Reorganization details

Special to the News-Times

The Smackover-Norphlet School District is reorganizing its campuses for the 2019 - 2020 school year, including:

• All kindergarten through fourthgrade students will attend Smackover Elementary School.

• All fifth- through eighth-graders will attend Norphlet Middle School.

• All ninth- through 12th-graders will attend Smackover High School.

• The Smackover Preschool, which serves 6-week-olds to 4-year-olds, will relocate to the former Norphlet Elementary School building.

As a result of the reorganization, the district is renovating the Norphlet Middle School cafeteria to expand seating to accommodate more students.

Remodels were also in the works for classrooms that are being added to the middle school.

Additionally, new doors, toilets and other renovations are nearing completion for the new pre-school facility to accommodate the youngest student population in the district.

R.I.S.E. Training

The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, through the Arkansas Department of Education, is requiring all school districts to participate in Reading Initiative for Student Excellence (R.I.S.E.) training to strengthen reading achievement throughout the state.

Third- through eighth-grade teachers in all content areas began R.I.S.E. training in 2019.

These teachers left the training with a commitment to support all students in reading and vocabulary instruction.

Furthermore, a new reading course for high school students will be introduced this year as part of the district’s commitment to increasing reading achievement.

The district has a strong reading intervention program, which supports students who struggle with decoding or have the characteristics of dyslexia.

With this new reading course, we will also meet the needs of students who need more support in the area of comprehension.

Pending the success of the program at the high school, the reading comprehension program may be moved down to Norphlet Middle School.