Great strides in learning happen with young people whey they have exceptional teachers in the classroom, but educators will also tell you there are two (at least) other areas in which young skulls full of mush can be better primed for education: be sure students are fed and encourage them to be involved.
The effort to keep great teachers is an ongoing challenge for superintendents and their human resources departments. In recent years, federal and local programs have given kids new breakfast and lunch opportunities to get food in their stomachs so they're not distracted all day by that hollow feeling.
What’s the point?
The costs of extracurricular activities can be a barrier to some students participating. We commend Bentonville school officials for starting a conversation about the challenges.
Student involvement? As with many school activities, the student population falls into those who jump at the chance to be involved in extracurricular activities, those who do just enough to get along and those who, for a variety of reasons, don't join in at all.
Yes, we're talking football, basketball and other sports, but also dance teams, cheerleading, chess club, band and other organizations. When kids are engaged in activities in which they have an interest and a sense of belonging, they're more likely to stay in school and more likely to perform well academically.
In Bentonville the other day, the school board took up the issue of cost for extracurricular activities. Not the costs to the district itself, but those borne by students and their families. As kids get older and move into junior high and high school, the individual costs of involvement grows.
Schools have a lot of opportunities for students to join in, but costs can be a barrier. For many families, cost isn't a concern. But even in the Bentonville School District, home to Wal-mart's headquarters and well-paying vendor jobs, poverty exists. It's less so -- 25 percent of students are on free and reduced lunches compared to the state average of 63 percent -- but surely nobody finds it acceptable that "just" a quarter of students might struggle to be involved in extracurricular activities. As in every school district in Arkansas, some kids know their families struggle to pay basic bills. They're not about to go home asking mom and dad, or just mom or dad, for hundreds of dollars to join a team.
We appreciate Bentonville officials for bringing the subject up. It could be easy to ignore costs as a barrier to involvement when some parents can just say "who do I make the check out to?" To their credit, Bentonville leaders don't accept that some students will just be the ones left out.
Costs can be eye-popping, a deterrent to a kid getting involved. Participating in the marching band can cost students $1,000 for trips and uniform accessories. Being a member of the dance team at Bentonville High comes with a price tag of nearly $1,200 for camps and apparel.
The larger the activity, the more aggressive organized fundraising seems to be. Athletic teams for football and basketball often have booster clubs that raise tidy sums. For others, there are the ubiquitous sales of candles, popcorn, candy bars and the like. Many a company makes money off of the need for school organizations to make money.
District officials say scholarships are often available for students who can't afford to be involved, but school board members worried whether the message is getting out to all students. Or maybe it's a little hard -- as it would be for any of us -- to acknowledge an inability to pay for something so many other students don't seem to worry about.
The poor will always be with us, we hear from a good source. But when it comes to public schools, none can afford to let a significant portion of students sit on the sidelines. There's too much risk of losing them.
So finding ways to reduce costs or cover more of them for students is a valiant effort, one that underscores our school systems' mission to serve all who come through the doors of the school house.
As the discussion moves forward, a notion: Maybe it's not just that high costs need to be covered. Perhaps the expectations for some of these extracurricular activities need to be modified, too. Are dance teams pushed to have more outfits than they really should? Are some of the clubs pushed to attend too many camps or contests? We recognize involvement in these activities may be the only way some students get to take a trip somewhere special or have a particular experience. Still, schools need to closely examine the "investment" students and their families are expected to make.
Are those expectations reasonable?
It's the age-old question when it comes to public education -- how to engage the haves and the haves-less in an institution that needs to serve them all with equal opportunity.
There are no perfect answers, but it's good to see Bentonville asking the questions.
Commentary on 12/10/2016