Popularity of Private Schools On The Rise

Area Schools Expanding To Accomodate Growth

The only factor limiting the enrollment at private schools in Washington and Benton counties is the space available in the school buildings.

“We see a tremendous demand,” says Bill Mandrell, director of The New School in Fayetteville.

Enrollment at The New School has more than doubled since 1991 and the school currently has a waiting list despite continuing expansion of the school’s facilities. Last year, the school began a building program that has more than doubled its capacity to 30,000 SF. And, the building continues this year.

“We couldn’t stop growing,” Mandrell says. “The demand was too great.”

Much of the expense of expanding the facilities has been paid by donations from parents. Almost one-half of the latest $1 million construction project was paid through donations.

The school had 24 students when it opened as a preschool and kindergarten in 1971. It was one of the only schools in the area at the time that offered a full day of classes for preschool and kindergarten children.

The school added an elementary school program in 1990 and enrollment increased to 130 students. The enrollment has continued to increase each year. This year, the enrollment increased by 25 students to its current 315. The school has a waiting list of students who want to attend.

“We are getting five or six calls a day for the preschool,” Mandrell says. “We’re not even taking names anymore.”

St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Fayetteville is experiencing many of the same problems. The school is at capacity and has a waiting list of students.

“We are using every room we have,” says Chuck Marino, the principal of the school.

School officials plan to make a decision by the end of August on plans to build a new facility on 18 acres the church owns on Starr Road near the intersection of Arkansas Highways 45 and 265 in Fayetteville.

The new facility would enable the school to include a middle school for grades six and seven. Plans also include building a new church. Currently, the school’s property at 321 E. Lafayette Ave. is too small to allow any expansion.

The situation is much the same in Benton County where there are only about one-half as many children in private schools.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Rogers has a waiting list of students who want to attend the school. St. Vincent de Paul is the only Catholic school in Benton County.

The school was expanded three years ago and added a seventh-grade class in 1996. From its beginning with 50 students in 1957, the school has grown to 240 students.

The demand for a Catholic school education has been increasing nationwide in recent years after 20 years of decline from 1965 until the mid-1980s when the schools lost three million students and more than 4,000 Catholic schools closed. During the past 12 years, more than 150 Catholic schools have been built and 40 percent of the nation’s 8,223 schools have waiting lists.

Parents find a number of attractions to the private schools. Private schools usually have fewer students in each classroom. Because of the smaller class sizes, students get more individual attention from teachers. Also, standardized test scores of students in private schools usually are higher than the students in public schools.

Private schools often offer programs not available in most public schools, such as before school and after school programs. Many of the schools offer comprehensive art, music, library science, computer and Spanish courses.