Schools, Sanders seek to limit cell phones

Education

Bentonville West High School last school year hung pouches in classrooms where students stored their phones during class periods. Principal Dr. Jonathan Guthrie, left, said that compared to the previous year, there was a 57% decrease in verbal or physical aggression offenses and a 51% reduction in drug-related offenses. Eighty-six percent of teachers like English teacher Amy Groves, right, said they saw a positive effect in student engagement.

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

 Ninth graders walking into English teacher Amy Groves’ classroom at Bentonville West High School slip their cell phones into pouches hanging on the wall, where they remain throughout the 90-minute class period.

The school instituted the practice last year for a simple reason: Students weren’t paying enough attention in class. 

The results? In a survey, 86% of teachers believed the practice had a positive effect on student engagement, while 77% believed it had a positive effect on classroom behavior and 75% said it increased classroom interaction and socialization. Compared to 2022-23, verbal or physical aggression offenses fell 57%. Personal electronic device offenses, where students were using a phone when not allowed, fell 94%. Drug-related offenses such as the use of THC vapes fell 51%. The principal, Dr. Jonathon Guthrie, suspects it became harder for students to plan meetups. 

Groves said the practice has “improved my students’ focus immensely.”

“What that provides is the opportunity for students to actually talk to each other in person and listen to the teacher and look at the teacher when they’re talking,” she said. “I very rarely have any issues with them following the phone policy. And because they’re paying attention, their communicating is better, their grades are better, their understanding is better, so overall it has created a more peaceful environment for us here.”

What Bentonville started last year is now happening on a statewide level. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has created an $8 million pilot project where schools can apply for grants to pay for magnetically locked Yondr cell phone pouches and mental health services for students. According to the Department of Education, 112 districts planned to participate this year.

Continue reading Schools, Sanders seek to limit cell phones →

Isaac’s Law says you must stop for school bus

Education

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Today I’ll write something that close to 100% of us will appreciate: All motorists must stop when a school bus deploys its stop sign and flashes its red lights. But 100% of us aren’t doing it.

I know this from experience. When I’m not scratching out a living as a writer, I drive a school bus for the Bryant School District. Almost everyone stops when I deploy my stop sign. But so far this year half a dozen cars have zoomed past while my bus was lit up like a Christmas tree and students were preparing to board or depart. 

I attribute the incidents to inattention, distraction, impatience or ignorance of the law – and also, I’m sure,  my own experience.  Most have been the equivalent of trying to beat the yellow light.

None of those motorists wanted to hit a student, but then neither did the driver who killed Isaac Brian. That was a fourth-grader in the same Bryant district who lost his life in 2004.  Continue reading Isaac’s Law says you must stop for school bus →

When Hope wriggles in

Inspirational

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

My side of the family gathered in Wynne for our Christmas celebration Dec. 23. It was a wonderful time of gift exchanging, Papaw’s grilled steaks and Grandma’s cakes and pies. Five years ago, my wife, Melissa, and I had to skip it.

That was the year she was big and pregnant with our daughter, Hope, originally due around Christmas and ultimately greeting the world on January 10, 2020. We couldn’t risk traveling that Christmas, so we sent our older daughters, Mattie, then 18, and Abigail, then 15.

Hope was an unexpected blessing at an unexpected time. I was 50, and Melissa was 44. Our new daughter came into the world only a couple of weeks after my college roommate became a grandfather. In fact, many of my high school and college classmates have reached that stage. A few people who have seen Hope and me in public have commented about my “granddaughter” before I joyfully set them straight. It’s a great ice-breaker when I tell people that my daughters are 23, 20 and … four. I like adding that little pause. Continue reading When Hope wriggles in →

Arkansan of the year brings families together

Inspirational

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Christie Erwin did not know when she sat down in a rocking chair in January 1993 that her life was about to change, and that she would help reduce the number of foster children in Arkansas waiting to be adopted from 700 to 200. 

But she has, and that’s why she’s this columnist’s Arkansan of the year for 2024.

Erwin is the founder and executive director of Project Zero (www.theprojectzero.org). This year alone, that organization had helped connect 125 foster children with adoptive families as of November. Foster children are those the state removes from their homes because of neglect, abuse and/or unsafe conditions.

Project Zero, which she started in 2011, does this through an online Heart Gallery featuring photos and powerful videos that tell the kids’ stories, and through events like the Candyland Christmas December 7.

The latter brought 143 waiting kids and 48 prospective families to Little Rock’s Fellowship Bible Church for food, fun, gifts from 250 people, and, most importantly, a chance to connect. Last year’s event resulted in 17 adoptions. Continue reading Arkansan of the year brings families together →