ROGERS -- Arkansas Arts Academy will ask for a charter renewal of 20 years when it meets with state officials next week, said Mary Ley, the school's chief executive officer.
Charter schools must seek periodic renewal of their licenses from the state. The academy is operating on a three-year charter that expires this summer.
Charter Schools
Charter schools are public schools that operate without some of the regulations traditional public schools must follow. Arkansas has 40 charter schools. Arkansas Arts Academy is one of four charters in Benton County.
Ley said she wasn't aware of any other charter school in Arkansas that's been granted a license to operate for more than 10 years. Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville became the first school to achieve a 10-year charter extension in 2012.
During Tuesday's meeting of the school's board, Ley said she isn't optimistic the state will grant a 20-year charter but said the school definitely would benefit from such a term. For one thing, it would encourage investors to know the academy will be around for a while.
The added stability also would be helpful when it comes to attracting teachers and administrators, Ley said.
"The state is always asking how we will get highly qualified people. It's easier to get highly qualified people if we don't have to ask for a renewal every three years," Ley said.
"And the renewal process is a big distraction from our mission," said Dave Russell, board president.
The academy gets its chance to make its case in front of the state's Charter Authorizing Panel on Feb. 18. Academy officials will get 20 minutes to make a presentation. The panel will inform the academy within three days whether its application for renewal has been granted and, if so, for how long, Ley said.
The academy, formerly known as the Benton County School of the Arts, is the second-oldest charter school in the state.
Parents founded Benton County School of the Arts as a kindergarten through eighth-grade charter school 14 years ago. Northwest Arkansas Academy of Fine Arts was launched in a downtown church building in 2007. The two schools merged in 2009.
The school was renamed Arkansas Arts Academy on July 1. It serves about 250 students at the high school level and 550 students in the elementary and middle school levels.
In other business at Tuesday's meeting, the board approved designating high school principal Barb Padgett the lead principal for the entire academy. The new title comes with additional pay of $200 per month for Padgett.
Padgett has built the kind of environment at the high school that should be in place across the rest of the academy, Ley said.
"I felt like we needed to raise the bar and I don't know anyone who could do that better than Barb," Ley said.
Renee Deshommes, who was hired last year as principal of the elementary and middle school, will retain her position.
"I think the high school is so high-achieving that it would be good for Rene to have Barb here to use her experience of how she got the chemistry at the high school and bring that same chemistry here," Ley said.
Russell thanked Padgett for accepting the new role.
"I think that's going to be a very positive move in bringing the school together cohesively," he said.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, Ley reported to the board on an open meeting she held last week for parents who wanted to discuss concerns they had or offer ideas for improving the academy.
"I really enjoyed it," Ley said. "They really wanted to be heard. They had fabulous ideas."
Ley said she didn't expect anyone to show up for the meeting, but at least 20 parents came. Padgett, who also attended, called it "one of the best meetings we've had in the past four years."
NW News on 02/11/2015