EDUCATION NOTEBOOK: Academics Plus Charter Schools opens new Maumelle Charter High School campus

Maumelle charter opens to students

Academics Plus Charter Schools Inc., opened its newly constructed Maumelle Charter High School campus to high school to students last weekin advance of an Aug. 29 grand opening ceremony.

The 114,900-square foot school for grades eight through 12 is at 9701 White Oak Crossing on 38.2 acres in North Little Rock, bordering Maumelle.

The new building features 32 classrooms, two science laboratories, a center for teaching the Environmental and Spatial Technology or EAST program, an art room and a cafeteria/kitchen. Other features include a baseball field complex, an 832-seat auditorium, and a 1,802-seat gymnasium and eight-lane track

The new school has prompted a change in the grade configurations of some of the schools in the Academics Plus charter school system. The elementary building at 900 Edgewood Drive in Maumelle will serve kindergarten through third grades, and what has been the high school building, at 900 Edgewood Drive, has become Maumelle Charter Middle School serving grades four through seven.

Katie Johnson is the principal of the high school and Rob McGill is chief executive officer of Academics Plus charter system that now serves 1,600 students and can grow to 2,000 in the three Maumelle schools. Scott Charter Elementary in the Scott community is also under the Academics Plus charter umbrella.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is scheduled to be the featured speaker at the Aug. 29 ribbon-cutting event for the new school. The public is invited to attend the 10 a.m. ceremony.

Board OKs easing of mask restriction

The School Board for the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District voted last week to relax what has currently been a requirement that masks be worn on school properties as a defense against covid-19.

The board voted unanimously to "strongly recommend" but not require the wearing of face masks.

The vote comes in advance of the start of the school year for students on Aug. 22.

Until the vote last week, the Jacksonville district had a "stoplight system" of notifying staffers, students and families of whether covid-19 case numbers warranted mandatory mask wearing.

The district placed colored banners on its website and social media accounts to notify families and employees of the mask requirements that were based on case counts in the community as calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Upcoming Events