BENTONVILLE — The transition to a two high school town begins this fall with Bentonville’s ninthgrade athletic teams.

Athletes will be placed on either Bentonville Black or Bentonville Gold teams according to their residence and the attendance zones for the 2016-17 school year, when Bentonville West opens. Bentonville Black’s teams will consist of those who live in the Bentonville High zone, while Bentonville Gold’s teams will consist of those in the West attendance area.

Bentonville athletic director Scott Passmore said discussions about the move began last fall with school administration. The attendance zones were approved during a November school board meeting, and the move became official after a meeting with the ninthgrade coaches earlier this year.

“I started talking with our superintendent and our high school administrators about how to set up a situation where we are providing a great system for Bentonville High and Bentonville West,” Passmore said. “One big concern we had is we wanted to make sure we had athletes coming through our system to be able to feed two separate athletic programs.

“With that mind, we came up with the solution to go ahead and do this. I think it’s been positive. We’ve had a few call from time to time and be concerned because the future is unknown, and they will question change. The majority has been positive because they see it as a proactive opportunity to prepare for when we split into two high schools.”

This affects the sports in which the Bentonville ninthgrade teams participate in as members of the Northwest Arkansas Conference — football, basketball, volleyball, track and cross country. Gold’s teams, even though their players will move on to West next season, will continue to use the Tiger mascot this season. West’s mascot will be the Wolverines.

In sports where ninth-graders play on high school teams, Passmore said he has advised the coaches to keep enough athletes from both attendance zones to benefit both programs. Those sports include baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, swimming, wrestling and bowling.

“We want to get a bunch of kids ready for this transition,” Passmore said. “Our coaches are aware that we need to keep more kids and create stronger numbers so we can have two strong athletic programs at both sites.”

The only coaching change takes place in football. Toma Whorton moves from Gold to Black and replaces Chris Hutchens, who joins the high school coaching staff, while Bryan Pratt — who was hired as West’s first football coach — will oversee Gold this fall before taking over the Wolverines next season.

Passmore said that doesn’t mean those coaching Gold teams this year will be there next year or moving to the West campus when it opens next year. He also made it clear that both schools will follow the Arkansas Activities Association guidelines concerning school transfers.

“That’s a two-way street,” Passmore said. “I’ve had families that live in Bentonville West that say they would love to stay and be a Bentonville Tiger, and we also have families who live in Bentonville High that say when the new high school opens they want to be at Bentonville West.

“That’s the great thing about the confidence in our community. We’re going to have two outstanding high schools.”

A big challenge, according to Passmore, is how students will make the move from eighth grade to ninth grade, especially since Bentonville has three junior high schools. With the way the junior high zones are mapped out, all of those students in Washington are in the Bentonville zone, while those at Lincoln and Fulbright will be split between the two schools.
