Why is this such a secretive thing? I mean, I don't get it," Bentonville School Board president Travis Riggs said, when the topic came up at a board meeting July 13.
Superintendent Michael Poore, responding to Riggs' comment, compared the district's relationship with Haas Hall to its relationship with Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy, another charter school that opened two years ago in Bentonville.
Responsive Education Solutions, which runs Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy, has been open when it comes to sharing information with the district about its students, Poore said. He called such cooperation a "win-win" for the two organizations.
"It clears our record and gives us a better idea of what our numbers are going to be," Poore said at the July meeting. "It also lets them have all the previous information on that student once we send it to them. That hasn't happened with Haas Hall for whatever reason."
Schoppmeyer disputed the notion Haas Hall hasn't been open with its numbers.
"We gave them those numbers multiple times, before the semester was over, during the summer and to the Department of Education, too," Schoppmeyer said. "We've been nothing but transparent with everyone."
Asked to describe his relationship with the district, Schoppmeyer said he doesn't have one. He said he'd be open to talking to district officials, but added, "I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about my kids."
Despite Haas Hall's presence, enrollment in the School District's high school and junior high schools is expected to increase by a few hundred students this year.
Haas Hall is one of six charter schools in Benton County. Charter schools are public schools allowed to operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The charter is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served and methods of assessment.
NW News on 08/08/2015