Rogers charter school rolling with changes

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER David Singleton, guitar teacher at the Arkansas Arts Academy, plays Thursday along with his students in Rogers. The charter school is making changes in preparation for next school year, including replacing about 20 percent of its staff. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER David Singleton, guitar teacher at the Arkansas Arts Academy, plays Thursday along with his students in Rogers. The charter school is making changes in preparation for next school year, including replacing about 20 percent of its staff. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.

ROGERS -- Arkansas Arts Academy adopted a new name and brought in a new leader last year, but officials have more changes planned as they look to the future.

"I think we're the charter school to watch," said Mary Ley, the school's chief executive officer.

School history

Benton County School of the Arts was founded as a kindergarten- through eighth-grade charter school in 2001. The Northwest Arkansas Academy of Fine Arts was launched as a high school in 2007. The two schools merged in 2009 taking the Benton County School of the Arts name. The school was renamed Arkansas Arts Academy on July 1. Arkansas Arts Academy is a public charter school that enrolls students from across Northwest Arkansas.

Source: Staff report

The kindergarten- through 12th-grade school will replace 15 of its 83 teachers this summer, a turnover rate of 18 percent. Some of those teachers are leaving for personal reasons. The school decided not to renew contracts of some others.

The state Board of Education voted in March to renew the school's charter for three more years, but state officials made clear they expected better academic results from the school at its elementary and middle levels, Ley said.

"So we have made staffing decisions that will give the level of instruction that's expected" by the state and the academy board, she said.

Eleven of those 15 teachers leaving are from the elementary and middle levels, Ley said.

The school also has dealt with a leadership change in the middle of this year. The school's board last week approved Inger Kent, a former assistant principal in Bentonville, as principal of the elementary and middle schools. She took over as principal in an interim role a couple of months ago after the resignation of Renee Deshommes, whom Ley hired last summer.

"She's fun and she gets the job done," Ley said about Kent. "She's high energy and she's fearless."

Kent and high school Principal Barb Padgett have created a leadership team, new literacy curriculum and a new schedule for the middle school, Ley said. They hope to duplicate at the kindergarten through eighth grades the success they've had at the high school. U.S. News & World Report recently named Arkansas Arts Academy as the sixth best high school in Arkansas; the high school also received an "A" on this year's report card from the state.

Financially, Arkansas Arts Academy is in good shape, Ley said. The school has an annual budget of about $5 million. It has about $1.2 million in reserve.

The academy was known as Benton County School of the Arts before a name change and rebranding last summer. It's one of two open-enrollment charter schools in Benton County along with Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy in Bentonville. Open-enrollment charter schools are open to anyone in the state. Charter schools are public but are given some freedom to operate differently from traditional public schools.

Ley, a former art teacher, is finishing her first school year on the job after three years as communications director for the Bentonville School District.

Since joining the school, she has had the opportunity to visit other arts-focused schools in Denver and Santa Fe, N.M. Her goal is to make Arkansas Arts Academy the best arts school in the country.

The school last year established a partnership with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. The grant allowed the school to add two positions dedicated to expanding the art-infused curriculum. Other partnerships with the University of Arkansas and Trike Theatre are providing students more exposure to the arts. A mountain bike trail was added this year to the campus of the elementary and middle schools.

The school's identification with the arts is so strong, students held their prom last month at Crystal Bridges.

"The whole thing with Crystal Bridges has been amazing," Ley said. "More and more things are happening."

It seems more people are noticing. Enrollment is about 760, but the school will be at its capacity with 825 students next school year, Ley said. There are 25 students on the waiting list just for next year's kindergarten class.

Stephanie Petet is in her first year as an art teacher at the high school. She's also a 2009 graduate of the school. Padgett called her and asked her to apply for the job.

"I was thrilled. I didn't want to teach anywhere else," Petet said. "I'm just giving back to the school that gave so much to me."

Petet's two younger sisters -- Skylar, a freshman, and Stevie, a junior -- are students at the school and are enrolled in one of Stephanie Petet's classes. The three sisters, along with a cousin of theirs, are part of a rock band called Witchsister.

Skylar started at the school in the fourth grade, left to attend schools in her home district of Springdale, then returned to the academy this year. She's enjoying it.

"You have more of a range of personalities in the teachers here," Skylar said. "And since the school is smaller, you get to know them better."

Zev Slurzberg, school and community programs manager at Crystal Bridges, said the academy is the museum's first partner school. Crystal Bridges is working on a similar partnership with the New School in Fayetteville, he said.

"I think it's been wonderful for both parties," Slurzberg said. "It's been a moment of learning for both parties. Programs that were great this year will be even better next year."

Students have been invited to bring their families to the museum for events called "Night at the Museum" as part of the partnership. The purpose is to give students a chance to share what they've learned about the art at Crystal Bridges with their parents and spur conversation about that art among family members.

"How special is it when a child says, 'Look at this, I learned all these things, what do you think about it?' Parents may have a different perspective," Slurzberg said.

Six Night at the Museum events for academy families have brought in 681 people, according to Slurzberg.

The partnership also benefits the museum, he said. The museum this spring rolled out an environmental science tour of museum grounds for all students who visit. The museum tested the tour using Arkansas Arts Academy students, who gave valuable feedback, Slurzberg said.

"That's one of the ways the school gives back to us," he said.

NW News on 05/17/2015

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