Ouachita River School District

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public school special education services consultation with private schools. For the purposes of IDEA, in Arkansas homeschool students are also considered private school students. Please contact William Edwards at 479-216-2251 any time throughout the year if you have any questions. On December 11, there will be a special education consultation meeting held in the board room of the Oden campus for students living in the Ouachita River School District who attend a private school or are homeschooled. The meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. and will last approximately thirty minutes.

Acorn High School ATHLETICS WEEKLY SCHEDULE
September 7-11, 2026

⛳ Good Luck, Acorn Golf Team! ⛳

Our Acorn Golf Team is traveling to Glenwood today, September 9, 2026, to compete!

Let’s wish them the best of luck and cheer them on as they represent Acorn! 🏌️‍♀️🏌️‍♂️

Go Acorn! 🐾⛳

Acorn Student participate in the 2026 Polk County Fair!

2026 AP Scholar with Distinction - Kira Dejarlo

Acorn High School Class of 2026 Alumna Kira Dejarlo earned the AP Scholar with Distinction honor for exceptional work and exam scores on 5 AP (Advanced Placement) exams. The AP Scholar with Distinction is granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.

Congratulations, Kira!

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Acorn Schools' Backpack Food Drive

For more information, contact:

Acorn High School Office
143 Polk Road 96
Mena, AR 71953

(479) 394-5544

🏹 ACORN ARCHERY PARENT INFORMATION MEETING! 🏹 Ready to FLING SOME ARROWS this year?! 🎯 We’d love to have you and your archer join us for the Acorn Archery Team Parent Information Meeting! 📅 Thursday, September 3, 2026 ⏰ 4:30 PM 📍 Cafeteria Come learn more about the team, the season, expectations, and what it takes to be part of Acorn Archery! Whether you’re brand new to archery or ready to hit the bullseye, we want you on the team! 🎯 Can’t make the meeting? No worries! Please use the link in GroupMe to join our team chat so you can stay in the loop and get all the important information. 🏹 Let’s aim high, shoot straight, and make this an awesome season! We can’t wait to see you there! 🎯

Military Wall of Honor – Alumni Information Needed

AHS is working on creating a Military Wall of Honor in the new gym to recognize Acorn graduates who have served or are currently serving in our nation’s military.

To get started, I am looking for graduates from the past 15 years who have served or are currently serving. If you have a family member who is an Acorn graduate and meets this criteria, please send me their official 5x7 military command photo, along with the following information (You can drop a physical copy to the AHS Office or email me a digital copy at jwillborg@orsd.k12.ar.us ):

Full name
Branch of service
Rank

I would also greatly appreciate your help identifying other alumni who should be included. If you know of any Acorn graduates from the past 15 years who have served or are currently serving, please send me their name and, if possible, contact information for them or a family member so I can reach out to them.

Thank you for your help in making sure we recognize our military alumni!

Jeb Willborg
AHS History Teacher

Acorn Campus Fall Pictures for Pre-K through 11th Grades will be taken on Friday September 4th in the Old Main Auditorium.

Acorn Anglers End 1st Season in Style

The Acorn Anglers Bass Fishing Team would like to thank all of their sponsors, family, friends, and AHS staff and supporters for cheering them on in their first season of tournament bass fishing! Their 2025-26 season was full of growth, learning, and COMPETITION!

IAt the end of the school year in May, the following teams qualified and competed in two end-of-year tournaments, held on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs: the annual Arkansas Commissioner’s Cup and Arkansas Youth TBF State Tournament:

James Gibbons and Cy Young; captain, Mr. Curt Boyd
Hailey and Tanner Davis; captain, Mr. Chad Davis
Canyon Davis and Landen Johnson; captain, Mr. Josh Davis
AbiGail and Elijah Slaten; captain, Mr. Jeremy Slaten *placed 10th in Commissioner’s Cup*
Caston Horn and Trey Martin; captain, Mr. Josh Powers
Jasper Dollar and Beau Rodgers; captain, Mr. Ricky Dollar
Braxton Hemund and Kortsen Edwards; captain, Mr. Brandon House
Chisum and Addis Myers; captain, Mr. Justin Myers

We are so proud of these anglers and looking forward to our upcoming 2026-27 season. Congratulations on a great season!


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Ouachita River School District
Through a safe, caring, and serving environment, students learn, grow, excel, and succeed...this is our mission in preparing students for LIFE!

Acorn Schools' Backpack Food Drive

For more information, contact:

Acorn High School Office
143 Polk Road 96
Mena, AR 71953

(479) 394-5544

Acorn Schools are deeply saddened by the loss of alumnus Roger Gilbert, Class of 1972. Roger attended Acorn for all 12 of his school years and was very active during his senior year. He was on the Fire Marshall Team, a photographer for the Yearbook, Student Council President, and voted Most Studious by his classmates. In his senior year, he was also chosen as Mr. Acorn for the 1971-72 school year! Being Mr. Acorn is the embodiment of the Acorn Tiger school spirit. His classmates may remember him for these accomplishments, but what he did upon graduation is foremost in the minds of those who came to know and work with him afterwards.

Mr. Roger became the School Bus Driver for the Blackfork Route. It was the longest route that included uphill and downhill terrain to trek. His bus was always the first in the lineup with a 2 hour trip to pick up and return all students to their homes. In extremely wet weather, the roads might pose some challenges and the students riding Mr. Roger’s bus would leave early before the roads became impassable. With a ready smile and what would become his signature look of wearing a shirt, blue jean overalls, camo jacket, and a cap, Mr Roger made sure all of his students made it home safe and secure. From somewhere before 1980 to at least 2014 with a possible break in between a few of the years, Roger Gilbert carried on the Acorn traditions and supported our schools by caring for generations of new students and we thank him for his dedication. He will be missed and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sherry, and his family and friends.

Acorn High School Tigers and Lady Tigers 2026-2027 Basketball Schedule

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Ouachita River School District - Acorn High School Career and Technical Education Instructors and Counselor received the AR Success Ready Toolkit to prepare and support students through early career experiences and opportunities in developing their student success and life plan. The Arkansas Success Ready Pathways and student success planning process prepares students to explore, develop and map their goals for one or more of the three E’s - Enrollment, Enlistment, Employment.

Ouachita River School District - preparing students for life!

Photo: l to r:; Tammy Young, AHS Counselor; Jim Pennington, AHS CTE Agriculture Pathways Instructor; Mindy Lyle, AHS CTE PreEducator & Culinary Pathways Instructor; Ricky Dollar, AHS Construction Pathway Instructor; Makaila Goodner, AHS CTE Banking and Finance & Management Pathways Instructor.

Ouachita River School District - Acorn and Oden campuses will be closed on Monday, September 7, 2026 in observance of Labor Day

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Peewee Basketball Registration 2026-27
It is time to get our peewee basketball program for grades 3-6 rolling for this year. Practices will begin soon after Labor Day, and you will be notified when the first practice will be. All players who are playing this year need to be at that first practice, and they will need basketball shoes only. No street shoes will be allowed on the floor. We are looking for coaches for some groups. If you are interested in coaching, contact me by phone or text at 870-279-2065. If you have any questions, email me at zjohnson@orsd.k12.ar.us.

To get your child registered, fill out the form below. Registration will end on Friday, September 4.

Click the link below :

https://forms.gle/PWZrNrCq4iUbKnhdA

Thank you for your support and participation in this program.

THANK YOU to the Polk County Farm Bureau Women's Leadership Committee for your generous donation to Acorn Schools for supplies and resources to support students!

We appreciate your support and value your community partnership!

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AHS TigerFEST 2026-2027


Acorn High School students in grades 7-12 participated in AHS TigerFEST on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

The event included an “information exchange” for student club/organization members and advisors, extracurricular program coaches and instructors, and community organizations that serve secondary school-age students. The event is held each fall semester during the first week of school to promote student involvement and engagement and community service learning opportunities. Thank you for our Acorn High School club and student organization/extracurricular activity advisors and coaches as well as our community partners participating in this year’s event: University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and UA Rich Mountain TriO Programs – Talent Search and Upward Bound.

A special thank you to all who participated in and helped with this year’s event!

Ouachita River School District…preparing students for life! #orsdlifeprep

A special THANK YOU to Chambers Bank for the "Welcome Back to School Appreciation" Basket for our teachers and staff!

We value and appreciate your support and community partnership!