Arkansas parents Zac and Christina George had thought public school a great fit for their daughter until she entered first grade.
“Her kindergarten teacher was great and we loved the experience, but when they start getting into first grade and really have to sit down and start reading, and writing, and doing math and things like that, we felt that a smaller class size would be better for her,” Zac told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, noting they eventually enrolled her in the School House of Russellville microschool.
“She has trouble opening up in public settings and so that smaller class size and just more attentive learning, getting away from screen and technology, being outside more, all the (elements) of the School House just really, really fit for where we wanted her education to go.”
Other parents joined the Georges in withdrawing their children as public-school enrollment plunged across the Natural State this year, “its sharpest decline in at least a decade,” the news article noted.
“Just four of the 20 districts that saw the largest rate of declining enrollment received F letter grades, according to the Arkansas Department of Education. Of the remaining 16 districts, three had D’s, nine had C’s and four had B’s.”
