Don Tyson School of Innovation and Springdale High School students volunteered to work the polls at the Archer Learning Center on election day. "We learned a lot about everything related to voting," said DTSOI senior Vivian Schaffer, who was working the polls for the third time since she has been at the DTSOI. The students were scheduled to work from 7 am to 8 pm. Students serving in the community while learning about civics is another reason Springdale Public Schools are #THEChoice.
Young Elementary students have finished reading "Bad Kitty For President" and "Duck For President." They are doing a mock election to learn about the political process as well as to decide if they want Bad Kitty or Duck for President. Learning civics at an early age is another reason Springdale Public Schools are #THEChoice.
Ozark Guidance Virtual Parent Night, Technology & Limit Setting, are taking place Tuesday November 10th at 6pm via zoom. There will be both a Spanish and an English session. Please see our flyers below for more information!
Re-Live the special day with exclusive photos and videos from the Don Tyson School of Innovation
Industrial Maintenance Dedication- 10-26-20
https://www.smore.com/c0t56-don-tyson-school-of-innovation
Congrats to the Shelter Insurance Players of last Week! Tommy Hudson from Har-Ber High School and Luis Herrera from Springdale High School. Way to go!
Congrats to the Shelter Insurance Players of last Week! Tommy Hudson from Har-Ber High School and Luis Herrera from Springdale High School. Way to go!
Sally Ratcliff of Monitor Elementary is the winner of $500 in the Arvest "Thank a Teacher" campaign. #THEChoice
Evette Bran, a Sonora Elementary teacher, has won $500 in the Arvest "Thank a Teacher" campaign. #THEChoice
School Board members including President Michelle Cook and Central Administration Staff toured Hellstern Middle School this morning! Students and teachers shared their projects and thanked the board members for being so supportive!
JOHN ROBERTSON – SRO, Tyson Middle School, Walker Elementary
John Robertson’s first experience working with youth came in Mississippi shortly after he became a police officer. He was involved in the D.A.R.E. program and discovered how much he enjoyed working with students.
“I was newly married and my wife, Vickey, was from Mississippi so we moved there,” Robertson recalls. “As soon as I turned 21 I started my career with the police. I became familiar with students working with them in the D.A.R.E. program at Carthage High School.”
D.A.R.E. is a program that is officer led. It is a series of classroom lessons that teaches students how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence free lives.
“I didn’t realize kids had so much passion until I became involved in D.A.R.E.,” Robertson says. “I learned as much from them as they did from me. Knowing how we can help kids changed my view of law enforcement.
“Carthage is a small town and didn’t have an SRO program but I enjoyed working with students. I was on the police force there for 13 years before we moved to Springdale. My wife works for Tyson and she had a chance to work in the corporate office. She had done so much for me in my career, it was time for me to give back. She’s been with Tyson for 24 years and is still there.”
Robertson was without a position when he moved to Springdale but had applied to the police force and was quickly hired. He was on patrol for a couple years but was hoping to work in the schools. He jumped when an SRO opportunity became available and currently serves Tyson Middle School and Walker Elementary.
“The SRO program allows students to see us as more than officers,” Robertson explains. “We are honest with them. That allows them to see a different side of a police officer. They know they can trust us.
“Springdale’s SRO program is excellent and growing. We are about to add three officers through a grant and will have 21 officers in the schools. The more the better. As students go through the school system, they will meet more officers. Each of us is a little different but we are all here for the same thing, to help and benefit students through positive interaction.”
Robertson’s first assignment was Tyson Middle School. He was there four years before moving to Southwest Junior High. He moved back to Tyson Middle School and added Walker Elementary last year.
“When I went from Tyson to Southwest I enjoyed moving up with an entire class of students,” Robertson says. “They were good kids We built good connections. I still see many of them when I am at the high schools. I’ve even had some of their parents invite me to their birthday parties. There is no way to describe how much it means to know you have had an impact on students’ lives.”
Is there a major difference between junior high, middle school and elementary students?
“In junior high they are a little more mature but at the end of the day they are pretty much the same,” Robertson responds. “They all want to know where they belong in the world. In elementary school there are more of them that tell you they want to be a police officer when they grow up. They also want to hug you and their eyes light up a little more. Middle school students like to talk and interact with you.”
Robertson likes to interact about sports, particularly football and golf. He has become a Razorback fan but admits his first loyalty is to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“I grew up in Mobile and when you grow up in Alabama you choose either Alabama or Auburn,” Robertson says. “I try to keep it low key here. They give me a hard time. I support the Razorbacks in every game unless they are playing Alabama.”
Born in Germany, it was in Alabama that Robertson was first exposed to the influence of a police officer.
“My dad was in the military but was from Alabama,” Robertson explains. “He met my mom in Germany. Her entire family is still there. I was very young when we moved to Alabama. In our neighborhood there was a police officer. I saw his car in his driveway and I would go over and talk to him. We lived close together for a couple of years.
“I was impressed that he would take time to talk to me. He treated me so nice it made me want to be like him and be nice to kids.”
That’s exactly what Robertson is doing today. He has two kids of his own, a son and daughter who are both Har-Ber High School graduates and are currently in college. Both of them started at Walker Elementary so he was familiar with the school long before he began patrolling its halls.
“All of the schools are great and so are the resource officers,” Robertson says. “Our relationship with the school district is one of the best I am aware of. All of the SROs really work well together.”
The district is blessed to have so many dedicated police officers keeping students safe and developing positive relationships with students from kindergarten to 12th grade. The SRO program, largest in the state, is another reason Springdale Public Schools are #THEChoice.
Below you will find the dates for the flu clinics! Let's fight the flu together!
Julie Lien, a VIA Don Tyson School of Innovation teacher who works with students from Westwood, Smith, Jones, and Monitor Elementary Schools, has won $500 in the Arvest "We Love Teachers" campaign. #THEChoice.
Kat Scantlin of Childers Knapp Elementary has won $500 for classroom supplies in the fifth annual Arvest Bank "We Love Teachers" campaign. How will she use it? "We have a wish list a mile long," Scantlin says. "Our class is excited!" #THEChoice
Have you watched "Así Es Springdale"? Follow our show on Springdale Schools YouTube channel or look for it on our Spanish language Facebook: Escuelas de Springdale!
Han visto nuestro programa "Así Es Springdale"?Sigan nuestro canal Springdale Schools en YouTube, también lo pueden encontrar en la pagina de Escuelas de Springdale en Facebook.
Springdale High School AP Spanish and Spanish IV students presented their 16th annual "Celebra la Vida" Dia de los Muerlos event in the school's rotunda with displays featuring prominent Spanish speaking celebrities and/or historical figures. A community mural gave visitors an opportunity to write something they would like to do while they are still living.
MIKE HIGNITE – SRO, J.O. KELLY MIDDLE SCHOOL, CHILDERS KNAPP ELEMENTARY
A lot has changed since Mike Hignite became a student resource officer at Springdale High School. Hignite was one of only six SROs in the district at the time and he helped start the Law Academy at SHS that has produced several members of the current Springdale police force.
“When I started as an SRO we had two at Springdale High School, one at each of the junior highs and they had just added two for the new middle schools,” Hignite recalls. “Now we have 18 SROs and we are about to get three more. The SRO program pays off in our community. Officers build relationships with students and families and find solutions to problems. We have great officers and supervisors. I am proud to be a part of the program.”
Hignite became part of the SRO program in 2000 at Springdale High, his alma mater. He says, “When I started at Springdale High School, there were still a lot of teachers who had taught me. Aaron Harris was an assistant principal, just as he was when I was in school.
“I was raised by a single mother but also was raised by principals, teachers and parents of my friends. I started at Lee Elementary, then went to Southwest Junior High and Springdale High. I reflect back on the kindness that was extended to me and I can see it today at J.O. Kelly and Childers Knapp. I see teachers and principals helping raise kids, not just educating them.”
As soon as Hignite was back in school as an SRO, he was ready to give back. With his wife, Marjay, a teacher at and also a graduate of SHS, he was involved in the launch of the Law Academy.
“We were at the right spot at the right time and with a team of teachers we built the Law Academy from scratch,” Hignite explains. “Several of our current officers, some SROs and some on patrol, went through the Law Academy.
“We started with 25 or so students. By the third year we had 90, which was the most we could have at the time. It has been such a benefit to Springdale, not just to the students who went into criminal justice but also to the many who became teachers. They saw how much their teachers were investing in them and they wanted to do the same.”
After 11 years at SHS, Hignite left the school and moved into a training position. He says, “It was hard to leave but I really wanted to train young officers. I did that for four years, then went back to patrol. I was happy on patrol but when an SRO position came open at J.O. Kelly, Sara Ford, the principal at the time, told me to come to the school. It was a blessing to work with her for three years. She is a legend. Now I am working with Allen Williams, who was at Springdale High during some of the years I was there. He is top notch.”
What was Hignite’s pathway to becoming a police officer?
“I went to the University of the Ozarks for a year, then transferred to the University of Arkansas,” he responds. “After two and a half years there I needed a break so I joined the army. We were at peace when I went in but shortly after that came Operation Desert Storm and I served a short stint in the Middle East.
“I came back and finished at the UA. Right before I finished I took the police test and was hired after I graduated. It’s been 25 years on the police force for me and most days are fun.”
Since rejoining the SRO ranks, Hignite has started another program. This one, at J.O. Kelly, is called called the Shield Program. Students sign a contract to give back to the community. They become leaders in the school.”
“Officer Hignite is a mentor to a group of leaders,” says J.O. Kelly assistant principal Mendi Hayter. “He is the most humble person I’ve ever met. He is more comfortable giving other people the credit.”
Hignite is quick to give credit to the leadership at J.O. Kelly and Childers Knapp for “making me feel comfortable to be part of their teams. It’s great the schools are so close to each other so I can help wherever I am needed. I am blessed to be where I am and happy to be in Springdale.”
He’s been in Springdale most of his life and now has been at J.O. Kelly long enough to see students progress to high school.
“Seventh graders I saw playing football at J.O. Kelly during my first year here are now seeing the field as sophomores at Springdale High,” Hignite says. “We will always go to the Springdale Bulldog games. We are red until we are dead. I see many SHS graduates in the community and they tell me the year they graduated. There are some students at Childers Knapp whose parents I had at Springdale High.”
And, his three children are all SHS grads. His oldest son already has graduated from Notre Dame and his youngest is a freshman at the University of Arkansas. His daughter is in college in Philadelphia.
The entire Hignite family is entrenched in the Springdale community. He and his wife, Marjay, are both among the many reasons Springdale Public Schools are #THEChoice.
Springdale Schools is proud of students from Springdale High School East Program who collaborated to make a "Safe Sleep" brochure for Arkansas Infant and Child Death Review and Prevention Program, Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The brochure was translated into Marshallese in efforts to raise awareness of the importance of safe sleeping practices. The students chose this project last fall to better inform the community about SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome especially within the Marshallese Community. They have a higher death rate in infants than other sub populations and want to change that statistic through awareness. The brochure is also currently in circulation in some local pediatric clinics and Arkansas Children’s Northwest. They will also be distributing some brochures to local community clinics in Springdale.
The art department put on a parade with paper mache puppets inspired by Hispanic Heritage Month, Día de los Muertos, and parade traditions around the world.
https://youtu.be/0q04TK6eZFM
As we approach the winter, don't forget the dates for flu clinics available. We can fight the flu together!
Have you watched "Asi Es?" Follow our show on Springdale Schools YouTube channel or look for it on our Spanish language Facebook: Escuelas de Springdale!
Han visto nuestro programa "Asi Es?" Sigan nuestro canal de YouTube de Springdale Schools. Tambien lo pueden buscar en la pagina de Escuelas de Springdale!
