Before he turned those of us attending over to student tour guides, he explained that if district voters approve the millage rise from 34.7 to Arkansas’ state average of 39.7 mills three rather ugly facets of students’ experiences at Beryl Henry could be improved: threadbare classrooms in the older section, subpar bathrooms and muddy play surfaces.
In 2023 voters did turn down a millage proposal that would have gone higher, but now Hope Public Schools leaders hope that their decision to pare down the ambition of the 2023 request and focus on the essentials of student comfort, safety and school facilities, voters reticent to pay taxes for schools will want to raise the district’s millage from the 207th lowest of 235 districts to provide these bare minimums for Hope’s public school enrollees.
As we entered the halls of Beryl Henry, students Zoe Marrufo, Carter Wilcox and Madeline Hawthorne led us into bathrooms in the older part of the campus. They pointed out the lack of doors in some stalls and the lack of secure locks in others and said there was a feeling when using these of being too crowded in. Jones said these bathrooms could only be used with great difficulty by students or faculty in wheelchairs.
The students favor the roomier bathrooms in the decade-old newer wing, but these are a long walk from many of the classrooms being used. The classrooms in the older section, too, came under the students’ criticism. Hawthorne said in one room that her teacher did not have enough space for her desk area and that the need for storage meant she was hard-pressed to decorate. Many of the tables and chairs showed the effects of age, with peeling paint and chipped plastic.
In the library, where students in the school’s internship program were in a meeting presided over by Gracelyn Hoglund, the students said their parents had not quite been talking at home about the March 3rd millage election quite yet. Superintendent Jonathan Crossley said the furniture here, and in many of the classrooms, which looked to do be from another era when students were not as tall as they are today, would be replaced should the millage pass, but that’s just the start. Flooring issues, too, will need addressing.
Outside, as we looked at the school grounds from the school’s east entrance, Jones described the problem with using these for play and for sports after a rainfall.
“It gets super muddy out there the next day. Even though the sun is out, it's still muddy, so they typically couldn't come out, but with the artificial turf, they can come out even after it rained the previous day, no matter how bad the storm was.” The installation of this turf and the bringing in of soccer goals would answer a request many students have made to upgrade their current soccer field.
This is the third in a series of articles in which I describe what I saw during the open houses last week on all four Hope School District campuses. The next and final article will concern Hope High School.
Voters in the district will have the chance to approve the millage starting with early voting February 17th.
For more information see Crossley's interview on our SWARK.Today episode of Investigating the Issues. There is also the district’s extremely informative website on their proposal. To join the campaign as a volunteer, the Friends of Hope School District can be contacted through their Facebook page.
