Private school plans expansion

$13M pledged by 2 families

FAYETTEVILLE — Two gifts totaling $13 million will allow a Fayetteville private school to add a high school, officials announced Friday to staff members and parents.

The expansion of The New School into high school begins in the fall with the addition of ninth grade, said Dennis Chapman, president and head of school. The school will need more space with the addition of a 10th grade in 2017-18.

The announcement marked the start of The New School Forever Campaign, kicked off with a $10 million pledge from the J.B. Hunt family and a $3 million pledge from Todd Simmons, chief executive officer of Simmons Foods in Siloam Springs, and his wife, Shelley Simmons.

The late J.B. Hunt and his wife, Johnelle, founded J.B. Hunt Transport in Lowell.

“We’ve had grandchildren enrolled in The New School for almost 29 years, and it’s been so beneficial to their education and development,” Johnelle Hunt said in a news release from the school. “I’m thrilled to be part of giving back and paying it forward so that same opportunity can be available for many others in the future.”

The New School is a private school for 360 children from preschool to eighth grade, located on a 25-acre campus in Fayetteville.

Staff members knew a committee was studying the possibility of adding a high school, but Friday’s announcement was a surprise, sixth-grade teacher Allison Dolan said. Dolan, who has 2- and 5-yearold sons at The New School, joined the staff this school year after 10 years of teaching at Springdale High School.

Teachers were excited and had many questions about what happens next, Dolan said.

“It’s going to have such a great impact on our current students as well as the community of Northwest Arkansas,” Dolan said.

More details will be shared at a meeting Feb. 2, including a master plan, timeline and plans for staffing, Chapman said. He said he continues to work through financial details and on defining the scope of the project.

The master plan outlines four phases of changes for the campus, Chapman said. The first phase, which is expected to open in the 2017-18 school year, would provide a new academic facility for up to 180 students in the seventh through 12th grades.

An 11-member task force spent six months evaluating the viability of adding high school grades, Chapman said. The committee on Dec. 10 recommended the plan to the board.

The board met Dec. 17 and asked whether the school could afford such a project. The board asked Chapman to secure some lead gifts. Chapman told the board Thursday about the pledges from the Hunt and Simmons families.

The board on Thursday approved the addition of high school grades, Chapman said.

The fundraising campaign will support the new academic facility, as well as new athletic facilities, expansion of dining areas, science and innovation labs, and an endowment to support financial aid and academic programs, Chapman said.

Chapman is in his second year as head of the school. The New School in 2014 opened a 46,000-square-foot expansion, doubling the campus’s building space. The addition included a new preschool, administration building and a 350-seat auditorium, according to The New School’s website.

The New School approach is designed around students, Chapman said. Classes provide for hands-on learning and learning through projects.

“We’re preparing our students currently for jobs that don’t exist today,” he said. “That requires a different approach to education.”

Board Chairman Edward Prewitt said he has heard comments from parents over the years who wished their children could stay past middle school. Prewitt has an 8-yearold son who started going to The New School when he was

2.

Prewitt likes the approach to education and the way his child has grown to love learning, he said.

“We have the opportunity for him to continue that through high school,” Prewitt said. “It’s a very exciting time for the future of the school.”

Adding a high school is important for maintaining the thriving middle and elementary school that already exist, Todd and Shelley Simmons said in the news release.

“Not only do we believe this is the right thing to do for our kids, but it is also the right thing for The New School’s future and our community,” they said.

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