School Board hears pleas for staff help

Advocates seek choral program aid

BENTONVILLE — Students and parents showed up at Monday’s School Board meeting to plead for an additional staff member for Bentonville High School’s choral program.

The board later approved adding several positions to the payroll for the 2017-18 school year based on anticipated growth, including the equivalent of 5.5 fulltime instructors for the high schools. None are designated for the choral program.

Jack Loyd, Bentonville High School’s principal, said administrators would like to beef up the program’s staff, but too many other priorities stand in the way.

“Do we need an assistant choir director at the high school? We do,” Loyd said. “But when we look at the different staffing that goes on in the building and what we have to provide in English and math and science and social studies, we simply can’t do it right now.”

Choral program supporters said the program has two directors overseeing 453 students enrolled across nine sections of choir. They said other peer districts in Northwest Arkansas offer much better student-to-director ratios.

Fayetteville High School, for example, also has two directors, but only 250 students in its program, according to numbers provided by Lisa Mertensotto, president of Bentonville’s choir booster club.

Mertensotto, addressing the board Monday during time allotted for public comment, said choir supporters don’t want directors Terry Hicks and Ken Griggs to “burn out.”

“We are only asking for you to do the right thing, to bring our music program up to the same level as the other schools in this area,” Mertensotto said. “We know many of you feel we deserve this, and we want to take whatever steps possible to make

this happen for our school.”

Six others — four students and two parents — spoke Monday in favor of adding an assistant director. They included Alex Keogh, a junior who’s been taking choir since the eighth grade.

Keogh, 17, said choir is his favorite thing about school. The choir supporters appeared at the board meeting to make sure the right people hear their concerns, he said after the meeting. Another assistant director is “sorely needed,” he said.

“We didn’t really expect immediate action,” Keogh said. “It seems like we got some people on our side.”

Administrators expect enrollment at the high school level to grow at least 5 percent next school year. Most of that growth will be at West High School because it’s adding a senior class.

The board approved adding 3.5 full-time teaching positions at West High School. The board also granted administrators authority to hire two teachers at the high school level if enrollment demands it.

“That will be for the principals to prioritize and use as they need to get those classes filled,” said Dena Ross, chief operating officer.

Rebecca Powers, a board member, asked if one of those positions could be used for Bentonville High’s choral program.

“We always allow our principals to use the [fulltime

equivalent position] that they need in the manner they feel is the most appropriate,” Ross said. “They also have to keep in mind they have to meet state standards for core classes offered and for kids in seats.”

The board approved adding several other positions for next school year, including four part-time teachers for the Ignite program, which exposes high school students to specific career paths in which Northwest Arkansas needs more workers.

The salary of Ignite director Teresa Hudson also is being added to the payroll this year. It had been paid last school year and this school year by the Walton Family Foundation.

Those five positions combined will add $244,894 in salary and benefits to the district’s operating budget next year.