Haas Hall Academy superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer, along with local philanthropist Billie Jo Starr and officials from the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce helped host a ceremony Tuesday to dedicate the school’s new Starr Scholar Center.

Staff photo

Haas Hall Academy officials celebrated the opening of the school’s new facility at 3880 N. Front Street with a ribbon-cutting and building dedication ceremony on Tuesday in north Fayetteville.

The public charter school recently moved into the newly renovated facility, located in the building once home to a women’s clothing store called The Colony Shop.

The new school, called the Haas Hall Academy Starr Scholar Center, is named for longtime local philanthropist Billie Jo Starr, who contributed a major gift toward the construction of the facility.

School superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer thanked Billie Jo and the Starr family for the gift, and for their extended commitment to education in Fayetteville and the region.

School officials also recognized the Schoppmeyer family, along with school supporter Fred Hannah, and employee Janet Reed, for their contributions to the school by naming its three corridors after their families.

Haas Hall opened in 2004 inside a dairy barn in Farmington, Arkansas, and has since expanded with two campuses – one in Fayetteville, and another in nearby Bentonville – serving 700 students. U.S. News & World Report this year ranked the school No. 1 in Arkansas for the fourth consecutive year, and Newsweek ranked it the No. 19 best high school in the nation.