Tearfully sharing how Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy changed her children's attitudes towards school and therefore their lives, parent Stephanie Ridenoure closed to a standing ovation from teachers and school administrators.
Seasoned educators wiped tears from their eyes as they recognized the importance of their jobs.
Putting a personal face on the many stories of changed lives and students taught and encouraged, Ridenoure shared how the different approach of PRMBA, a charter conversion school, had impacted her family.
Ridenoure told teachers that when her son, Zach, and daughter, Tiffany, were 9 and 7 respectively, their father died.
"We struggled for a few years to get back to an even keel," she said, adding that after a time, she remarried, then a son brought into the family from that marriage died.
"All the ground we had gained, they lost," She said. "They were angry at the world, at the school, at everything."
"We battled daily over school," she said explaining that her son saw school as pointless. She said at the end of Zach's sophomore year, he told his mother about the new school, PRMBA, and signed up for it.
"I didn't realize what we were getting into," she said. "We went to my son getting up without me griping at him and going to school voluntarily. He was coming home excited and telling me what he had done that day."
Ridenoure said her son, at 19 years of age, is one-third owner of a thriving business because of the concepts learned at PRMBA.
She said her daughter handled her grief different, internalizing it and fell behind in her school lessons. But, thanks to Joshua Johnson, director at Pea Ridge Academy, advanced two years in just four months. Then, she transferred to PRMBA where she earned her certified nurse assistant certificate and now wants to be a doctor.
"She's 16 years old and in the work force," Ridenoure said. "Neither one of my children were on track to do much until we could get them into an environment where they felt comfortable."
Her daughter's confidence increased and she has a goal of becoming a doctor.
"They will light you up with ideas you don't even begin to think about," she said. "They can excel at every aspect of their life.
"I found myself in amazement that I was even here because a few years ago, I was just holding on hoping I could get my kids to stay in school. And it's all because Mr. (Rick) Neal (school superintendent) had a vision for PRMBA and Charley Clark (director of PRMBA) is helping manage it and all these managers push these kids out of their comfort zone and into a good life."
Teachers exhorted
Teachers and staff from Pea Ridge schools were celebrated, exhorted and encouraged at the annual teacher breakfast and fair Tuesday morning at Pea Ridge High School.
"Thank you for what you do," Neal told teachers.
Master teachers introduced teachers from each of the four campuses and each shared how various aspects of the new programs at Pea Ridge -- Leader in Me, project based learning, flex mod scheduling -- are influencing children.
"I find that we're getting better with PBL. It's causing us to be mindful of our instruction as we're giving lessons giving these kids real world problems to solve," teacher Michelle Sholtes said, adding that parental involvement has been greatly increased.
Mrs. Brandy Knight said the greenhouse project gives every fourth-grade student an opportunity to work in the greenhouse and get out in the community, go to Pea Ridge National Military Park and volunteer.
"It's changed the culture in our building. It's made us closer, it's changed the culture of the students' thinking," veteran teacher Dorcas Duvall said. "The kids are literally looking for the skills we've taught them in their classmates ... It's given us a common language."
"It's empowering our students with life skills," she said. "You all know I'm all about math, but I'm all about empowering our kids with life skills. It's going to help them -- when they go home, when they go to middle school and high school."
"I'm on the tail end of my career; I wish I'd had this early on," she said. "It's changed my life. It's changed kids' lives."
"Trust will develop. When you have trust, the magic will happen," John Gibson, Gifted and Talented teacher, said. "We have kids all across the spectrum from high poverty, to high affluence ... they have each others' backs."
Gibson shared a story about a confrontation he saw in the hallway in the middle school right outside of his classroom.
"I didn't have to intervene because another student coming through stepped in between the two students and told the aggressor 'leave her alone, she is one of ours and if you're going to go through her, you'll have to go through 30 of us.'
"It was respectfully. It was community. It was we are one, we work together. That's the success of the advisory program," Gibson said.
Flex mod schedule
"Flex mod has changed the culture of our school," Jamie Koch said, adding that special education students are feeling a part of the student body. "I do believe it's been successful for everyone."
"Flex mod taught me how to manage my time," Allie Van Houden, a 2016 graduate said, adding that it taught her how to be more independent and to seek help when she needed it.
"My college schedule is so similar to my senior year schedule and I'm so excited I know what's going on," Ashtyn Mondy wrote in a Twitter note. Mondy was a 2016 graduate of Pea Ridge High School.
"It gives you a real world connection," Joseph Beard, senior in PRMBA, said. "They don't baby you; you really have to do things on your own."
General News on 08/10/2016