Brenda Bernet
Stories by Brenda
Walton unit gives $8 million to group
posted: 05/03/2013 4:43 a.m. Discuss
The Walton Family Foundation announced that it will give $8 million over two years to a national organization that gave Arkansas a D grade on its state education policies.
Some schools rethink class ranking by GPA
posted: 04/29/2013 4:12 a.m. Comment 1
When seniors across Northwest Arkansas don caps and gowns for graduation ceremonies next month, many graduates receiving special recognition will wear special stoles, cords and tassels during their commencement ceremonies.
Resurrected Passion Play ready to start 46th season
posted: 04/27/2013 4:51 a.m. Discuss
Officials for The Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs are expecting the largest opening-weekend crowd in at least 10 years next week.
State awards $130 million to 92 districts
posted: 04/25/2013 5:03 a.m. Comments 3
Ninety-two Arkansas school districts, including the North Little Rock district in central Arkansas and the Bentonville district in Northwest Arkansas, will share in at least $130.7 million in state aid in 2013-14 for school-construction projects.
4th district adds whites and area
posted: 04/22/2013 3:25 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’s 4th Congressional District was the only district in the state to lose black residents as a result of redistricting in 2011, according to U.S. census figures, released earlier this month, that detail demographics within the districts.
5 startup charter schools divide up $483,000
posted: 04/20/2013 4:43 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Department of Education has awarded federal grants of $483,000 to five charter schools opening in August.
Berryville teachers join writing project
posted: 04/02/2013 4:44 a.m. Discuss
Berryville teachers are joining a national project focused on training teachers in rural schools on the best strategies to teach writing.
Out-of-state workers’ commutes require drive
posted: 03/31/2013 3:59 a.m. Discuss
Mike Swart lives in St. Louis on the weekends, but drives five hours to Bentonville for work every week, typically spending Tuesday through Friday in Benton County.
Hundreds celebrate day Army sheared Elvis
posted: 03/24/2013 3:30 a.m. Discuss
FORT SMITH — Carroll Newman sat in a chair in the barbershop at Fort Chaffee for his first military buzz cut in February 1958, a short time before Elvis Presley did the same.
State’s residents shifting to cities
posted: 03/17/2013 3:30 a.m. Discuss
New population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that nearly two-thirds of the state’s counties lost residents between 2011 and 2012.
Springdale classrooms blending subjects
posted: 03/12/2013 4:26 a.m. Discuss
Reading sample blood test results from real patients allows chemistry students in Doug Owensby’s class at Springdale High School to apply what they are learning about blood-gas laws and dynamic equilibrium.
Mission key to keeping land
posted: 03/11/2013 3:59 a.m. Discuss
The owner of 477 acres of land that have been home to the Ozark Natural Science Center wanted the property to remain in its natural, woodsy state when he gave the land to the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission in 1991, according to a deed filed with the Madison County Circuit Clerk.
Science nonprofit to halt operations
posted: 02/26/2013 4:28 a.m. Comment 1
Ozark Natural Science Center will suspend programs in May after nearly 20 years of offering an overnight science camp for thousands of fifth-graders.
‘Flipped learning’ sends lessons home
posted: 02/25/2013 3:53 a.m. Discuss
Anne Minton didn’t have to spend 25 minutes of class time teaching a grammar lesson on verbals, a class of verbs that function as other parts of speech in sentences.
More homeless in 2 counties
posted: 02/19/2013 3:35 a.m. Comment 1
Families in Northwest Arkansas have continued to struggle since the recession of 2008, preliminary results of a study on the homeless population show.
Schools adopting tech standards
posted: 02/18/2013 3:46 a.m. Discuss
Kendall Miller, 11, had a hard time imagining creating the same poster by hand that he had created on the computer.
Arkansas schools join wave of New Tech teaching system
posted: 02/17/2013 3:47 a.m. Discuss
Michael Drain sat with his school-issued laptop at a table in his integrated English and U.S. history classroom at Lincoln High School, searching online for examples of photojournalism.
Fire units to receive $221,000 in grants
posted: 02/07/2013 3:56 a.m. Discuss
Four volunteer fire departments in Northwest Arkansas will receive grants to help pay for vehicles and substations from the state’s Rural Services Block Grant Program at the end of this month.
Schools take look at crisis plans
posted: 02/04/2013 4:23 a.m. Discuss
School officials across Northwest Arkansas continue to evaluate crisis plans a little more than a month after a heavily armed gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Ex-school chief called visionary
posted: 01/21/2013 4:37 a.m. Discuss
The former superintendent behind a rejected charter-school proposal is a visionary, the vice chairman of the State Board of Education said Tuesday.
Program Coaches Districts’ Teachers
posted: 01/14/2013 2:02 a.m. Discuss
Teachers, especially those in small districts and charter schools, continue to grapple with ensuring their lessons challenge students to the level expected of new state curriculum standards for math and literacy.
Writing tied to reading circuitry
posted: 12/27/2012 1:38 a.m. Discuss
When writing a lowercase “b,” children attending schools in Ozark learn that the “bat,” representing the straight line, comes before the “ball,” representing the circle, a school principal said.
Clinic steps away for many students
posted: 12/23/2012 4:03 a.m. Discuss
A new health center located on the Jasper School District campus will help more children see a doctor when they are sick or have a toothache.
Agency: Students keeping lottery aid
posted: 12/18/2012 4:38 a.m. Discuss
More than half of the graduates from Northwest Arkansas’s largest districts retain scholarships from the lottery financed Academic Challenge Scholarship Program.
Experts cite recession in child-poverty rates
posted: 12/17/2012 3:59 a.m. Discuss
Job losses during the latest recession contributed to Washington County’s child poverty rate reaching 27 percent in 2011, said Kathy Deck, an economist at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Boosting tech field UA’s aim in contest
posted: 12/08/2012 4:45 a.m. Discuss
Eighth- and ninth-graders in Vic Dreier’s pre-engineering classes at Ramay Junior High School in Fayetteville competed Friday in a technology competition at the University of Arkansas aimed at generating interest in careers related to math, engineering, science and technology.
Great Passion Play hits end of run; statue dark
posted: 12/05/2012 12:34 a.m. Comments 12
Gates are locked to visitors at The Great Passion Play site in Eureka Springs, and the iconic 67-foot statue of Jesus is no longer lighted after dark.
Great Passion Play closed, up for sale
posted: 12/04/2012 11:13 a.m. Comments 7
Gates are shut at the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, and the Christ of the Ozarks statue no longer stays lit after dark.
Program features Orphan Train tales
posted: 12/01/2012 2:47 a.m. Discuss
Before the child-welfare system began, one solution to the growing number of orphaned children in New York City was to place them on trains and send them to live with families in the West.
Busywork cuts into time with kids, counselors say
posted: 11/30/2012 4:58 a.m. Discuss
College and career counseling is one of the many responsibilities of high school counselors, who also coordinate student schedules, respond to crisis situations, comfort students in distress, and arrange meetings with students, their parents and teachers as needed.
Educators try new discipline
posted: 11/30/2012 4:49 a.m. Discuss
When teenagers make bad choices, such as taking illegal or contraband drugs to school, they face lengthy suspensions or expulsions that can set them back academically and increase their chances of dropping out of school.
Fort Smith schools adapt to system
posted: 11/22/2012 1:26 a.m. Discuss
In Fort Smith, 92.68 percent of students tested last spring at Cavanaugh Elementary School showed they were on grade level in literacy, as did 89.43 percent of students in math.
Trays filling with area produce
posted: 11/19/2012 12:53 a.m. Discuss
Curt Rom’s father planted an orchard that once supplied fresh, locally grown apples to Fayetteville schools, not just the standard Red Delicious variety but also Golden Delicious and Jonagold.
Huntsville annexation continues
posted: 11/16/2012 2:59 a.m. Discuss
The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission is revising a map of the city of Huntsville after another round of requests for voluntary annexations.
New tax shot down, jail to remain closed
posted: 11/16/2012 2:48 a.m. Discuss
Without money to operate the new county jail, Newton County Sheriff Keith Slape said he will keep housing prisoners in the Boone County jail at a cost of $35 a day.
Rural district struggles to add pupils, stay open
posted: 11/12/2012 5:17 a.m. Discuss
Leaders of the Hartford School District, a small district in rural Sebastian County, are working on a state approved plan to repair its shaky finances and raise its enrollment above the state minimum of 350 students.
In first year, Crystal Bridges collection blooms to 2,000
posted: 11/11/2012 4:15 a.m. Discuss
The permanent collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art continues to expand since it opened a year ago.
Benton County in a pickle
posted: 11/08/2012 12:13 a.m. Comments 2
Election results in Benton County remained up in the air Wednesday while officials waited for three ballot-counting machines to be repaired.
Generations share homes, resources
posted: 10/29/2012 1:37 a.m. Discuss
With job losses and foreclosures in a tough economy, some adults with children return to their parents’ homes, combining three generations under one roof. In other cases, older adults with health concerns move in with their children’s families.
State’s urban areas growing, report says
posted: 10/08/2012 2:33 a.m. Discuss
A growing proportion of Arkansas residents live in densely populated areas, but rural regions retain a significant share of the state’s population, according to a new report from the 2010 Census.
No Child law expected focus of school group
posted: 10/04/2012 5:06 a.m. Discuss
Benny Gooden, superintendent of the Fort Smith School District, said he anticipates his term as president of the American Association of School Administrators to focus on one area: working with Congress on the overdue reauthorization for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
New schools popping up all over
posted: 07/09/2012 4:21 a.m. Comment 1
Despite their expense, new schools are popping up across Arkansas.
Wall of Honor nearing completion
posted: 07/02/2012 4:36 a.m. Discuss
Muriel Albers soon will see the names of four family members and a friend carved in granite at the Veterans Wall of Honor in Bella Vista.
Better protect trafficked kids, advocates say
posted: 06/29/2012 4:51 a.m. Discuss
When children caught up in sex-trafficking operations are found by law-enforcement agents, they usually face one of two possible paths.
Huntsville sets square as lure
posted: 06/21/2012 5:21 a.m. Discuss
After the project is finished to make U.S. 412 a fourlane roadway from Springdale to Huntsville, Huntsville city and business leaders want travelers to have a reason to take a quick trip to the center of the Madison County city.
Schools, NLR, Springdale teaming to promote fitness
posted: 06/14/2012 5:32 a.m. Discuss
Several elementary schools in North Little Rock will receive signs this summer alerting nearby residents of the hours when playgrounds are open to the public.
School districts see rising need for bandwidth
posted: 06/14/2012 5:29 a.m. Discuss
School officials in Cedarville spent three years working to accommodate increased Internet usage within the district.
In U.S., Burmese start fresh
posted: 06/05/2012 4:03 a.m. Discuss
Some of the children did not know how to open a milk carton, much less operate a laptop computer, when they began attending Clarksville schools this year. Their parents had never cooked spaghetti or macaroni and cheese.
Hispanics seeking probe of school-board zone shift
posted: 06/02/2012 2:54 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate a Carroll County school district’s decisions concerning the realignment of school board election zones after the 2010 Census.
U.S. 412 bypass tugs at Huntsville
posted: 05/29/2012 4:08 a.m. Discuss
Dozens of landowners have submitted petitions to voluntarily annex into Huntsville after a push to expand the Madison County city of about 2,350 residents, according to Mayor Kevin Hatfield.
