Educational opportunities
With two public school districts and two colleges serving the Batesville community, education is often foremost in people’s minds. Following is a sampling of what is going on in these schools.
BATESVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Randy Willison, superintendent, said the Batesville School District has approximately 2,900 students in six schools this year. “We anticipate 2,950 next year,” he said. Those students are divided among six schools — four K-6 magnet schools; a junior high school that houses seventh- through ninth-graders; and a high school that serves students in grades 10 through 12.
• “One of Batesville High School’s biggest accomplishments has been the results of our awards night,” said David Campbell, principal of Batesville High School. “We were able to recognize our high achievers and present many in-house and college scholarships.the graduating class of 2012 accepted more than $2.6 million in college scholarships.”
• Brent Bogy, principal at Batesville Junior High School, reported that the school’s Environmental and Spatial-technologies (EAST) program won the Timothy R. Stephenson Founders Award, which is given to the EAST program that exhibits student growth, community collaboration and project sophistication in the most seamless way possible.
• Central Math and Science Magnet School received a $4,400 grant through Citizens Bank’s Teacher Initiative to purchase five ipads for the school’s fifth- and sixth-graders. Harvey Howard, principal, said the school turned its music room into an Internet Café where the ipads are housed.
• Pat Rutherford, principal at Eagle Mountain Magnet Health and International Studies Elementary School, said the Eagle Mountain Magnet archery team won the state title in the National Archery in the Schools Program for the third year in a row and was scheduled to participate in the national tournament this weekend in Kentucky. Team members’ scores have qualified them to participate in the world tournament in October in Orlando, Fla., where they have won the world title two times in the last three years.
• Sulphur Rock Math and Science Magnet Elementary School offers mini-laptop computers for all students in grades four through six. Principal Stacey Lindsey said the school also has competitive sports programs in many fields and sends students to the Independence County Spelling Bee.
• Edie Allen, principal, said the West Magnet Elementary School of Visual and Performing Arts enhances its core curriculum with dance, drama, visual arts and music in order for each student to achieve personal success.
“The arts serve as the motivational tools and instruments to broaden a child’s knowledge, skill and academic achievement,” she said.
The Batesville School District also supports a secondary alternative school for students in grades seven through 12; a special-education program housed in a 1,500-square-foot classroom in which students with disabilities can learn daily living skills, as well as skills to use in work environments as they transition from high school to the postsecondary world; and an early-learning center that serves 260 children on three preschool campuses.
SOUTHSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Southside School District serves approximately 1,700 students from 18 months old to high-school age. Roger Rich is the district’s superintendent.
“One in four school-age students enroll in the district through Freedom of Choice,” said Novella Humphrey, district curriculum coordinator.
Humphrey said the district has seen many accomplishments through the years, and one of the most highly talked-about topics in the community is the building of a new high school. She said the new school will be built in three phases, with eight classrooms scheduled for the first phase. Opening bids were to be made May 1.The second phase, depending on a possible award of partnership funding from the Arkansas Department of Education, would provide 16 more classrooms and a 900-seat auditorium, and the third phase, which would begin in two or three years, would include a new sports arena.
Rich said he hopes “to see dirt work” on the new high school by June 1, the same date he hopes the “Fieldturf Project” will begin to provide a multipurpose synthetic turf surface at Southside Stadium.
Accomplishments at other Southside campuses this year include the following:
• Southside Preschool opened a gym and an additional classroom for 4-year-olds.
• Southside Elementary School implemented a Summer Book Tour, in which teachers, a literary coach and volunteers delivered books into the homes of a group of second-graders during summer vacation.the program will be expanded for a group of first-, second- and third-graders this summer.
• Southside Middle School started Southern Sighting, a character-education program that recognizes student actions that reveal positive character traits.
LYON COLLEGE
Lyon College is building a new 43,427-squarefoot campus center to replace Edwards Commons, the dining hall and student union that were destroyed by fire in 2010.
The two-story student center includes a 352seat dining hall, a kitchen, a deck, The Scot Shop, a game room, meeting spaces, student mailboxes and a bistro. Student Life offices also will be housed in the building, including health and wellness facilities, counseling offices and the career development center.
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE AT BATESVILLE
The University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville now has a mascot — The River Bandits.
Brian Berry, vice chancellor for enrollment management and student services, said the idea was first presented by the UACCB Student Government, under the leadership of Linh Tran, Student Government Association president. Berry said an on-campus survey found 98 percent of the respondents were “favorable about the concept.”
UACCB student/artist Jody Hughes drew the artwork, which will soon appear in a variety of forms on campus.
Tran said she hopes the mascot will “heighten school spirit and student pride.”