Scores of Arkadelphia residents gathered Thursday, June 20, 2024, outside the newly constructed Peake Elementary School in anticipation of being among the first people to roam the halls.
The Arkadelphia Public School District held a Community Open House, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce. Superintendent Nikki Thomas and school board president Blake Bell gave welcoming comments, followed by a student singing performance.
The new facility will retain the name Peake Elementary School in honor of its donor and history of this physical site. The campus replaces Perritt Primary, Central Primary, and Peake Elementary Schools collectively. Each of those three schools will be honored in the new school: There will be a nurse’s corner in honor of Louisa E. Perritt, a friendship bench in honor of Central Primary, and a display of original flooring from the Peake High School gymnasium dated back to 1956 with an informational plaque and overlay of the Buffalo mascot.
The two-story K-4 campus boasts 83,000 square feet of space for educating young Badgers. Two halls containing 32 classrooms wrap around a large, artificial turf playground with two age-specific areas of equipment. The east wing includes a cafeteria with a stage for assemblies, as well as a gym with a full basketball court and two cross courts, and a media center with collaboration and Maker Space areas.
The new campus features a state-of-the-art security system that includes safety film on glass at single controlled access point for entry to the building, and an access control system on all exterior and interior doors.
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