<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Zq9Yj_1H2LdsrA00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Zq9Yj_1H2LdsrA00" width="860" height="573" ><figcaption>Bentonville Schools Superintendent Debbie Jones speaks about the future of R.E. Baker Elementary School on Thursday, Nov. 12.</figcaption></figure>It’s time for a final decision on the aging R.E. Baker Elementary School.At a meeting Thursday night, Bentonville Schools Superintendent Debbie Jones shared two options for the school, and neither was comforting to the parents in attendance. One option is to close the elementary school at the end of the 2026-27 school year, with students moved to other downtown schools.Alternatively, it could stop accepting new classes of students, eliminating kindergarten next year and another grade each of the following years, until there are no students left.A phase-out wouldn’t guarantee that students would be able to finish at the school, though. Jones said she expects some families would move their students as soon as it began. If enrollment dropped too much or facilities issues became impossible to overcome, the school could close sooner.The School Board is expected to make its decision at its next meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17, Jones said. Under either scenario, the plan is to eventually demolish the building. The school district, after evaluations from Hight Jackson Associates, has concluded that it’s simply not feasible or cost-effective to renovate it.Parts of the building are about 70 years old, and there are multiple elevation changes throughout the building that complicate renovations and repairs, especially underground work. The building also isn’t ADA compliant, Jones said.Between the closure of the school and its eventual demolition, the district plans to continue using the building for programs like TREC, the district’s gifted and talented program. TREC students are bused to the site once a week from their regular schools. If the building had to close suddenly, those programs would be easier to move. “It’s much easier to relocate a program than it is to close a school,” Jones said.One parent asked whether the building’s issues could potentially force an immediate closure during the current school year. Jones said that was possible, at which point students would need to be reassigned to other schools right away.The physical problems with the building are compounded by declining enrollment at schools in the downtown area, as The Bentonville Bulletin has previously reported.Growth can be seen throughout the school district, but demographic trends show that families are picking areas closer to its edges — not Bentonville’s expensive downtown core — as a place to raise children.Within the last four years, enrollment at R.E. Baker has declined more than 40% and now sits at around 250 students.Several parents at Thursday’s meeting said the school’s small size is something they treasured.Newer elementary schools, closer to the outer edges of the district’s boundaries, have higher enrollment. Evening Star Elementary, which opened in 2019, has nearly 800 students enrolled. Vaughn Elementary, which opened in 2022, has more than 650.Kelly Stuckey Hansen wore an R.E. Baker Elementary School sweatshirt to the meeting and became tearful as she spoke.Her family sold property and moved to Rogers about two years ago after they “couldn’t afford to live downtown anymore,” she said. She still drives her son, who will finish fourth grade this year, to R.E. Baker every day “because of the environment, the size of the school, the people, the community.”“I do believe there are families that could benefit from a smaller school like this greatly,” she said. “Everything about it has been really wonderful.”During the presentation, Jones shared a map showing how R.E. Baker’s zone would be divided among Thomas Jefferson Leadership Academy, Sugar Creek Arts Academy and Apple Glen Elementary. Families can still use parent choice to apply to any school in the district, she noted. The school district has publicly shared multiple times over the last few years that the building’s days were numbered.A 2024 facilities assessment presented to the School Board recommended considering demolition. In 2025, a district spokesperson told The Bentonville Bulletin the building would likely be torn down, but Thursday’s update was the first time a timeline for closing the school was shared.Some parents said they had expected the building to be replaced with a new school, rather than R.E. Baker closing permanently.They pointed to mockups shared last year, including one showing a brand-new, three-story building with terraces for each grade level on the site of the current school.As the district noted when those concepts were released, a Walton Family Foundation grant paid for the architects’ design work, but construction funding had not been secured at the time and has not been secured since.Whether or not that school — or another — is to be rebuilt on the site one day, Jones said, “That’s not a dream that’s lost, but we can’t make a promise for something that we can’t deliver.”Other questions Jones fielded included:What about the school’s teachers and other staff? All would be “guaranteed jobs” at other buildings, Jones said.What would happen to the land after the building is demolished? “There’s absolutely no offer, no plan. There’s been no board discussion about selling the land. I assure you of that,” Jones said.How will they talk to students about the closure? A transition plan would be made, “like they do now when fourth grade moves up to fifth grade,” Jones said.Was the district absolutely sure that closing R.E. Baker was the only path forward? Jones said she trusted Hight Jackson’s assessment and that the district’s own experiences maintaining the building confirmed it was not feasible to repair. In response to a question about whether the district had cost estimates for repairs, Jones said, “We don’t have actual quotes.”Is there some way to raise money to build a new building or renovate the existing one? Jones said a new building would take “tremendous, tremendous donations” or a property tax increase, which she considered unwise at the moment. Plus the district’s facilities master plan says there should be enough room for elementary school students for the next 10 years, with some reshuffling.Why didn’t R.E. Baker get a “Parent Choice” theme, like Mary Mae Jones’ international curriculum or Sugar Creek’s arts focus? While that might’ve attracted more students and eased enrollment concerns, it wouldn’t resolve the concerns about the building itself. Jones said the district considered it “unethical” to recruit families to a building when it didn’t know how long it would last.</div></body>

Block Source: bentonvillebulletin.com

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

It’s time for a final decision on the aging R.E. Baker Elementary School. At a meeting Thursday night, Bentonville Schools Superintendent Debbie Jones shared two options for the school, and neither was comforting to the parents in attendance. One option is to close the elementary school at the end...

This Could Be R.E. Baker Elementary's Last School Year

NewsBreak

It’s time for a final decision on the aging R.E. Baker Elementary School. At a meeting Thursday night, Bentonville Schools Superintendent Debbie Jones shar

This Could Be R.E. Baker Elementary's Last School Year

Comments / 1