ROGERS — The school board for the Benton County School of the Arts will begin a discussion Tuesday about how to select board members and how long they serve.

Those issues have been unresolved since two charter schools - the Benton County School of the Arts, an elementary school, and the Northwest Arkansas Academy of Fine Arts, a high school - merged during the summer.

The schools were created with separate charters by the Benton County Charter School Organization. The board of that organization is known as the founding board.

Members of the schools’ boards were elected by parents of students.

As part of the merger, the elementary and high school boards dissolved, and the founding boardbecame the board for both schools, Craig Brown, board president, said.

Some members of the elementary school and high school boards were appointed to the 10-member founding board, Brown said.

According to the founding board’s bylaws, members are nominated and elected by the board.

Charter schools, unlike public school districts, are not required to hold elections for school boards, said Julie Johnson Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Education.

Instead, the charter includes plans for the structure of boards, she said. The plans have to be approved by the State Board of Education.

“Because charter schools have such di◊erent attendance patterns, mandating an election is hard to do,” she said.

Brown said he would like to consider holding elections for board members.

He said it would also make sense to implement staggered terms to limit the amount of turnover possible in a single election.

Founding board member Gary Moore said he does not have his mind made up about whether board members should be elected or appointed.

“I think it’s always a good thing to give your patrons a chance to make decisions on the people that represent them,” he said.

But an appointment process would allow the board to select members with specifi c skills, Moore said.

“I probably could support either measure,” he said.

News, Pages 1 on 11/03/2009

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