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"Also remember, you are the world's experts about your child and their educa- tional needs," Wolf said. "So never surrender that exper- tise and know you know what's going to work for them." CHARTER SCHOOLS The biggest misconcep- tion people have about char- ter schools is that they charge tuition, said Mary Ley, chief executive officer of the Ar- kansas Arts Academy. Char- ter schools are public schools, authorized by the state. "It is free. That's what a lot of people don't realize," Ley said. Arkansas passed a law in 1999 allowing open-enroll- ment charter schools, a kind of public school that may be started and run by an insti- tution of higher education, a governmental entity or a non- profit organization. Charters started by school districts are called conversion char- ter schools. Arkansas Arts Academy is one of the oldest char- ter schools in Arkansas. It opened in 2001, when it was called Benton County School of the Arts, with about 300 students in grades kindergar- ten through seven. It now operates on two campuses in Rogers, one for grades K-8 and the other for 9-12. The high school campus is undergoing a major reno- vation and expansion project to accommodate the seventh- and eighth-graders. Overall, the school expects to open the 2018-19 school year with close to its charter-imposed limit of 1,225 students. Haas Hall Academy, called the best high school in Arkan- sas by U.S. News & World Report, has expanded from a single campus in Fayetteville to one each in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale over the past three years. Total enrollment across the four campuses was 986 as of Oct. 1. Kelly Barnett, direc- tor of admissions, said they want to increase enrollment by 150 at each of the three newer campuses next school year. Fayetteville's campus, with about 360 students, will stay at roughly that number. Northwest Arkansas Clas- sical Academy in Bentonville opened in 2013 for grades kindergarten through eight and has expanded by one grade level each year since. The first senior class of 10 students will graduate this spring. Six of those 10 have been with the school since it opened. "The senior class is a re- ally great group of kids," said Bryce Horswell, a history teacher at the school. "They work together so well. They really celebrate one another." The school provides a clas- sical education in the liberal arts with students learning Greek and Latin root words beginning in third grade and studying classical literature. The environment encourages discussion and conversation, according to Susan Provenza, headmaster. Ozark Montessori Acade- my, in its third year, is Spring- dale's first charter school. It is open to grades kindergarten through eight. The Montessori method is based on the work of the late Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. It features three-hour stu- dent work cycles, multi-age classrooms, small-group presentations, carefully se- lected learning material, for- eign-language instruction and student choice. A pair of virtual schools — Arkansas Virtual Academy and Arkansas Connections Academy — enroll nearly 3,000 students combined from across the state. Arkan- sas Connections Academy is based in Bentonville. PRIVATE SCHOOLS The private school sector is growing as well. The Thaden School, in d ow n t ow n B e n t o nv i l l e, opened in August. It has about 50 seventh- and ninth-grad- ers. Next school year it will include grades seven through 10. The Walton Family Foun- dation-backed school is op- erating out of temporary buildings while its campus on the old Benton County Fair- grounds is being built. " We h ave g rad e - l eve l meetings where people come together as a faculty to talk about individual students and how they're doing from all angles," said Clayton Marsh, founding head of school at Thaden. "As we scale up, one of the key questions is how we can continue to maintain that kind of small learning community feeling we have." The New School in Fay- etteville can't exactly be called a new school anymore, given it was founded in 1971. What is new is a major expan- sion allowing a high school to be added. More than 400 students in preschool through 10th grade are now enrolled. The school will add a grade level each of the next two years. There are a few Montes- sori private schools, the larg- est of which is Fayetteville Montessori School, which has 429 students ranging from 6 weeks old to the sixth grade. Those seeking a Chris- tian-oriented education have numerous options available to them in Northwest Ar- kansas. The largest of them are Shiloh Christian School in Springdale and Life Way Christian School in Center- ton. Fayetteville Christian School is marking the 40th anniversary of its founding this year. Each of these three schools offers preschool through 12th grade. They en- roll more than 1,500 students combined. Providence Academy in Rogers applies a college-type schedule to kindergarten through 12th grade. Students get "satellite days," to work independently or with oth- ers at home or at another location. The purpose of the university-model school is to build time-management skills, as well as to encour- age students to become in- dependent learners outside the classroom, according to the school's website. Two Catholic schools — St. Joseph in Fayetteville and St. Vincent de Paul in Rogers — serve students through the eighth grade. Ozark Catholic Academy, a high school, is set to open this fall in Tontitown. It will begin with grades nine and 10 and add 11th and 12th grades in the following school years. Classes will be at the Father Bandini Parish Edu- cation Center at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where the school is leasing space. HOME SCHOOLING There were 3,842 students home-schooled in Northwest Arkansas last school year, according to the latest data available from the Arkansas Department of Education. If they were grouped into a single district, it would be the sixth-largest in the region. No r t hwe s t A r k a n s a s ' home-schooled population has grown steadily over the years. It increased 4.5 percent from the 2015-16 school year to the 2016-17 school year, which was three times the rate of the state as a whole. Bentonville School District was home to the most home- schooled students in the state last year with 1,010. The Social Homeschool- ers Network includes more than 300 students in North- west Arkansas and McDon- ald County, Mo. Members go on field trips and meet for a social day at the First Baptist Church on Olive Street in Rogers once every two weeks. On social days, students engage in an educational workshop, a gym class and other activities. The network also holds special events like a science fair, said Cassie Smith, the network's director. Smith, who lives in Spring- dale, began home schooling her now 13-year-old son about four years ago. She started the network as a way to meet up with other home-schoolers. " We c o n t i n u e t o s e e growth," Smith said. "On our website we get several inqui- ries a day. I've also seen a lot more people just inquiring about how to home-school and how to get started." Parents who choose to home-school their children must submit forms notifying their local school districts of their intentions. Districts in turn must submit those forms to the state Department of Education. The number of home- schooled students in the United States more than doubled from 850,000 in 1999 to about 1.8 million in 2012, according to a 2016 report by the National Center for Edu- cation Statistics. TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS The 15 traditional public school districts of Northwest Arkansas serve about 85,000 children, a number that grows every year. Those who work for the districts, however, know there is competition for their students. "We can no longer afford to operate under the false assumption that because our Enrollment changes Enrollment changes at public schools in Benton and Washington counties over the past 10 years. Haas Hall Academy includes campuses at Fayette- ville, Rogers and Springdale; Haas Hall Bentonville has its own charter. School district 2007-08 2012-13 2016-17 2017-18 10-year enrollment change Arkansas Arts Academy 451 776 779 792 76% Arkansas Connections Academy — — 343 761 n/a Bentonville School District 11,959 14,880 16,609 16,870 41% Decatur School District 579 526 573 560 -3% Elkins School District 1,142 1,114 1,190 1,246 9% Farmington School District 2,148 2,283 2,503 2,475 15% Fayetteville School District 8,406 9,142 9,864 10,017 19% Gentry School District 1,448 1,398 1,407 1,462 1% Gravette School District 1,765 1,814 1,854 1,909 8% Greenland School District 936 776 795 793 -15% Haas Hall Academy 87 319 344 674 675% Haas Hall Bentonville — — 301 312 n/a Lincoln School District 1,284 1,240 1,188 1,169 -9% Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy — — 556 564 n/a Ozark Montessori Academy Springdale — — 179 262 n/a Pea Ridge School District 1,527 1,685 2,066 2,124 39% Prairie Grove School District 1,717 1,845 1,909 1,918 12% Rogers School District 13,490 14,452 15,399 15,697 16% Siloam Springs School District 3,682 3,959 4,211 4,281 16% Springdale School District 16,792 20,141 21,527 21,828 30% West Fork School District 1,242 1,193 1,074 990 -20% SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Education Enrollment breakdown Racial/ethnic makeup of the student bodies of public school districts in Benton and Washington counties for the 2017-18 school year. Percentages don't always total 100% because of rounding. District name 2 or more races Asian Black Hispanic Native American/ native Alaskan Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander White Total Arkansas Arts Academy 57 (7%) 15 (2%) 9 (1%) 105 (13%) 7 (1%) 2 597 (75%) 792 Arkansas Connections Academy 35 (5%) 5 (1%) 85 (11%) 67 (9%) 4 1 564 (74%) 761 Bentonville School District 673 (4%) 1,100 (7%) 508 (3%) 1,875 (11%) 221 (1%) 52 12,441 (74%) 16,870 Decatur School District 1 33 (6%) 11 (2%) 207 (37%) 13 (2%) 1 294 (53%) 560 Elkins School District 40 (3%) 2 10 (1%) 62 (5%) 16 (1%) 2 1,114 (89%) 1,246 Farmington School District 112 (5%) 16 (1%) 63 (2%) 212 (9%) 17 0 2,055 (83%) 2,475 Fayetteville School District 592 (6%) 358 (4%) 933 (9%) 1,220 (12%) 53 59 6,802 (68%) 10,017 Gentry School District 105 (7%) 120 (8%) 9 207 (14%) 69 (5%) 1 951 (65%) 1,462 Gravette School District 60 (3%) 16 (1%) 11 142 (7%) 56 (3%) 8 1,616 (85%) 1,909 Greenland School District 29 (4%) 2 8 (1%) 57 (7%) 7 (1%) 2 688 (87%) 793 Haas Hall Academy 50 (7%) 55(8%) 13 (2%) 69 (10%) 7 (1%) 4 476 (71%) 674 Haas Hall Bentonville 15 (5%) 52 (17%) 1 30 (10%) 5 (1%) 1 208 (67%) 312 Lincoln School District 35 (3%) 50 (4%) 11 (1%) 114 (10%) 39 (3%) 2 918 (78%) 1,169 Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy 7 (1%) 126 (22%) 7 (1%) 54 (10%) 2 0 368 (65%) 564 Ozark Montessori Academy Springdale 1 3 (1%) 4 (2%) 96 (37%) 0 3 (1%) 155 (59%) 262 Pea Ridge School District 29 (1%) 11 24 (1%) 171 (8%) 26 (1%) 2 1,861 (88%) 2,124 Prairie Grove School District 6 21 (1%) 47 (3%) 99 (5%) 46 (2%) 3 1,696 (88%) 1,918 Rogers School District 370 (2%) 297 (2%) 259 (2%) 7,167 (45) 117 (1%) 279 (2%) 7,208 (46%) 15,697 Siloam Springs School District 173 (4%) 138 (3%) 52 (1%) 1,291 (30%) 240 (6%) 11 2,376 (56%) 4,281 Springdale School District 295 (1%) 373 (1%) 531 (3%) 10,251 (47%) 112 2,791 (13%) 7,475 (34%) 21,828 West Fork School District 50 (5%) 11 (1%) 6 (1%) 49 (5%) 18 (2%) 1 855 (86%) 990 SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Education Options v Continued from Page 1T NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Betsy Holderfield speaks with students in her Algebra II class at the Tyson School of Innovation in Springdale. The school has more than 700 students in grades seven through 11. It will add a senior class this fall. NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF • @NWABENGOFF Kimberly Manley, a "team mom," and Chandler Fordham, an instructor from Pro Martial Arts in Rog- ers, demonstrate a kick during a physical education period for kindergartners through second-grad- ers during the biweekly "social day" meeting of the Social Homeschoolers Network of Northwest Arkansas at the First Baptist Church of Rogers' Olive Street Campus. FIND DATA on enrollment changes at all public schools in the northwest corner of Arkansas online at nwadg.com. v Continued on next page 2T v SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2018 ∂ ∂ Education