BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- After hours of public comment and debate, the Bentonville Schools board ultimately voted in a 7-0 vote to have the district begin developing new zones for elementary schools based on a common calendar.
The decision came after elementary school principals asked the district to move the schools to a set calendar.
“It began with a calendar discussion. And, this was brought forward last fall by our elementary principals, that said ‘if we could go to one colander, it would solve a lot of things that are impacting our academic environment on a day-to-day basis,” said Michael Poore, superintendent for Bentonville Schools.
Currently Bentonville has two elementary schools on a traditional calendar, according to Poore.
The other two are on a non-traditional year-round program.
The non-traditional schedule has the same amount of days as the traditional schedule.
The difference is, a non-traditional schedule goes longer into the summer. It also has more frequent, short breaks throughout the school year.
The school district elected to implement the new set-calendar by the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year.