School landscape sees changes
Northwest Arkansas’ education landscape has seen significant change over the past 20 years, and more is on the horizon.
Pea Ridge school officials are at the forefront of changes in education implementing flex mod scheduling, a conversion charter school, project based learning and a multitude of other options.
Parents may choose to send their children to one of a growing number of open-enrollment charter schools and private schools. There’s also the home schooling option, which has grown increasingly popular across the area.
Most children still attend traditional public schools, but they have responded by opening charter schools of their own and creating new programs officials hope will attract students with different interests.
“Overall, there are now more opportunities for students and families to choose schools that best fit their own skills and interests,” said Gary Ritter, professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas and faculty director of the Arkansas Teacher Corps.
Charter growth
The state passed a law in 1999 allowing open-enrollment charter schools, a kind of public school that may be started and run by an institution of higher education, a governmental entity or a nonprofit organization. Charters started by school districts are called conversion charter schools.
Northwest Arkansas’ charter school sector was slow to ramp up, but has seen rapid growth over the past several years.
The first conversion charter school in the state was Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy — PRMBA, which has seen great success since opening in 2014.
The percentage of public school students in Benton and Washington counties attending open-enrollment charter schools is about 2.9 percent, up from about 1 percent a decade ago.
The number of such schools
in the area increased from two to five in the past five years.
Home Schooling
Home schooling has become an increasingly popular option among Northwest Arkansas families.
Nearly 20,000 students in Arkansas were homeschooled during the 2015-16 school year, the most recent year for which data are available from the Arkansas Department of Education.
Benton County led the state with 2,323 homeschooled students that year. That represents about 5.7 percent of those enrolled in the county’s public schools. Pulaski County had the second-highest total of home-schooled students at 2,072.
The number of homeschooled students in Benton County grew 32 percent between the 200607 and 2015-16 school years. Enrollment in the area’s public schools — including charter schools — grew 23 percent during the same time frame.
Growth
In Pea Ridge, the first known school to operate at Pea Ridge was the Shelton Academy, opened in 1851 with Professor Lockhart as teacher, according to J. Dickson Black in “The History of Benton County.”
For unknown reasons (possibly low enrollment and inadequate funds), the school closed in 1858. In 1874, the Reverend Elijah Buttram opened a school at Buttram’s Chapel outside town, with Professor John Rains Roberts as principal. After five years, the school, sponsored by the Masonic lodge, the Methodist Episcopal Church, south, and local patrons, was moved into Pea Ridge where, in 1880, a two-story brick schoolhouse was erected.
The school was granted a charter as an academy in 1884, and in 1887–88, the building was enlarged to accommodate 250 pupils. Professor Roberts directed the academy until 1894. Nannie Roberts, his sister, devoted her long career to teaching younger pupils at Pea Ridge Academy and later in the public school. By 1914, the academy was known as the Pea Ridge Masonic College. It operated until 1916, offering elementary, high school and college-level instruction, according to Black and historian Billie Jines.
When the college was closed the property was deeded to the Pea Ridge Public School, Black wrote. In 1930, the school district dismantled the college building and constructed a one-story building on the site. Principal Joe Roulhac, a noted local educator and carpenter, supervised the design and construction. Extra wings were added in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This community landmark housed the entire school before 1948 and served as home of Pea Ridge High School until 2001, when a new high school complex was completed on West Pickens Road.
The 1930 building was finally razed in March 2005 after estimated costs to update the aging building to current school standards, or to convert it to other community uses, was determined to be prohibitive.
A junior high school was then added in 2005-06 school year.
Prior to 1968, there was one school building on the downtown campus. In the 1960s, an elementary school was built.
During the ensuing 20 years, more school buildings were constructed and classrooms added as officials tried to keep up with the growth.
Projects completed since the last millage increase in 2007 include:
• Construction of the Primary School on Weston Street, housing kindergarten through second grade;
• Intermediate School expansion and remodel;
• Six-classroom addition to Middle School;
• Six-classroom addition to High School;
• Storm Shelter/FEMA building;
• Construction of new football stadium;
• Construction of Indoor/Multi-purpose facility;
• Addition of Fine Arts wing at High School;
• Construction of Administration Building;
• Construction of Industrial Technology buildings;
• Construction of 5,000 square feet addition of classroom Agricultural program at High School; and
• Adding air conditioning in the High School gym.
From one building and a few hundred students to four campuses and more than 2,000 students, Pea Ridge schools have maintained their personal touch with students and been central to the community.