Concurrent credit in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps will soon be offered to Watson Chapel High School students through the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
The Watson Chapel School District is awaiting the UAM chancellor’s signature of a Memorandum of Understanding to offer the courses as soon as this semester. Watson Chapel students may gain credits toward high school graduation and a college degree by enrolling, and to offset expenses, UAM will participate in the Access to Acceleration Scholarship through the Arkansas Division of Higher Education, which will pay $65 per credit hour up to 15 hours a semester.
Major Darryle Small, Army JROTC instructor at Watson Chapel, will teach Learning to Lead MS101-Introduction to the Army and Learning to Lead MS102-Foundations of Leadership, which will be listed under the high school courses as Army JROTC IV. The course offers three college credit hours and one high school unit per semester.
About 12 to 15 students are set to take advantage of the dual credit, McGee said.
“When you look at our numbers, roughly 58% of our kids, (grades) 8-12, are in Junior ROTC,” said WCSD Superintendent Keith McGee. “In my professional opinion, Junior ROTC is a big piece of what the kids learn, the skills — what they learn in the program — the discipline, the character, which is part of turning our school district around in terms of safety and the discipline rate, because those kids are in something that’s very positive. So, in my opinion, it makes the most sense how we support them, and not only supporting them but also encouraging them to enroll, enlist or be employed, which is part of the initiative that’s been pushed down from LEARNS (Act) all the way to the ACCESS (Act).”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
An email seeking comment was left for the UAM liaison in the memorandum.
The memorandum must be signed and returned to the Division of Higher Education by Aug. 30.
The first day of UAM concurrent classes is Aug. 20.
Thursday also marked the fourth day of classes in the WCSD. McGee reported the district enrollment at 1,578, adding the district ended the 2024-25 school year at 1,480. The Arkansas Department of Education Data Central reported the WCSD’s enrollment for the last school year at 1,552.
“We’ve still got some kids who’ve got to show up,” McGee said. “I think it’s just a collaborative effort from everything we’re trying to be – number one, the safety; making sure we educate kids in all levels and really support them from an associate degree pathway to ensuring that we’ve got to early college academy with (Southeast Arkansas College) and then the academic achievement. I also think the whole athletics program plays a factor because want our kids to be involved, with the establishment of volleyball.”
McGee said 90 girls in grades 6-8 tried out for the junior high volleyball program, which begins this fall.
RESTORING HISTORY
The WCSD board moved to install a lawn marquee for the front of the new high school, construction of which is scheduled to be finished by next spring.
The district is planning to install on the back of the marquee pieces of a senior class walkway that honored Watson Chapel graduates dating back to 1926. The walkway was located where the junior high school previously stood.
NEW LAWS
Students have adapted to two new state laws emerging from this year’s Arkansas Legislature, the Bell-to-Bell, No Cell Act (Act 122) and Act 573, which requires framed postings of the Ten Commandments in each K-12 and college classroom in Arkansas.
McGee said he thought Act 122 would be a hot topic and students would resist adherence to it. The law bans the use of smartphones and other personal devices throughout each school day.
“I only had to address one parent on that issue, and that hasn’t been a problem,” McGee said. “The kids are buying into the system. We have a good system. We’re off to a great start.”
McGee added he has not encountered any opposition to Act 573. Pastors on Patrol, a group of pastors who visit local schools, have presented the Ten Commandments in the Pine Bluff and White Hall school districts, and plan to hang them in the WCSD on Aug. 20, the Rev. Jesse Turner said.
A federal judge in Northwest Arkansas recently issued an injunction of Act 573 against four school districts in that area. McGee said he has not been warned by any organizations against obeying the act.
