BENTONVILLE -- The tipping point for whether or not there'll be a class of 2017 at West High School is 300 seniors.
Those seniors are sophomores now and the school will not open until the fall of 2016.
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Bentonville Schools
Bentonville’s School Board will adopt the 2015-2016 Bentonville High School Course Guide at their meeting at 5:30 p.m., Jan. 20 at the administration building, 500 Tiger Boulevard.
Changes inlcude shorter descriptions of a half dozen courses and state-required updates. Two courses were removed: IB music theory and biotechnical engineering. Eleven courses were added or reinstituted. Additions included:
• Literary Magazine III
• Literacy ready
• Linear systems and statistics
• Math ready
• IB Theatre I
• Veterinary assistant apprenticeship
• EAST Initiative III
Re-instated courses include:
• Marketing II
• Computerized accounting
• Web Design II
• Engineering design & development
Source: Staff Report
Board members debated their futures Tuesday before deciding to survey all seniors on the interest in attending the new school. Administrators will send a letter home with a postcard for parents to send back.
Administrators polled 20 random students prior to Christmas. One student wanted to attend the new school his or her senior year. The other 19 said they wanted to stay at Bentonville High School. There are 396 students who live in the attendance area who will be seniors in 2016-2017.
Board member Rebecca Powers objected to the size of the survey.
"I think the public themselves are gonna be, 'What? A random 20 kids made this decision for you guys?'" Powers said.
The sample size was too small, said Grant Lightle, board member. Parents will be the ones with a difficult year if they have a child at both high schools.
"Still 19 to one is pretty compelling," he said.
Board member Brent Leas said it doesn't make economic sense to poll again. Students are unlikely to embrace change, he said.
"If I were a sophomore looking at this I'd want to finish out my career at Bentonville High School. I'd want to be a Bentonville Tiger," he said.
The transfer to the new high school would be non-optional for freshmen, sophomores and seniors living in West's area when it opens in 2016. The board has yet to vote on if seniors will change with the rest of the school.
Lightle asked if juniors would have the same opportunities without seniors and if high-level classes such as calculus will be offered at West.
Administrators said the facilities and classes will be equal, except for the International Baccalaureate program because of the years-long process involved in setting it up.
Lightle advocated for letting every senior pick which school to attend, but admitted it would be hard to find 300 willing to make the change.
Administrators cautioned students who attend a school outside their boundaries are ineligible for school groups sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association. Board members offered to redraw boundaries for seniors only.
Starting with 300 seniors at the school's open was a new number to the School Board. It emerged as critical mass during administrative discussions in the past two months, said Michael Poore, superintendent.
Administrators think in blocks of 150 when trying to cover the basics -- English, math, social studies and science, he said. Having a block of 300 students to start the school allows for more teachers in more classes and better ability to accommodate student schedules, he said.
Powers asked administrators to pull in the 396 students who will make the new school's senior class and show them the drawings and excite them about the future. It's hard for them to be excited about a concrete slab, she said. She lives in the West area and because her daughter loves her high school she sometimes forgets what the new one will be like, Powers said.
"You have to educate them on what the possibilities are," she said.
Football, chamber choir, debate will all exist at West. The district will post an opening for the principal position this week and assemble and administrative team, Poore said.
No matter the vote, some parents will be unhappy, said Travis Riggs, board president. For him it's a monetary decision.
"If it's going to save $100,000, $200,000 a year I'm voting for it," Riggs said.
Poore said after the meeting no dollar figure had been attached to housing seniors at Bentonville High School versus West High School.
The flexibility offered to seniors is the cause of the debate, Poore said. Freshmen have required courses, he said. Sophomores and juniors have more choices, but seniors may be picking up a missed credit, an advanced class or may be heavy with electives.
Board members voted, with some dissent, to survey students and to include those not living in the attendance area. Poore offered to hold a public meeting to educate the community about the school and what it will offer.
Early in the meeting Patrick Horath of Flintco showed aerial photos of building progress at the Centerton school. There are walls at the auxiliary gym and locker areas and footing and plumbing in other areas, especially around the performing arts center at the opposite end of the school, he said.
"We're basically trying to attack the building from two sides," Horath said.
The building is on schedule although cold temperatures are hampering masonry work, he said.
NW News on 01/07/2015