Pea Ridge Library panel discusses tutoring program

In the spring of this year, we were awarded a grant through the American Library Association’s “Libraries Transforming Communities” initiative. Within this grant, we were to identify needs in our community lacking resources and propose a solution with library programming. After carefully reviewing pre-pandemic programming, we determined that the largest area of concern that we have not had time, space, or funding to create is a tutoring program for our local students. On Monday, Oct. 18, we hosted a Tutoring Discussion Panel on our Facebook page with local leaders to review whether or not this type of program is feasible. We asked the community for its input, too.

“There’s always room for improvement,” said Mayor Jackie Crabtree about the question of how we can help improve academics in our school district. “Not everybody comes from the same environment at home… this would be an opportunity for our students to help each other outside school,” said Keith Martin, superintendent of the Pea Ridge School District.

Within the proposal, we highlighted the opportunities for all K-12 students in our school district. The tutors would be PRHS students in good academic standing, and would receive accredited volunteer hours, which are vital to any college application or job resume. The younger students would be tutored in the subjects they were struggling with and receive support in the topics they are struggling to master. When asked about Pea Ridge High School’s ability to provide student tutors, Charley Clark, the head principal, said, “there’s always a need for community service and opportunity for our kids to give back.”

The implementation of our tutoring program could potentially take two forms: in-person (on library or school grounds) or online via Zoom. Keln Taylor, IT Director for Pea Ridge Schools, voiced concerns about being able to offer virtual tutoring at home for students, citing that despite hot spots being distributed to all students during the brunt of the 2020 pandemic, “there are still families who do not have internet — wired or wireless.” Superintendent Martin also raised concerns about children being able to get home after attending programs at the library. Thus, both virtual and in-person options remain available to our community for the time being.

Despite all this planning, we are still in the beginning stages of this project. We hope to have it up and running by February of 2022. We are in need of high school volunteers who would be interested in this project. If you have any questions, concerns, or know of a student who would like to get involved, please contact the library at pearidgecommunitylibrary@gmail.com or call at 479-451-8442.

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