THE POORE PAGE: Adding To An Already Great Staff

New Teachers Take Different Paths To Bentonville Schools

It seems like once July 4 is over we all start to think about the start of another school year.

School supplies start moving to the front of the store, people ask what grade the students will be in and the overall excitement of the new year just seems to build.

I am the same way. No matter how many school years have started I still get excited each time.

We will begin this year with another great staff. The students of Bentonville are amazing, and we work very hard to find amazing people to work with them. Northwest Arkansas draws many good applicants, so we are able to pick great staff.

I would like to tell you about a few of the new folks joining us this year.

We often have people enter the teaching field after straying away from their chosen professional degree from college. These individuals get their degree and go out into the world in which they have trained to work.

Sometimes they are surprised to find out it was not what they really wanted to do and they realize their calling is to teach. They go back to school to get the training needed for the classroom. In Bentonville, we have had someone who finished law school and after working in a firm followed their passion to teach and become a counselor.

In addition, an architect joined us this year to get to be with secondary students and help them. The excitement she has for her new venture is inspiring.

Another avenue dedicated educators sometime take is the decision that retirement is not working out and the classroom calls again.

We are fortunate this year to have a veteran teacher and trainer of math and science who stayed out and enjoyed hobbies for a while, did occasional substitute teaching, then realized the joy of seeing students succeed needed to come back to his life.

When a chance to work with students using technology to solve math and science projects came available, he jumped into it with renewed vigor. Students will not only gain from the projects he has them work on, but will benefit from the lifetime of experience that this teacher brings to class each day.

Not only are we fortunate to attract high-quality teachers, but our support staff is also top notch. The backgrounds of our support staff are rich and varied.

They have come to Bentonville and joined our educational family because they value the opportunity to impact students and support other staff. Our support staff always has been side by side with our teachers to make sure students are nurtured and challenged every step of the way.

A final pathway to teaching we really celebrate is having our own Bentonville graduates chose to return to the very hallways they walked as students to become a part of our work force.

This year we have more than ever returning to our district to teach and work with students who followed them. It has always been a goal of our School Board and staff to make Bentonville a place they want to return to. It is especially exciting to see faces reappear to help carry on the traditions that have been established here.

I hope we all celebrate the staff we have in Bentonville School District. Many paths have led educators to this district. This year we will have 22 new support staff, 90 new teachers and five new administrators all joining a previous work force of 1,807.

I am excited the start of the school year is right around the corner and I get to watch this awesome staff work with our students.

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MICHAEL POORE IS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

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