Stories by Brenda Bernet
RSS
Parks Course Lets Students ‘Study Away’
University Of The Ozarks Class Visits 5 National Parks
Scotti Burnside, 19, will cap her sophomore year at the University of the Ozarks with a two-week trip hiking and camping at five national parks she studied this semester with nine other students in a national parks course. Continue reading...
Huntsville math teachers honored
Huntsville High School math teachers received accolades in Little Rock this week because of the high scores students earned on the state’s End-of-Course algebra and geometry tests. Continue reading...
Passion Play to start 46th season
Officials for The Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs are expecting the largest opening-weekend crowd in at least 10 years next week. Continue reading...
Lavaca schools provide eye care
In rural communities, going to an eye doctor can require parents to take off from work and pull their children out of school for at least a half day, said Dr. Hon Chung. Continue reading...
4th District lost, gained in redraw
It’s only area to lose blacks
Arkansas’s 4th Congressional District was the only district in the state to lose black residents as a result of redistricting in 2011, according to U.S. Census figures, released last week, that detail demographics within the districts. Continue reading...
Classmates rally to cheer on takers of Benchmark Exams
Rally seen as way to calm nerves as stressful week nears
Loud chants of “Let’s get fired up!” and “We are fired up!” filled the hallway at Willis Shaw Elementary School in Springdale as kindergartners, and first- and second-graders wished good luck to their peers in the third-fifth grades on this week’s state Benchmark Exams. Continue reading...
County’s first full-time youth probation officer leaving job
Madison County’s first full-time juvenile probation officer believes all children have potential, she said. Continue reading...
Out-of-state job commutes require drive
Arkansas businesses draw workers from near and far
Mike Swart lives in St. Louis on the weekends, but drives five hours to Bentonville for work every week, typically spending Tuesday through Friday in Benton County. Continue reading...
Hundreds celebrate day Army sheared Elvis
FORT SMITH — Carroll Newman sat in a chair in the barbershop at Fort Chaffee for his first military buzz cut in February 1958, a short time before Elvis Presley did the same. Continue reading...
Dream B.I.G. links mentors, Delta girls
Program offers concern, motivation
Rayneisha Miller, 17, of Marvell wore a Bradley University T-shirt one day while walking with her sister to their grandmother’s house. Continue reading...
State’s population continues shift from rural areas to cities
Benton County is 67th on list of fastest-growing in U.S.
New population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that nearly two-thirds of the state’s counties lost residents between 2011 and 2012. Continue reading...
Police probing school case
Two food-service employees who resigned from the Huntsville School District this month are being investigated by the Huntsville Police Department in connection with missing tax dollars, Huntsville Police Capt. Todd Thomas said. Continue reading...
Title Games Highlight Sports-School Balance
UA Student’s Study Ties Successes In Both
Thursday, when the Greenland Lady Pirates won their second consecutive state basketball championship against Jessieville, the Greenland School District superintendent had elected to cancel school for the day and sent two buses full of students to the game. Continue reading...
Huntsville City Council to decide on annexation
Petitioners own 900 acres near U.S. 412
Eight petitions for voluntary annexation into Huntsville will go to the City Council for approval Monday. Continue reading...
Ozark Natural Science Center to suspend operations
Ozark Natural Science Center, a nonprofit environmental education and conference facility in Madison County, plans to suspend operations in May, said Jenny Harmon, interim executive director. Continue reading...
Dora the Explorer adviser performs play about his life
Enactment aims to educate teachers on cultural strain
FAYETTEVILLE — An adviser to the popular children’s show Dora the Explorer can relate to the cultural tensions that face children of immigrant families. Continue reading...
Officer: Shooting changed attitudes on school security
FORT SMITH — Parents’ attitudes about having a police officer in their child’s school changed in rural Montgomery County after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults in a rural Connecticut school, a school resource officer said Wednesday. Continue reading...
Homelessness rises in Northwest corner
UA study: Population numbers up 18%
Families in Northwest Arkansas have continued to struggle since the recession of 2008, preliminary results of a study on the homeless population show. Continue reading...
New Tech model teaches job skills
Projects give real-world learning
Michael Drain sat with his school-issued laptop at a table in his integrated English and U.S. history classroom at Lincoln High School, searching online for examples of photojournalism. Continue reading...
Schools appraise plans for crises
Districts form safety panels
School officials across Northwest Arkansas continue to evaluate crisis plans a little more than a month after a heavily armed gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Continue reading...
Board declines to extend superintendent’s stay
LITTLE ROCK — The Berryville School Board decided not to extend Superintendent Randy Byrd’s contract this week. Continue reading...
Backlog Immense; Judge Orders City To Restore Clerks
Madison County District Court relied on a single court clerk for eight months after the Huntsville mayor prohibited two additional clerks from working for the court as part of a dispute over its funding, which is shared by the city and county. Continue reading...
Program Coaches Districts’ Teachers
Readiness For State’s New Standards Is Aim
Teachers, especially those in small districts and charter schools, continue to grapple with ensuring their lessons challenge students to the level expected of new state curriculum standards for math and literacy. Continue reading...
Clinics, hospitals report uptick in flulike illnesses
Doctor’s offices, walk-in clinics and emergency rooms across Northwest Arkansas report seeing increasing numbers of patients with flulike symptoms — exhaustion, fever, cough and sore throat. “This started late December, early January,” said nurse Juanita Taylor, practice manager for the Mercy Urgent Care-River Valley clinic in Fort Smith. Continue reading...
Huntsville’s annexation push near U.S. 412 moving ahead
Huntsville’s plan to extend the city’s border north toward a widened section of U.S. 412 is likely to be completed before the highway project is finished this summer. Continue reading...
Brood of birders trek to snowy state park
Class gives tips on identifying by sight, song
ROGERS — A hawk caught Scott Branyan’s eye as it flew through the forest Saturday morning. Continue reading...
Teacher dearth stirs UA to help
Program intends to aid poor areas
A new program at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville aims to supply more teachers to schools in poor communities, especially in southern and eastern Arkansas. Continue reading...
School clinics foster health of rural kids
Jasper campus puts in center
A new health center located on the Jasper School District campus is expected to help more children see a doctor when they are sick or have a toothache, the superintendent said. Continue reading...
Buffalo River proposes to raise campsite fees
Buffalo National River proposes to increase fees at eight campgrounds, starting in March. Continue reading...
Child poverty swells in region
Rate hits 39.1% in 1 county in ’11
WASHINGTON COUNTY — Job losses during the recession contributed to Washington County’s child poverty rate reaching a level similar to the state’s by 2011, said Kathy Deck, an economist at the University of Arkansas. Continue reading...
Pupils read more nonfiction
New standards have teachers focusing less on literature
Bonnie Murray, a sixthgrade language-arts teacher, looked forward to studying The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens with her students. Continue reading...
State lags in tech workers
Contest with robots, dragsters lures pupils, teachers say
FAYETTEVILLE — Vic Dreier has a surefire way to recruit pupils to his pre-engineering classes at Ramay Junior High School in Fayetteville. Continue reading...
Great Passion Play hits end of run; statue dark
Money dries up; site deeded to bank
LITTLE ROCK — Gates are locked to visitors at The Great Passion Play site in Eureka Springs, and the iconic 67-foot statue of Jesus is no longer lighted after dark. Continue reading...
Great Passion Play closed, up for sale
Gates are shut at the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, and the Christ of the Ozarks statue no longer stays lit after dark. Continue reading...
Program features Orphan Train tales
Some lived in Northwest Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK — Before the child-welfare system began, one solution to the growing number of orphaned children in New York City was to place them on trains and send them to live with families in the West. Continue reading...
It’s a full plate for counselors
They help with schedules, college, tests, survey reveals
College and career counseling are some of the many responsibilities of high school counselors, who also coordinate student schedules, respond to crisis situations, comfort students in distress and arrange meetings with students, their parents and teachers. Continue reading...
Think Small, Shoppers Told In Campaign
Day Gives Local Stores A Lift
HUNTSVILLE — Instead of getting caught up in the shopping frenzy at the malls and big-box retailers, some Northwest Arkansas residents trekked Saturday to the locally owned boutiques and resale shops on Polk Square in Huntsville. Continue reading...
No cash means new jail empty
Newton County hunting options
Without money to operate the new jail in Newton County, Sheriff Keith Slape will continue to send prisoners to the lockup in Boone County at a daily rate of $35 each. Continue reading...
Rural district struggles to add pupils, stay open
A small rural Sebastian County school district persists despite financial troubles and concerns over low enrollment. Continue reading...
Incorrect ballot given to 400 in Benton County
Voters turn to paper to beat lines
Long lines, a temporarily depleted supply of paper ballots and the distribution of wrong ballots to voters in Benton County were among election site glitches around the state Tuesday. Continue reading...
With approval stalled, charter gets fine-tuning
Ex-superintendent’s online plan draws concern from state board
A former superintendent proposing a charter school in Lincoln said he left the State Board of Education meeting last week with a positive outlook, despite the board’s decision not to immediately approve the charter. Continue reading...
Healthier lunches gradually growing on students
Twelve-year-old Litzy Arteaga was reluctant to try the fresh spinach in her salad until a science teacher told her the dark, leafy greens would help combat pimples. Continue reading...
Families adjust as generations combine under 1 roof
With job losses and foreclosures in a tough economy, some adults with children return to their parents’ homes, combining three generations under one roof. In other cases, older adults with health concerns move in with their children’s families. Continue reading...
Gathering keys on alternative learning
Many students aren’t succeeding in classrooms of desks with 27 other students, Commissioner of Education Tom Kimbrell said Thursday in Springdale. Continue reading...
Harrison pegs 1 percent tax increase to trash pickup
HARRISON — Harrison firefighters rely on an aging fleet of firetrucks. The Boone County city loses employees to nearby cities and government entities that pay higher salaries. Continue reading...
Abuse of meth, Rx drugs big issue in sheriff races
Four counties in Northwest Arkansas will decide whether to leave incumbent sheriffs in office or elect new lawmen. Continue reading...
Gizmos new tool in lessons on math
It helps students analyze problems
With the ongoing shift to new learning standards for math classes statewide, Algebra I students need to know not only how to find a “y-intercept” but what the “y-intercept” represents. Continue reading...
Professor, author to talk at UA on education change, social inequity
FAYETTEVILLE — Paul “P.L.” Thomas refutes the sentiment of many education theorists that “poverty is not destiny,” and says the opposite is true. Continue reading...
Technology sets the tone of school plan
Charter high school pitched
LINCOLN — Some teenagers don’t have a parent who makes sure they go to school, and they lose credit for classes because of excessive absences. Others need to work during usual school hours. Some just need extra help. Continue reading...
2 Yellville Republicans vie for seat in Arkansas House
YELLVILLE — Two Yellville conservatives are running for representative of House District 99. Both of them have concerns about health care. Continue reading...
