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Bentonville administrators plan AI committee, humanistic behavior approach and an 8th-grade career fair after Naperville visit
Summary
District leaders reported on a November visit to Naperville Community School District 203 and said they will form an AI advisory committee, adopt humanistic core values for behavior responses and plan a hands-on career fair for 8th graders.
Janet Schwenhauser, deputy superintendent and chief financial officer, told the Bentonville School District Board of Education on Dec. 17 that a district delegation visited Naperville Community School District 203 as part of the MidStates Benchmarking Consortium and returned with four primary takeaways the district plans to pursue.
The district plans to form a committee on artificial intelligence that will include outside stakeholders and district staff to create guidance and increase student access to AI resources, Erin Nichols said. "We're going to form a committee... and recommend bringing in some outside stakeholders from some key companies," Nichols said. The district previously updated staff and student handbooks and has an app-vetting workflow, she told the board.
Marley Purdy described a behavioral model the Naperville district uses based on nine "humanistic core values," led by priorities such as student and staff safety, dignity and respect. Purdy said Naperville trains staff to ask, "What is best for this student in this moment?" and that Bentonville will create a team of its behavior specialists and coaches to draft similar core values.
The district also said it will develop a large, hands-on career fair for all 8th-grade students modeled on Naperville's event. The fair will include preparatory curriculum, workbooks for students and community and business partners to connect career pathways to high-school programs, Janet Schwenhauser and other administrators said. Kelly Sanchez, a junior high principal who attended the trip, told the board that planning meetings have already begun with CTE staff for a fall 2025 event.
Administrators said another District priority from the visit is distinguishing teaching content from teaching skills, and to expand project-based learning that lets students apply knowledge. "It was amazing... they were doing it in the fall, and the curriculum they had curriculum beforehand that they were covering in classes," one board member said while discussing implementation plans.
Board members voiced support for the takeaways and praised the district’s practice of benchmarking against high-performing peers. No formal votes were required for the visit report; board members asked staff to return with committee membership and implementation plans.
Next steps provided by staff included launching the AI committee in January, drafting an AI guidance rubric for classroom use, convening behavior specialists to draft core values and continuing planning for the 8th-grade career fair in fall 2025.
