By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
The Nashville School District will offer a virtual learning option for 2026-27 following a vote Monday, Aug. 17, by the Nashville School Board.
The Scrapper Virtual Academy will provide “a flexible, high-quality learning option for Nashville students, according to the district.
Superintendent Doug Graham said student sign-up will begin immediately. “I hope we have the academy up and running by Labor Day.”
The virtual offering will be a method of dealing with declining enrollment, Graham said. “Losing students has been a concern three years in a row. I’ll have a detailed enrollment report in September.”
Nashville is “late to the game, but we will offer an option to be one of our students. One of the biggest perks is that you will graduate with a Nashville School District diploma,” Graham said. “Going to school six to eight hours a day may not be for you. With this, you can stay home and do your work and still go to school events” and participate in all extracurricular programs.
Students will be assigned to VA teachers and will have coursework and instruction online. A
A local virtual academy coordinator will be “the bridge that turns online course access into a strong local program,” according to Virtual Arkansas.
Those who sign up for the program will be Nashville District students. Teachers will be certified in their subject areas.
Graham said he isn’t sure how many students will participate. “I don’t know if we will have five or 55 who sign up. Our records show that there 72 [district students] who are home schooled now. We’d like to get some back.”
Although the coursework will be done, some classes must be taken on campus for students who want to be honor graduates, Graham said. Nashville High School has 11 honor graduate courses that are taught on campus.
During the meeting, NHS teacher Lacy Britt was named the virtual academy coordinator, with a stipend of $2,500.
Votes to establish the academy and to name Britt the coordinator were both 4-0. Board member Nick Britt recused himself from the vote.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board approved the district’s budget for 2026-27.
Members accepted a bid of $13,341 to purchase seven air conditioning units from Solar Air Conditioning. “That’s for the units only,” Graham said. “Our maintenance people will install them.”
In his monthly superintendent’s report, Graham said the Back-to-School Bash at Scrapper Stadium Aug. 14 had “a great crowd. The field is in order. The goal posts have been repainted and are back up. New turf has been installed in the Scrapper Dome,” replacing the original surface which dated back to 2003.
“It’s amazing how much better it looks,” Graham said.
The Scrapper Moment featured the Scrapper Spotlight Singers from Nashville Elementary School. Director Melisa Musick’s students sang the NHS Alma Mater.
In personnel matters, Dontrelle Robinson resigned as special ed paraprofessional and coach. Graham said Shy Swift has been terminated as primary custodian.
Employment of staff included Jeremiah Burnett, primary custodian; Lacy Britt, virtual academy coordinator; Kim Perez, girls soccer coach; and Emily Robins, ESL paraprofessional.
