Adjust, adapt, accomplish

Many challenges face the Pea Ridge School District this year as growth continues, technology demands increase, surprises surface as the new superintendent begins learning about the district and the facilities.

We are impressed with the finesse and tactfulness used to handle difficult situations. It would be easy to whine and complain about the seemingly endless surprises that are discovered. But, the new school superintendent appears to address the problem, seeking a solution, facing the future and not dwelling on the past.

Another surprise was recently uncovered when school officials realized that the original design of the Intermediate School did not include a security system. So, at the regular meeting Monday night, School Board members authorized expenditure of more than $4,000 to purchase and install a security system in the new facility.

School Board members and city officials gave up a Saturday morning recently to have a special meeting to reinstate the School Resource Officer program, a program squashed after its first year in 2008.

They also discussed challenges brought about by the surprise of learning that the Head Start building on the football property belongs to the federal government, representatives of which want to remove the building, leaving Pea Ridge without a visitors’ dressing room just weeks before football season.

Because of good financial planning, and the dramatically reduced interest rates prompting a bond refinancing saving the school thousands of dollars, the district is financially in a position to build a new football stadium. That has been discussed for years, but school officials have not been in a position to afford the stadium.

There have been naysayers in the community — some were people questioning the expense and worried about additional taxes, others were sentimentalists who didn’t want to see the old stadium abandoned.

A young athlete expressed consternation because his brother, father and uncles had all played in the old stadium. But, after thinking about it, said that it would also be exciting to be one of the first to run out on a new field.

For nearly 50 years, Blackhawk Stadium has been the site of reunions on Friday nights. School Board members expressed hopes that the new stadium would continue to provide a home-town feeling and yet provide the needed space to host football games in the 4A conference.

We commend the superintendent and School Board members for working together to meet the needs of the students and community.

••• Editor’s note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County, the best small weekly newspaper in Arkansas. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record.