Commitment to equity remains, Bentonville School District officials say

BENTONVILLE -- The district will continue to work to ensure all schools have equal resources despite the board scrapping a policy to that effect, officials said.

"We have laws we have to meet to make sure schools have the things they need, and the board is very aware of equity," said Tanya Sharp, director of student services, at the board's Aug. 15 meeting. "It is not a requirement to have that policy."

Bentonville schools

Here’s a look at the Bentonville School District’s school buildings by age.

• Old High Middle: Built in 1928; renovated five times

• R.E. Baker Elementary: Built in 1950; renovated three times

• Thomas Jefferson Elementary: Built in 1960; renovated three times

• Lincoln Junior High: Built in 1975; renovated twice

• Washington Junior High: Built in 1980; renovated twice

• Sugar Creek Elementary: Built in 1985; renovated once

• Apple Glen Elementary: Built in 1990

• Elm Tree Elementary: Built in 1995

• Ardis Ann Middle: Built in 1995

• Bentonville High School: Built in 2001; addition built in 2006

• Mary Mae Jones Elementary: Built in 2004

• Central Park Elementary: Built in 2005; addition built in 2013

• Ruth Barker Middle: Built in 2006

• Centerton Gamble Elementary: Built in 2006; addition built in 2013

• Cooper Elementary: Built in 2007; addition built in 2013

• Willowbrook Elementary: Built in 2012; addition built in 2013

• Bright Field Middle: Built in 2012

• Fulbright Junior High: Built in 2013

• West High: Built in 2016

Source: Staff report

The equity policy, adopted in 2012, stated the board was "committed to providing an equitable opportunity to learn for all district students regardless of the school they attend within the district."

It further stated the district would target schools that have free and reduced-price lunch rates of more than 40 percent for additional resources, including highly trained staff members, additional capital investments and support in developing an effective parent-teacher organization.

The policy addressed items the district must address anyway under Title I guidelines, Sharp said. Title I refers to federal money provided to schools with high populations of disadvantaged students.

The board voted to scrap the policy this month as part of an effort to revise its policy manual and eliminate unnecessary portions.

Velva Rowe, the parent of a Thomas Jefferson Elementary School student who formerly attended Sugar Creek Elementary School, raised concern about school equality at the board's last meeting.

"What strikes me as difficult to understand is the rose-colored glasses in which this board and our director of student services views certain schools within our district," Rowe said.

She talked about Thomas Jefferson feeling like "an oven" at the school's open house the week before school started. Other schools did not feel that way that night, she said.

Rowe added certain parent-teacher organizations provide "over-the-top" fall carnivals and elaborate Christmas parade floats while organizations at older schools are using their money on items the district should provide.

She mentioned an upgrade to the intercom system at Sugar Creek as an example of something that school's parent-teacher organization provided.

"And so for me to hear Ms. Sharp state 'there's not going to be one' in reference to a school equity policy, well, that's just unacceptable," Rowe said.

Grant Lightle, a board member, said it's hard to make a 50-year-old building look like a two-year-old building, but the equity policy didn't deal with facility issues.

"But I think everybody here acknowledges it is an issue," Lightle said. "We are spending a lot of money on building new buildings, and we don't get to spend a lot of time coming back and looking at the old buildings as much as we'd like. But I don't think that policy spoke to it."

The district's school buildings range in age from the 88-year-old Old High Middle School to West High School, which opened this month.

West High School was the fourth new school Bentonville has opened since 2012. Another elementary school and another middle school are under construction and scheduled to open next year.

Lightle acknowledged Rowe's point about the attention paid to older buildings. Smartboards that come standard these days with new schools are sometimes the type of items parent-teacher organizations are paying for at other schools, he said.

Travis Riggs, board president, said the district put a lot of money into some of its older buildings shortly after the equity policy went into effect.

"We haven't done a districtwide thing like that since, because it is quite expensive to do major repairs like that. But I do think we're all concerned about not letting our older buildings get run down and deteriorated," Riggs said.

Superintendent Debbie Jones said the district has a 10-year construction plan that includes not only new construction, but renovations and maintenance plans as well.

The Rogers School District doesn't have a school equity policy, but equity is at the core of the district's culture and practices, said Ashley Siwiec, communications director, in an email.

Equity was a big part of the conversation among district officials and community members when Rogers made the transition from one high school to two in 2008, Siwiec said.

"We tried to make sure we provided both schools with the facilities and the resources they needed," she wrote.

Equity was similarly stressed by board members and administrators in the Bentonville School District as plans were made for West High School.

NW News on 08/28/2016

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