Arkadelphia Public Schools

Here are some of the activities happening during our first full week of school in 2024. Arkadelphia Public Schools. Have a great one! #BadgerPride

2023-24 Inclement Weather Information As we enter the winter weather season, please be advised that school closures will be communicated through our Thrillshare alert system which includes text, voice, and emails. If there have been recent changes to your family’s contact information, you should contact your child’s school office to have those changes made in our student information system. School closure announcements will also be published on Arkadelphia Public School District social media accounts, app, website, and Little Rock news outlets. Provisions in the Arkansas LEARNS Act no longer allow AMI (Alternative Methods of Instruction) days to be counted as instructional days for Arkansas Public Schools. If our district misses any school days due to weather or other emergencies, these days must be made up as onsite instruction days. Any missed days of onsite instruction will be added at the end of the school year, following our last scheduled day, Thursday, May 23rd. If a winter weather event is forecasted, please know that Arkadelphia Public School District officials will monitor the weather and road conditions working closely with local officials, including the Clark County Sheriff and the Office of Emergency Services. A decision to close school is always made based on the best available information and in the best interest of our students and staff. Safety is our priority, but a school closure will not likely be made very far in advance based solely on forecasted winter precipitation. If not announced the night before by 9:00 p.m., a decision may be communicated between 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. on the morning of the impacted school day once school and county officials have examined road conditions and consulted about the latest forecast. Thank you for your support and patience as we monitor situations and make decisions in the best interest of our students and staff.

Happy Friday! Our first Friday in 2024! As this semester gets started, here is a reminder of our 2023-24 school calendar. It's always a great day to be a Badger! #BadgerPride

Goza held a second celebration on Wednesday in honor of Anderson Thomas who retired at the end of December after 42 years with the Arkadelphia Public School District. A.T. worked at every campus at some point during his years with our district. Thank you Anderson for your dedication to our schools. You will be missed! Enjoy your retirement. #BadgerPride

On Wednesday, the Goza staff got a special visit from Capturing Kids Hearts! Goza was one of four campuses selected from over 100 CKH Showcase Schools as a Celebration Winner based on their social media video announcement in the spring. Each Goza Great received lunch, a book, and a custom T-shirt from CKH. Thank you to CKH and our community for supporting our award-winning celebration! #BadgerPride #CapturingKidsHearts

Governor Sarah Sanders declared January 2024 as Arkansas School Board Member Recognition Month. Please join us throughout this month in showing appreciation to the seven members of the Arkadelphia Board of Education for their dedicated service to our district: Blake Bell, President Gina White, Vice President Ida Tramble, Secretary Dr. Kenneth Harris Clark Tennison Matt Johnson Lori Smith #SchoolBoardRecognitionMonth #BadgerPride

We hope everyone had a Happy New Year's Day! Welcome to 2024! This week our students return on Thursday to begin the second semester. Teachers return for a Work Day on Wednesday. Varsity Basketball travels to Magnolia this evening to begin conference play. Let's go! #BadgerPride

Ledger Wiley, a fourth-grade student at Peake, was presented a Badger Pride Award at the December Board of Education meeting. Ledger earned first place among 78 competitors at the Dawson Education Service Cooperative Chess Tournament that was held at ASU Three Rivers in Malvern. Congratulations Ledger on this amazing accomplishment! #BadgerPride

Kindergarten students Chloe Bell and Kaine Guinn received Badger Pride Awards at Tuesday’s School Board meeting. Chloe is a student in Mrs. Dolores Williams’ class and Kaine is a student in Mrs. Cindy Gierth’s class. They were nominated by the Perritt staff for showing character traits that are great examples of what it means to show Badger Pride each day. They have perfect attendance for the first semester. They have scored at or above average on their beginning-of-the-year NWEA test. They were both nominated for the Capturing Kids’ Hearts Award in December for demonstrating exemplary traits of responsibility. We are so proud of these students! 💙💙 Congratulations Chloe and Kaine! #BadgerPride

Frosty AND Santa made an appearance at Peake today! The students loved it on Polar Express Day--wear your favorite PJs! #BadgerPride

We have made it to the end of the first semester and begin our holiday break. Students return to school on Thursday, January 4, 2024. We hope you and your family have a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year’s celebration. It’s always a great day to be a Badger!

The Goza Sixth Grade students in Kaki Forthman, Hallie Unruh, and Jalise Bowers Social Studies classes have been studying Ancient Greek life for the past three weeks. They have even incorporated a research project on Greek gods/goddesses in their English class. Part of the unit includes the Greek Olympics so students got to head outside Wednesday afternoon and compete in the Goza Greek Olympics. So fun but definitely competitive! #BadgerPride

Jace Randolph, Aydin Jones, and Carter Carozza are Peake fifth-grade students of Ashley Whittle and Adason Thornton. These three students were presented a Badger Pride Award Tuesday at the Board of Education meeting for their performance when they faced challenging math problems. Ms. Whittle shared, “The way they explained their thinking went above and beyond.” These young men show great perseverance when tackling difficult math problems. They work until a problem is figured out. We are so proud to recognize the hard work of these students! #BadgerPride

We want to introduce and recognize one of our newest employees, Mr. Orien Sims. Mr. Sims joined Perritt Primary in October as a Behavior Interventionist and he is already making an impact. He was nominated for a Badger Pride Award by the Second Grade Team at Perritt. They shared that “Mr. Sims is a great male role model for our students. He provides support and encouragement while showing authority in a positive light. He is invested in our students’ lives and makes intentional connections with each one. Teachers and staff appreciate his dedication and professionalism in helping guide students in the right direction.” We are so grateful to have Orien Sims in the Badger Family! #BadgerPride

RTI (Response to Intervention) is a team effort at Peake. This year, P.E. Teacher Amanda Stephenson-Newman was assigned three math RTI sessions every day, one for each grade level. She might have been reluctant at first but now, her principal, colleagues, and students are sharing the impact she is making on student learning. She usually has different students each day who go over problems assigned in workbooks by their math classroom teacher. Students also get math enrichment through Prodigy, a digital game-based learning site, that allows students across Arkansas to compete against each other by working and correctly answering questions aligned to Arkansas math standards. Thank you Coach for going above and beyond to help our students! #BadgerPride

Five APSD Employees got a visit this morning from the Badger Prize Patrol including students caroling their favorite holiday song. They were recipients of a $50 Fat Boys Fine Food and Catering gift card that was provided by Taylor King Law. We appreciate the King family and Taylor King Law for providing these gifts for our dedicated Arkadelphia Public School District employees who will definitely be eating well on their holiday break! They were super excited and very grateful for the gift! Congratulations to these winners of a $50 Fat Boys Gift Card: Amy Evins, Perritt Primary School Madison Turner, Peake Elementary School Tisha Hunter, Goza Middle School Bud McMillion, Arkadelphia High School James Kladis, Arkadelphia District Staff #BadgerPride

Some of our APSD Employees got a visit this morning from the Badger Prize Patrol that included some students caroling their favorite holiday song. Our Peake building project partners Nabholz and Lewis Architects combined to provide a $100 Visa Gift Card to be given away to an employee at each school campus and our district department. We appreciate Nabholz and Lewis Architects for helping spread a little Christmas cheer and show appreciation to our APSD family. Congratulations to these winners of a $100 Visa Gift Card: Madison Hardage, Perritt Primary School Cheryl Hilser, Peake Elementary School Beverly Meeks, Goza Middle School Sarah Brawley, Arkadelphia High School Judy Talley, Arkadelphia District Staff #BadgerPride

Last week at Peake, Chartwells Food Service held a Discovery Kitchen demo for Spice it Up Month during lunch that showcased various spices and herbs that elevate our foods. Students were offered samples of a simple breakfast trail mix with cinnamon as the highlighted spice. They learned a few fun facts about the spice and took home recipes that they could make utilizing cinnamon. It was a blast!

Peake is helping their principal, Ms. Mary Snowden, celebrate a very special birthday today! She celebrated surrounded by the colors of her favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, with some good snacks, and looked like a queen. Happy birthday Ms. Snowden!

The CONE Grant Awards Ceremony scheduled for tonight, December 18, has been cancelled.