BENTONVILLE -- Parents associated with the School District's band program are working on how they'll handle the transition from one high school to two.
The Bentonville Band Boosters executive committee voted early this month in favor of maintaining its focus on Bentonville High School and letting parents associated with West High School form their own booster group.
Band size
Albert Ortiz, West High School’s band director, has estimated his band will start with about 100 students in grades nine through 11 this fall. The band will likely increase in size when the school adds a senior class in the 2017-18 school year.
Source: Staff report
That decision surprised West High parents. It also raised concern among School Board members, who briefly discussed the issue during a meeting last week.
Superintendent Michael Poore assured board members last week he spoke to the booster club's president about the matter.
"I think we're on the right track," Poore said.
West High School is set to open this fall in Centerton. The school's Wolverine Band Boosters club held its first meeting last week. Danny Prejoles, whose daughter will be part of West High's color guard, was elected president. Between 15 and 20 people attended the meeting, Prejoles said.
Prejoles spoke during time allotted for public comment at last week's board meeting. He said his group's biggest task is establishing nonprofit status, a process that can take months.
"Without 501(c)(3) status, we cannot accept donations and donors cannot write off their donations as tax write-offs or charity contributions," Prejoles said.
Prejoles said he had been told by West High Principal Jonathon Guthrie there were plans to reverse the Bentonville Band Boosters' decision to split.
"I'd like to thank you for your concern and willingness to help," Prejoles told the board. "However, I am deeply concerned about how new action would be received if it is made unilaterally without discussion or input from the parents of Bentonville West High School."
In a follow-up email to the board, Prejoles noted the decision to remove coverage of West High from the booster club's umbrella had been made without input from West High parents.
"For such action to be taken again in the same manner could cause anger and mistrust that is easily avoidable, even in the midst of good intentions," Prejoles wrote.
The Bentonville Band Boosters regularly raises more than $100,000 per year to help pay for operational expenses of the band program, including trips to band competitions.
As for whether the Bentonville Band Boosters will provide the Wolverine Band Boosters with any financial support in the first year, Prejoles said Monday there are "good prospects" for that, but it was too early to confirm anything.
There hasn't been any change in the Bentonville Band Boosters' decision yet, Chris Wall, Bentonville Band Boosters president, said Monday.
"We are working together still, even though we're talking about being separate groups," Wall said. "We're not going to just cut (West High parents) off, so in the first year especially, you'll still see a lot of collaboration between the two groups."
It's unclear exactly what will happen, but Wall added, "My gut tells me they'll stay separate, but we'll see."
Wall acknowledged this month's decision of his club's executive committee to split off from West High School could have been handled better.
"A lot of the problems around this is, we did a poor job of communicating," Wall said.
He said he is working on arranging a meeting this week with Prejoles and the high school principals to discuss more details of the two-school arrangement.
"Hopefully by the end of the week we will have a little more clarity on everything," Wall said.
Poore said the district sanctions booster clubs, but doesn't control them.
NW News on 04/26/2016