Two new Springdale schools make debut

Catrina Anderson, second-grade teacher, walks Monday with her students through the halls at Knapp Elementary School in Springdale. Monday was the first day for students.
Catrina Anderson, second-grade teacher, walks Monday with her students through the halls at Knapp Elementary School in Springdale. Monday was the first day for students.

SPRINGDALE -- The wait for a campus ended Monday with the opening of the permanent home for the Don Tyson School of Innovation.

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Korbin Self (left) and Kaitlyn Smith, both freshmen at the Don Tyson School of Innovation, participate Monday in a name association game with Jessica Tolliver (center), a freshman English teacher, on the first day of classes at the school in Springdale. The students class is held in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Zone at the school. The zone will house different classes in the same open area. Monday was the first day of classes for Springdale Public Schools.

"I have been waiting for this day for two years," said Clay Kilmer, a sophomore beginning his third year as a School of Innovation student. "It feels awesome to finally be in the building that has been my dream school. I'm very happy to be here."

New Springdale schools

• Don Tyson School of Innovation: School year started with 550 students in 8th through 10th grade. Mascot is the Phoenix.

• Linda Childers Knapp Elementary School: School year began with 580 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Students are the Knapp Navigators, with an alligator mascot.

— STAFF REPORT

Monday was the first day of school for the more than 21,500 students throughout the Springdale School District. It also marked the opening of the district's 18th elementary school, Linda Childers Knapp Elementary School on Oriole Street.

Students began arriving around 8 a.m. to the new 143,000-square-foot School of Innovation campus, which sits across the street from Lakeside Junior High School.

The first day came with a line of vehicles on East Robinson Avenue, with traffic heading toward both schools. School of Innovation Principal Joe Rollins stood at the entrance into the campus, directing parents and greeting students. Students gathered in the cafeteria as they awaited the start of the day's activities.

"This place is for you," Rollins said during the opening assembly.

Rollins asked students to think about why they chose to come to the School of Innovation, which was open to all students in the district. He urged students to rise up to the next level like their mascot, the Phoenix.

"I want you to push yourself," Rollins said.

The School of Innovation started two years ago in the Jones Center with about 200 eighth-graders. The School Board in June 2015 awarded a $24 million contract for the new campus.

The construction team organized by Baldwin & Shell Construction worked to have the building ready and clean ahead of schedule, Rollins said. Equipment and furniture were moved in a week ago. Teachers moved in Wednesday, and the staff worked through the weekend to set up for the first day, he said.

The school also is a demonstration site for a series of projects the School District is implementing to personalize education. The district is paying for those projects with some money from a four-year federal Race to the Top grant of $25.88 million.

The idea is for the School of Innovation to be a different model for what education looks like, Rollins said. New career and technical education labs will combine with the academic program developed over the past two years.

The School of Innovation this year also will begin a virtual school for about a dozen students, starting next week, Assistant Principal Mark Oesterle said. A new status as a district-run charter school allows the School of Innovation to offer a complete online curriculum.

A priority for staff in these first days of school, though, is to get to know every student on a personal level, Rollins said. Activities organized Monday gave students time to bond with the students and teachers who make up their advisory classes that consist of students in the same grade level.

Eighth-grade family and consumer sciences teacher Kim Blackston led her advisory group in a few games where they had to work together and communicate. She told them teachers expect them to solve problems, and if they fail, to keep trying.

Kilmer was most excited about taking pre-Advanced Placement sophomore English, physics and advanced algebra, he said. The school was a better fit for him because wouldn't perform as well in a rigid school environment, he said.

Kilmer prefers to work at his own pace and enjoys having more choices in how he does his school work, he said. He also likes technology.

"This is the best experience I have had in school in my life," he said. "It did change my life."

At Knapp Elementary School, Principal Cindy Covington enjoyed watching a new staff and student body come together for the first time, she said. Her priorities Monday were making sure every child was in the right place, felt safe, had a happy lunch and got home at the end of the day.

The 90,000-square-foot elementary school with an attached prekindergarten center was built for $16.9 million, under a contract also awarded in June 2015 to Flintco Constructive Solutions.

"We're a brand new building," Covington said. "We didn't all know each other. We're building a culture where everyone belongs."

NW News on 08/16/2016

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