Woooo! NW Arkansas schools.

[KJW]

(And each one of these has a construction theme to the story.)

1.  Somewhat old news, but the Walton family will oversee building of a (n "east coast style" - my term) prep school, in Bentonville, and have hired a dean from Princeton University as the new headmaster (or whatever the title is).  Haven't heard yet where the school will be built.

2.  They have competition, as Haas Hall Academy of Farmington, which has just opened a new Bentonville campus (not far south of the existing Bentonville High School, no?), was named the #19 high school in America this week by Newsweek.  The only other southern schools in the top 19 were one in Virginia and one in North Carolina.

3.  Bentonville High, at the very end of July, became the first multi-time/back-to-back/public high school winner of the MaxPreps Cup, which is awarded to the top high school/prep school athletic program in the nation out of 14,000 + eligible schools...the final point total actually ended up being over 1,200 points for BHS in the school year just finished.  (The Bentonville superintendent also has said that he believes no other high school in America has sent more students to the service academies this decade than has Bentonville High.)  However, this dominance, if it continues in the 2015-16 school year, may end at school year's end as Bentonville West High School, looming large on the west Centerton "skyline", opens a year from this month.

[Julles]

Just wanted to say....we are absolutely loving Haas Hall.    It's just an entirely new and different experience.   It feels like a family....parents are so involved....the teachers already know our kids...the boys are adjusting and getting involved in clubs.   They still aren't crazy about the uniforms, but they are getting used to them.  A big selling point for the boys are the catered lunches.  Some days it can get expensive ($9 on the days they cater from Joe's Italian), but we just let them choose a couple of days a week to buy lunch, and we pack lunch the other days.  They also have a mini-market (convenience store) with candy, snacks. Drinks etc where they pay using an app on their smartphones.  Everything is shiny and new, from the desks to the fancy digital water fountains to the latest TV-like smartboards.  I can definitely see how they have such great stats.  Some nights we have loads of homework...but it helps that they get out at 2:30 and only have to arrive by 7:55 in the mornings.    Looking forward to see how much our older son's ACT score improves this year.   

[KJW]

Just wanted to say....we are absolutely loving Haas Hall.    It's just an entirely new and different experience.   It feels like a family....parents are so involved....the teachers already know our kids...the boys are adjusting and getting involved in clubs.   They still aren't crazy about the uniforms, but they are getting used to them.  A big selling point for the boys are the catered lunches.  Some days it can get expensive ($9 on the days they cater from Joe's Italian), but we just let them choose a couple of days a week to buy lunch, and we pack lunch the other days.  They also have a mini-market (convenience store) with candy, snacks. Drinks etc where they pay using an app on their smartphones.  Everything is shiny and new, from the desks to the fancy digital water fountains to the latest TV-like smartboards.  I can definitely see how they have such great stats.  Some nights we have loads of homework...but it helps that they get out at 2:30 and only have to arrive by 7:55 in the mornings.    Looking forward to see how much our older son's ACT score improves this year.   

Congratulations, Julles!  BTW, just saw where New York University (a.k.a. "NYU") made their first recruiting visit ever to Arkansas with a stop at Haas Hall this past week.

[mzweig]

My kids go to the New School which was incidentally rated the top private elementary school in the nation recently.  My 24 y.o. went to F-ville public--was thoroughly unimpressed.  Took her out of school in Junior year and she got her GED and enrolled at the U of A.  We tried Vandergriff for a year with our 9 year old--went back to the New School and are very glad we did.  Too many bureaucrats, rules, regulations, overcrowded classrooms, and other nonsense for us.  Not enough art, music, theatre, and foreign language in the public school.  I have heard good things about Haas Hall.  Wish everyone could get in.