CENTERTON -- Nearly 1,000 students, parents, School District employees and other community members packed the performing arts center Friday a West High School to celebrate its grand opening.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Arkansas' newest collaborative learning environment, Bentonville West High School," Principal Jonathon Guthrie said to open the ceremony, a remark met by heavy applause.
The road to West
Major events leading to construction of the Bentonville School District’s second high school:
• March 2006: The School Board buys 90 acres in Centerton that will eventually become the site of West High School.
• August 2006: Bentonville High School opens its North Building and becomes a 9-12 campus with about 2,800 students.
• March 11, 2008: District voters reject a proposed 3.99-mill tax increase that would have paid for several major projects, including a high school and five other schools.
• Oct. 17, 2011: The board votes 5-2 to pursue construction of a ninth-grade center to relieve overcrowding at the high school.
• Jan. 17, 2012: The board reverses course and agrees to pursue building a second high school.
• June 26, 2012: Voters reject a proposed 6.7-mill tax increase to pay for construction of a high school in Centerton, remodeling of Bentonville High School, and upgrades to technology and heating and cooling systems districtwide.
• April 24, 2013: State officials announce they will provide $13 million toward the cost of a second high school if Bentonville voters agree to pay the rest of the tab.
• Sept. 17, 2013: About 70 percent of voters approve the district’s request of 2.9 mills to build a second high school in Centerton.
• March 17, 2014: The board adopts Bentonville West as the name and the wolverine as the mascot of the second high school.
• June 23, 2014: A groundbreaking ceremony is held for West High School.
• April 6, 2015: The board approves Jonathon Guthrie as the first principal of West High School. Guthrie was one of 30 people who applied for the job.
• July 29, 2016: A grand opening ceremony for West High School is held.
Source: Staff report
Speakers at the event included Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Mayor Bill Edwards, Superintendent Debbie Jones and former Superintendent Michael Poore.
Poore served five years as Bentonville's superintendent before leaving this summer for the Little Rock School District's superintendent job. The effort to build Bentonville's second high school started long before he arrived in 2011, he said.
"This wasn't just something that happened overnight," Poore said.
He mentioned the 2020 Task Force, a group that met for months in 2007 to research issues regarding the district's future. Among the group's recommendations to the School Board was to build a second high school.
Two attempts to pass a millage increase for a second high school failed before voters approved a 2.9-mill tax hike in 2013 for what would become West High School.
About 1,200 students in grades nine through 11 are expected at West High School when the school year begins Aug. 15. A senior class will be added the following year.
Hutchinson tied the importance of education to the state's economy during his remarks.
"I'm here as governor to underscore one point," Hutchinson said. "All that we want to accomplish as a state, all that we want to accomplish in terms of economic growth and success, begins with the foundation of education. And we cannot accomplish our goals if we are not successful in the education environment."
Hutchinson called the West High School facility extraordinary, adding it made him want to go back to high school. He thanked the School Board and district administrators for their leadership. He also thanked the teachers.
"The success we have in education and here at Bentonville West can only be accomplished with the dedication of the teachers," he said.
Hutchinson said he'd be excited to be a student at West High School because of the opportunity to start traditions and create a culture that will be followed by future students.
"And let me assure you, I will be coming back this year for a basketball game," he said.
The West High School band played the national anthem and the school's fight song, composed by Luke McMillan, a professional music composer. The school's choir sang the alma mater, written by choir director Kayla Abernathy.
At the end of the ceremony, Poore and Jones held up opposite ends of a custom-made yellow ribbon featuring West High School logos. Eight people, including Hutchinson and several students, had the honor of cutting the ribbon to symbolize the school's opening.
Construction of West High School took about two years. The two-story, L-shaped facility of 430,000 square feet includes 121 classrooms, 14 computer labs, a 2,300-seat gymnasium and a 900-seat performing arts center.
An open house for the community accompanied Friday's ceremony.
Jackson Collins, 16, is entering his junior year at West.
"I like it a lot. It's great," Collins said. "I just like how open it is, and how it's not going to be as tight as it was at" Bentonville High School.
Bentonville High School had about 4,500 students last school year.
Darla Dill of Cave Springs, whose daughter Natalie will be a freshman at West this fall, also was touring the school Friday.
"I think the kids will take a lot of pride in this school," Dill said. "They have so much space. They can sit and visit on couches in between classes. They have a great computer facility. We didn't have that when I was in school."
Karen Steen, who has served as principal of Rogers' Heritage High School since it opened in 2008, had intended to be at Friday's ceremony but was held back by an issue at her school.
Steen, because of her experience opening a high school, has served as a kind of unofficial adviser to Guthrie since he was named West's principal 15 months ago. The two had a three-hour conversation before Guthrie even got the job; they have continued to communicate at least once a month since then, Steen said.
"When I met with him prior to him being named principal, he had just tons of questions, but he had really thought out his questions. Inside his questions was already vision," Steen said. "When he got the job, I sent him a card that just said, 'You're ready for an amazing ride.'"
Among Steen's advice to Guthrie isn't to forget all the people who had a role in building the school. She said she sent each person who had worked on Heritage a letter thanking them for their service.
"It's those workers who are going to come back and say, 'I built that wall. I'm going to live in this community and have my kids go to this school, because I built this school,'" Steen said.
NW News on 07/30/2016