SPRINGDALE -- Har-Ber High School has grown by what seems almost like the size of another school, said a teacher employed there since it opened 10 years ago.
"The first three years, I felt like we knew most of our students," Angie Anderson said. "Somewhere around the seventh or eighth year, people would come down my hall. I wouldn't know who they were."
Har-Ber High School
First opened in 2005-06 with 755 students
Current enrollment of 2,156 students
Source: Staff report
Teachers hope a new structure in place this school year gives the larger student body a greater sense of belonging.
The city's two high schools, Springdale High School and Har-Ber, are becoming closer in size, with Springdale High School's latest count at 2,224 students and Har-Ber's at 2,156 students, principals of both high schools said.
The high schools are 10th- through 12th-grade campuses, with Har-Ber also having a language academy that is open to ninth- through 12th-grade students. About 56 students are enrolled in the language academy, said Har-Ber Principal Danny Brackett.
The high school has a staff of 150 people, including principals, counselors and teachers, Brackett said. In preparation for this school year, the campus filled just under 30 positions, including 16 positions added because of rising numbers of students, Brackett said.
The additions at Har-Ber are the most of any school in the Springdale School District, said Jared Cleveland, the district's deputy superintendent over personnel. Springdale High School this year added two special education positions.
Phyllis Weis, a math teacher, joined the Har-Ber staff the second year the school was open.
"I used to know every teacher," Weis said.
Within the past several years, the staff has increased so much she no longer knows all the teachers on the campus, Weis said. Students in her classes have said teacher's names that she hasn't recognized, she said.
Har-Ber High School was built because enrollment grew too large at Springdale High School, said Rick Schaeffer, district spokesman.
District officials have planned for enrollment at both high schools to settle at about 2,000 students each and for the School of Innovation, now an eighth- and ninth-grade campus, to grow to a campus of 1,000 students in eighth through 12th grade.
In 2004-05, Springdale High School's student body had reached 2,707 students, according to records from the Department of Education. The next school year, when Har-Ber opened, Springdale High School had 2,244 students.
Har-Ber opened in 2005-06 with 755 students, including 534 sophomores, 176 juniors and 45 seniors, state records show. Once the first class of sophomores became seniors in 2007-08, enrollment reached 1,456 students.
Except for a dip in 2010-11 that began to rebound in 2011-12, the campus has continued to expand, records show.
Rising numbers of sophomores entering Har-Ber High School boosted enrollment within the past two years, Brackett said. For the first time this school year, both the 10th- and 11th-grade classes have more than 700 students, he said.
"It was anticipated, but not quite this quickly," Brackett said.
Har-Ber was built to accommodate 2,000 students, he said. The increase in enrollment has created a situation where some teachers are sharing classrooms, he said.
Har-Ber's student counts have been impacted by the opening of a new junior high school, Lakeside Junior High School in east Springdale, Brackett said. Lakeside was Springdale School District's fourth junior high school.
Prior to Lakeside, students from George Junior High School went to Springdale, Central Junior High students went to Har-Ber and Southwest Junior High students split between the two high schools, Brackett said.
Once Lakeside opened, Lakeside and George students went to Springdale and Central and Southwest students were assigned to Har-Ber, Brackett said.
Students also have had the option of transferring from Har-Ber to Springdale to attend specialized academies there, Brackett said. About 150 students each year have transferred to Springdale from Har-Ber.
Since Lakeside opened, fewer students are transferring, with only 100 students transferring this school year, Brackett said.
The growth of more than 360 students in two years is attributable to fewer transfers and to growth, Brackett said.
This year, the campus is divided into five smaller communities or "houses" of 400 to 450 students, with students also assigned to an advisory class of 15 to 20 students, said Anderson, who coordinates the houses and teaches family and consumer sciences.
She hopes the concept ensures students identify with a group inside the school, Anderson said.
"We became so large that students probably felt they didn't identify with an individual group," Anderson said. "This year, our goal is to make this school [feel] smaller again."
NW News on 09/15/2015