The Western Grove campus in the Ozark Mountain School District will house all of the district’s seventh through 12th graders, starting in the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday upheld the 4-3 decision made earlier by the district’s School Board to move secondary school grades from the small Bruno-Pyatt and St. Joe campuses to the Western Grove site, which will become the home of the Ozark Mountain Bears.
Elementary grades will continue to be served at Bruno-Pyatt and St. Joe campuses, as well as at the Western Grove site.
Western Grove is about 12 miles from Harrison.
All three campuses are classified as “isolated” and, as such by law, can’t be shuttered without a unanimous vote of the local school. The district’s board had voted in favor of the changes but was not unanimous — resulting in the local board having to petition the state board for a final decision.
By law, the state board can uphold the plan to close isolated campuses if it determines that the change is in the best interest of students overall.
“Our students deserve more than they are getting," Ozark Mountain Superintendent Jeff Lewis told the state board, about academics, athletics and other extracurricular activities.
Lewis and the district’s financial consultant Norman Hill said the three high schools are currently meeting state standards for curriculum offerings — partly through online instruction — but that the operation will not be sustainable after this school year and the expenditure of one-time funds.
Western Grove has a seventh-through-12th grade enrollment of about 100 students. Bruno-Pyatt has a seventh-through-12th grade enrollment of 75. St. Joe has 48 students.
Darryl Treat, executive director of the Greater Searcy County Chamber of Commerce, one of three people who spoke in opposition to the changes, argued that St. Joe is not a failing school and that time is needed to explore options.