Author Archives: John Karnes

Parent & Guardians:

I wanted to send out a quick reminder that based on our newly revised school calendar that was approved last week by the school board, our students will need to attend school this Friday, February 16th. This day will serve as one of our eight (8) make-up days. On the other hand, our students will be out of school on the following Monday, February 19th for President’s Day. After missing school yesterday, the district will now extend its 30-minute bell schedule through Monday, April 22nd and our new last day of school will be Tuesday, May 28th.

Thank you,

John Karnes, Superintendent

Parents,  Guardians, & School Employees:
Well, I have another tough call to make.  It’s starting to snow, but they are saying that it’s supposed to snow all morning and into the early afternoon. The meteorologists are still saying that we’ll get 3-7 inches before this moves out and I’m concerned about the harder snow hitting us while our buses are out picking up kids and our employees are commuting. Additionally, if it does snow that much, we may have trouble getting kids home. For these reasons and to err on the side of safety, I have decided to make today a snow day. Repeating, West Fork Schools will be closed today for instruction.

Be safe and thank you for your support.

John Karnes, Superintendent  

Basketball Fans:

The District Tournament Basketball Schedules for the Senior High Tournament being held in Valley Springs are now released. Click on the following link to access both brackets. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZxHNSy6D6PLNCqWI6yEPkV4sRrnkcqgTl-ru7beWVJY/edit?usp=sharing

Go Tigers!

Parents, Guardians, & Community:

The Board Work Session and Regular Board Meeting scheduled for Monday, February 12th, is being moved to Thursday, February 15th. The Work Session will begin at 5:00 and the Regular Meeting will begin at 6:00. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. As always, the public is invited to attend.

John Karnes, Superintendent

Parents & Guardians:

Click on this link to access the Pee Wee Basketball Tournament Schedule beginning this Saturday, February 10th. West Fork will be hosting all the 5th-grade girls ‘ games.

Go Pee Wee Tiger Teams!

Parents & Guardians:

The purpose of this post is to notify you of a very important letter from me that will explain the changes made to this year’s student calendar. The changes were approved last night at a specially-called meeting of the West Fork School Board. The letter can be accessed from the provided link. Revised Calendar

Thank you,
John Karnes, Superintendent

The member school districts of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative (NWAESC) of which our district belongs are collectively and separately requesting a waiver from A.C.A. 6-10-106, which establishes the first allowable day of class as the Monday of the week that contains August 19. For the 2024-2025 school year, that date will be Monday, August 19. Due in part to the snow and ice that we receive annually during most winters, the NWAESC member school districts waiver request from A.C.A. 6-10-106 will allow the applying school districts to set their individual district’s first day of class to be no earlier than Monday, August 12. Three advantages of this waiver would be as follows:

1.  The fall and spring semesters would be closer to the same length. Without this waiver, the fall semester will be 84 days while the spring semester will be 94 days, a difference of 10 days. With the waiver the fall semester will be 91 days and the spring semester 87 days, a difference of only 4 days. The more unbalanced the semesters are, the greater the issue for classes that are one semester in length. 

2.  The alternative solution for unbalanced semesters is to not end the fall semester until after Christmas break. This results in final exams shortly after two weeks out of school, and the possibility of exams being repeatedly postponed due to winter weather.

3.  In the event of a hard winter, this waiver will give greater assurance of school ending in May rather than extending into June. Some research indicates a decrease in learning past the Memorial Day Holiday.

Part of the application process is to receive input from our stakeholders, which includes our families and employees; therefore, we ask that you answer the question below and provide any input that you care to share concerning the waiver application. Your responses will remain anonymous.

Thank you for taking part in this survey and for any input that you may have shared.

John Karnes, Superintendent

Parents & Guardians:

Please click on the link, https://bit.ly/4bcSoTx, to access a letter from Mr. Karnes – Superintendent of Schools, regarding missed instructional days due to snow and ice and what options are available to make them up.

Parents, Guardians, & WF Basketball Fans:

We currently have two changes to our remaining basketball schedule to make you aware of:

1. The 7th & 8th-grade basketball games versus Mountainburg at Mountainburg scheduled for this Wednesday, January 24th, have been moved to West Fork and will be against St. Joseph’s Catholic School. Starting time will be 4:30.
2. The junior high and senior high make-up basketball games versus Flippin at Flippin have been moved to Saturday, February 3rd, and will begin at 2:00.