[westd27]

Does anyone have any information about El Dorado High School? We are relocating next June and are having trouble with the school's website. What is their first and last day of school? What sports programs do they offer? Is it a good school compared to others in the area? Any information would be greatful!!!

[SwinerBock]

Originally Posted by westd27

Does anyone have any information about El Dorado High School? We are relocating next June and are having trouble with the school's website. What is their first and last day of school? What sports programs do they offer? Is it a good school compared to others in the area? Any information would be greatful!!!

First day of school THIS year is August 19th.

Football (B), basketball (B,G), baseball(B), softball(G), track(B,G), volleyball(G), golf(B,G), tennis(B,G), and soccer (B,G) comprise the official high school athletics. I may be missing one.

El Dorado is the largest city / high school / school district in Union County. Due to school choice in Arkansas, you do have the option of living within the confines of the El Dorado school district, but attending schools in other districts (Parkers Chapel, Norphlet, and Smackover are the most common... the others in the county are Strong and Junction City), or vice-versa. However, to be eligible for receiving scholarship funds from the El Dorado Promise, you must live in the district, and you must have attended at least since the 9th grade (and obviously graduate from El Dorado).

As for the school district website, I've been told by the guy maintaining it that it should be back up later this week.

** Edit: To be fair, I should have also mentioned that some of the other districts have implemented their own Promise-style scholarship programs as well, in response to El Dorado's program. However, I have no idea exactly which ones have them (Norphlet I know has one), what the requirements are, how much money a student will get, or how well funded the programs are.

[SwinerBock]

As to the question of "Is it a good school compared to others in the area", I would say an education is what you make of it. I am a product of El Dorado High School, and I had practically any and all academic challenges I could want. The school has the largest offering of A.P. courses in the county, and it regularly produces National Merit Scholarship award winners. Also, the district has just started to build an entirely new high school building and campus to replace the current 40+ year old campus. It should be finished within 2 years.

That being said, one of my kids went to Norphlet for a couple of years, and I was totally happy with the education he was receiving at the time. Parkers Chapel is a very good district, as well as Smackover. I think P.C. is a bit more successful academically speaking, whereas Smackover has more to offer. Plus, the community college in El Dorado SouthArk - South Arkansas Community College, if I am not mistaken, has an arrangement with the school districts in Union County to offer them additional courses not provided by the districts themselves.

The primary difference, other than size, that you will find between El Dorado and some of the other districts is going to be racial makeup. El Dorado is pretty evenly split between white and black (with a small group of Asians and Hispanics), while P.C. and, to a lesser extent, Norphlet are mostly white. Touchy topic for some, I am sure, but I have met many people that were not familiar with the racial makeup of basically the southeastern half of Arkansas that could not achieve a comfort level with it once they moved here.

[westd27]

Thank you for the information, it was very helpful. My daughter will be very pleased to know that she will be able to play volleyball and softball. She is a great kid and is very apprehensive about our move and fitting in.

We have two boys ages 9 and 14 who attend the BOCES program here in NY which is for children who have learning disabilities and special needs. My oldest son attended public school until the 7th grade and my youngest is just starting the program this September. Can you tell me if they have a special education program in the El Dorado school district or will they be attending a school that will accommodate their needs such as the one they attend now?

We spent two weeks in Arkansas last July and really fell in love with El Dorado. I would appreciate any additional information you could give me about the area and thank you for taking the time to reply to my message.

[SwinerBock]

Ma'am, the best advice I can give you regarding special needs is to call the district's supervisor over that particular program. I don't know enough about it to talk (type) intelligently on the subject. The lady's name is Ruthie Gibson, and she can be reached at 870-864-5133.

Athletically speaking, El Dorado is currently in the state's 6A (AAAAAA) classification, which is the second largest in the state. 7A and 6A both contain only 16 schools each. The state activities association reviews classification every few years and will reclassify a school based on total student body enrollment. Before the Promise was announced, El Dorado had been losing students every year for several years. Now, enrollment is back on the upswing. We currently sit in the upper fourth of enrollment in 6A, and will stay there through 2010. By the time of the next reclassification, we may have gained enough students to move back up to 7A. Then again, with the cost of fuel hitting districts pretty hard, the state activities association may reverse course and recombine classifications. 5A used to be the largest with 32 schools up until roughly 2001? 2002?

The volleyball and softball programs are "relatively" new. I could be wrong, but I think that they have only been added at our school within the past 6-8 years. Also, I am not sure that they have any "feeder" programs for those sports at the junior high level. That being said, softball in general is alive and well in Union County and has been for quite some time. Volleyball, on the other hand, would probably be considered an oddity in these parts.

Regarding softball, the sooner you can move down here next summer, the better. I don't follow softball that closely, but I think that the summer teams form just about the time school ends (end of May). If you don't get here until mid-June or later, I'm not sure if she would be able to join a summer team. I will try to find out some more info on this for you.

Anything else you want to know about El Dorado, just feel free to ask. I've been here most of my life, and there are things here that I am sure the natives take for granted that someone from out-of-town would find interesting.

[SwinerBock]

A little more info on volleball at EHS. It appears to be a "fall" sport, running from late August (start of school) thru October. In other words, they will probably start practice during the summer. Incidentally, I say "fall" sport, but don't be fooled. Summer weather around here has been known to stretch into October.

This year's schedule appears to have 20 matches slated. One or two of those may be "tournaments" or "jamborees". I believe that there may be a conference tournament at the end of the season? Obviously, there will be a state tournament.

[Tlang - DCI]

Westd27,

While researching El Dorado I randomly stumbled upon your post. Congratulations about your pending move there. I've been to El Dorado four times in the past 10 months and I see a lot of potential. Number one in my opinion is of course the El Dorado Promise (El Dorado Promise). It's an incredible gift to the community and depending on your children's age, they may benefit directly. But El Dorado will see many indirect benefits from the Promise in years ahead.

El Dorado is actually a client of mine; I work with DCI, a NY-based firm that focuses on economic development and tourism marketing. We've been working for El Dorado since January to promote the Promise and El Dorado. There are several contacts (School Board, Chamber of Commerce) that I have that could be useful to you for your transition. And I know they'd be willing to help.

Moderator cut: edit
I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Todd

[Tlang - DCI]

Westd27,

I see that this forum does not allow websites to be posted so my listing of my company's website - and my invitation to you to contact me directly - was removed (though that doesn't explain why the El Dorado Promise website remains - but whatever). If you're interested in contacting me in regards to potential contacts in El Dorado, you'll have to search online for my company's website and then find my profile. The company is Development Counsellors International. Sorry about the confusion,

Todd Lang

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by Tlang - DCI

Westd27,

I see that this forum does not allow websites to be posted so my listing of my company's website - and my invitation to you to contact me directly - was removed (though that doesn't explain why the El Dorado Promise website remains - but whatever). If you're interested in contacting me in regards to potential contacts in El Dorado, you'll have to search online for my company's website and then find my profile. The company is Development Counsellors International. Sorry about the confusion,

Todd Lang

Todd, you can freely send those links via direct message.

[Sam I Am]

MODERATOR:

The El Dorado Promise site is allowed to stand because it is an educational opportunity for all residents of an area...private companies may not be promoted in the general forum. If you have any questions regarding specifics or moderator actions, I'd ask that you bring them to me directly. As a reminder, here's a link to the Terms of Service:

http://www.city-data.com/forumtos.html

Please, folks, a lot of stuff can be handled via direct messaging. Click on the name of the poster you need to talk to and if their DM is active, you can talk one-on-one about more things that interest you, or to the people who interest you!

BTW - many questions on posting, etc., can be found in the FAQ section of About the Forum at the bottom of the main forum page:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/faq/

Thanks,

Sam