The Arkansas Board of Education last week gave final approval to the Hope Academy of Northwest Arkansas, an open enrollment charter school to serve students who have experienced abuse and trauma.
The school, the first of its kind in Arkansas, will be housed on the campus of the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter in Bentonville.
It will focus on students who have experienced abuse, neglect and other adverse childhood experiences, including the death of a parent or caregiver, exposure to substance abuse in the home, homelessness, living in a chronically chaotic environment. Small classroom settings and specially trained teachers to provide personalized, trauma-informed instruction will be offered to these students.
The school will open with kindergarten through third grades in the 2020-2021 school year. The goal of the charter is to add grades each year until it is a kindergarten through sixth grade school with a capacity of 70 students by the 2023-2024 school year.
Enrollment applications will be available in January with an application deadline of the end of February. An admissions lottery will be conducted if applications received exceed the number of available slots in each classroom.
NW News on 10/13/2019