Lane Hotel school
not win-win for all
I applaud Martin Schoppmeyer, the founder and superintendent of Haas Hall Academies. Whatever his formula is for teaching, it is apparently working with the comparisons of all the Northwest Arkansas schools via their most recent ACT scores. The Haas Academies were impressively better at least by this one gauge. I'm sure others who know more on the subject can comment on the validity of this gauge and others that are used.
With that said, I'm disappointed that either the Walton Foundation or any of public officials couldn't come up with a better plan for the use of such a historical and strategically placed landmark, Rogers' old Lane Hotel or Peachtree Hotel.
It's hard to believe a modern school for 500 students couldn't be built in a centrally located spot in Rogers at a "lower" cost with optimum characteristics and at the same time create less future logistical nightmares.
It's hard to argue against good education, and I'm not, but the long-term track record for charter schools still needs to be written while at the same time the local taxpayers need to keep our existing public schools healthy and strong.
It simply would have been a win/win for everyone if a revenue-generating entity for our community would have been placed downtown and the 4th Haas Academy was located elsewhere. For example ... the modern four-story Benchmark Building on 2nd Street is still available. It has been for sale awhile with a beautiful big lot right need door for use now or for future expansion! It also has much better access to major roads including Interstate 49.
Come on, Walton Foundation, create a win/win for everybody and at the same time create better options for your fabulous educational
endeavors.
George Sayre
Rogers
Driving behaviors must change to avoid wrecks
Recently a mother and children died when their car collided with a train. I say they collided because the train is on rails and cannot swerve to avoid a trespassing vehicle, and usually cannot stop in time.
I have not heard exactly why this occurred, but most accidents like this occur for two reasons: (1) The motorist tries to beat the train to the crossing and misjudges, or (2) Distracted driving.
Is it really worth risking your life to save a couple of minutes? Yet engineers tell me they see it all the time.
Distracted driving is another issue. A woman drove into the side of a train in broad daylight and good weather because she was on her cellphone. We know this because she survived. Some railroad crossings are poorly designed and motorists need to pay special attention there to avoid a collision. The Federal Railroad Administration says in the last decade Ashdown, Arkansas, is one of the worst in the country and has had 16 incidents that resulted in four deaths and four injuries (Trains Magazine, July 2016).
So as we used to say on the playground, "Wake up and die right!" That is, at home in bed, not under a locomotive.
Malcolm K. Cleaveland
Fayetteville
Commentary on 09/24/2016