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Board approves handbook revisions; changes include Trek relocation, childcare renaming and Adventure Club snow-day policy
Summary
The board approved updates to multiple department handbooks for 2025–26, including signage that Trek (GT program) will relocate to R.E. Baker, Adventure Club will close on snow days and several early-childhood programs will be renamed under the "Excellent Beginnings" umbrella.
The Bentonville School District Board of Education approved a package of department handbook revisions that update program names, clarify discipline and attendance rules, and make operational changes for the 2025–26 school year.
Mister Hoover presented revisions to roughly seven handbooks covering athletics, visual and performing arts (VPA), Gateway, Trek (GT program), Adventure Club and several early-childhood programs. He told the board the updates range from presentation and compliance edits to substantive policy clarifications.
Key changes include: Trek (the GT program) will relocate from the Trek Center to dedicated space at R. E. Baker; the district said instruction for gifted students, including second grade, will continue and only the location is changing. On Adventure Club, the handbook adds a change that the program will close on snow days for safety. The early-childhood programs formerly called Building Bridges will be renamed under the Excellent Beginnings brand (examples: Excellent Beginnings at J Street and Excellent Beginnings at Wildcat Way), and enrollment and drop-off procedures were clarified for infant/toddler sites (staff noted a 30-minute drop-off allowance).
Athletics and VPA handbooks were updated to clarify a 28-day suspension from competition that begins after a student completes a school consequence; the district added language to treat expulsions or in-lieu-of-expulsion as level-4 infractions in the code. The VPA handbook also removes the marching-band exemption form and updates theater production approval language.
Mister Hoover also noted fee and operational changes for Adventure Club: a tuition increase to $95 per week for full-time care (up from $90) and a summer rate of $190 regardless of attendance. He said families had already received enrollment notices reflecting the new fees.
The motion to approve the handbook updates was made by Tatum and seconded by Willie; the board voted unanimously to adopt the revisions.
