Summer is winding down as families and schools make plans for class to be back in session on Tuesday, August 15. The Elkins School District website (https://www.elkinsdistrict.org/) has information about open houses, handbooks, school supply lists, and other information you will need for your students’ back-to-school experience.

Don’t forget that the Arkansas tax-free weekend is August 5-6. There will be no sales tax on school-related items and a complete list can be found on the state’s website (https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov and search for sales tax holiday 2023).

We spoke with Superintendent Jeremy Mangrum about back to school and he had several comments about what students can expect for the coming year.

One is a new Student Resource Officer, which brings the the total number in the district to three SROs.

“I'm excited about partnering with the City of Elkins for a third full-time SRO to help keep our students and staff as safe as possible,” Mangrum said.

Mangrum also had these comments:

“Progress is going very well on the construction of the multipurpose activities center. We anticipate being able to open that facility during the first week of November. It is a facility that I'm confident our students, staff, and community will really be proud of.

Our student population continues to grow in the district. We are expecting to be above 1,400 students when we get started on August 15, which will be a new record high for student enrollment.

Community members need to remember that traffic in the school zone will be slower than normal during the first week of school as everyone adjusts to the pickup and dropoff of students. That will speed up after the first or second week of school, but everyone needs to be patient to make sure that everyone arrives safely.

We will continue to work hard and focus on student learning this year. Our district has seen some major improvement in student achievement and school rankings in recent years and we hope to continue that trend. From the most recent school letter grades that were issued during the 22-23 school year our district ranked second in all of Northwest Arkansas Educational Service Cooperative schools when all the grades were averaged for a district-wide GPA.”