The Walton Family Foundation plans to support the development of an independent school in Bentonville, the foundation said in a statement Thursday.
Clayton Marsh, deputy dean of the college at Princeton University, will be the founding head of the school, starting next January, according to the foundation.
The Walton foundation said the school will "offer a challenging curriculum, small classes, a diverse student body and distinctive architecture," and will initially serve middle and high school students.
Marsh is expected to release a timeline for the opening of the school and the grades it will serve in spring 2016. The foundation didn't say where the school may be located.
“One of the key points in the Home Region’s 2020 strategic plan is to create a world-class system of Pre-K-12 schools,” said Karen Minkel, director of the foundation's Home Region program, which supports education and economic-development programs in Northwest Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta. “Our planning process helped us assess the current level of accessibility for parents and students to high-performing charter schools and traditional public schools. Our assessment also revealed that an independent school would add to the range of quality options available.”