Louise Durham Elementary School

Hi everyone! I am thrilled to begin my 4th year of teaching as part of the 2nd grade team at Louise Durham Elementary! My husband, Chet, and I are proud Mena natives, and we love calling this beautiful community home. We have a sweet 10-month-old daughter, Lynlee, and enjoy spending time outdoors—especially riding horses or gathering with family. I’m so excited to be joining the Mena Public Schools team and can’t wait for a fantastic year ahead!

Hello, everyone! My husband Adam and I are Mena natives and we have four kids - Macy, Maddox, Makenzie and Myles. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education from SAU and this will be my first year teaching kindergarten. I’m so excited to meet my students and see how they learn and grow this year!!

Mena School Counselors are attending the Arkansas School Counselors Association Conference this week at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Welcome Kloey Eakin to the team at Louise Durham Elementary. This will be my second year teaching Kindergarten, and I am excited to be a part of the Mena School District. I look forward to starting this year!

We’re gearing up to Stuff the Bus for all area schools, and we need your help! 🎉 📍 This Friday, June 20th 🕗 8 AM – 6 PM 📍 Mena Walmart Parking Lot We’ll be collecting school supplies for students across Polk County to help them start the school year prepared and confident. Let’s make a big impact together! 📝 Most needed items include: #2 Pencils ✏️ Crayons 🖍️ Glue & Glue Sticks Pencil Boxes & Zipper Bags Colored Pencils Plastic & Paper Folders Composition Notebooks 📓 Loose Leaf Paper (Wide & College Ruled) 📅 Can’t make it this Friday? Mark your calendar for our next Stuff the Bus date: July 18th! Let’s pack the bus and set our students up for success!

Welcome Lindsey Sawyer to the team at Louise Durham Elementary. My little family and I moved back to Mena to be closer to family after 3 years in Siloam Springs. This will be my fourth year teaching 1st grade! I am so excited to pour into Mena students as my teachers once did for me.

Mena Public School Administrators have been attending the Leadership Institute hosted by the DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative at Degray Lake State Park this week. Mena staff continues preparations for the 2025-2026 school year which begins on August 13th. See the complete school calendar at the link below. https://www.menaschools.org/page/school-calendars

Mena coaches & players helped area youngsters improve their basketball skills this week at the Little Cats Camp in the Union Bank Center. A busy week is ahead for the Bearcat basketball team beginning at the Southeast Oklahoma State Team Camp and followed by the NWA Shootout.

The Little Ladycats Basketball Camp came to close on Wednesday. Thanks to all who attended and the parents for bringing them to the camp. We had a great time and learned a lot from each other.

The Little Ladycats Basketball Camp began on Tuesday in the Union Bank Center. Camp continues on Wednesday.

First grade had a fun morning at Tapley!!!

The Class of 2025 participated in the Senior Walk at all four Mena campuses on Tuesday..

A Big Congratulations to our Preschool students who have now read 100, 500 or even 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten!!!🎉🎉. We are so very proud of you!! “When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child’s hands, when you pass on your love of words and stories, you are doing something incredibly powerful.” ❤️ -Mem Fox 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a Free program that’s goal is to encourage families to read daily! In return, not only is it a fun family activity, it also builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, develops memory skills, develops imagination, and impacts literacy skills and their future academic success! 🎉Congratulations To: Alex England-Ward: 100 Books Liam Scott: 500 Books Liam Scott: 1,000 Books Kynslee Manning: 1,000 Books

Teach Kids to Save 2025 📚 Thank you to Heather Grenier and Union Bank for our annual Teach Kids to Save Program for our Second Grade students. Teach Kids to Save is a financial literacy program designed to help children understand the value of money and the importancee of saving. Union Bank donated a picture book for our school library and piggie banks for every student to not only reinforce financial literacy but support the importance of reading!

The Little Cats Volleyball Camp wrapped up on Thursday. Outstanding Server: 2nd Grade: Lizzy Clark 3rd Grade: Francesca Flores 4th Grade: Emma McMahen Outstanding Setter: 2nd Grade: Holly Fenwick 3rd Grade: Kylie Varner 4th Grade: Briar Kubish Outstanding Passer: 2nd Grade: Lexi Wood and Holly Fenwick 3rd Grade: Mila West 4th Grade: Raeden Parker Ladycat Award: 2nd Grade: Lizzy Clark 3rd Grade: Brynleigh Garcia 4th Grade: Gemma Sweeney

We Read Wednesday 📚 The Mena library media specialists hosted a literacy professional development for all of the media specialists in the Dequeen-Mena Co-Op. Librarians are the heart of schools that promote literacy and reading. We ❤️ reading!

Amelia leveled up! Congratulations!

Read Across America Week ended with a big finale! 📚🎉 The students were given a School Wide Reading Goal of reading 3,000 books! If they reached this goal they would get to have a “Pie in the Face” Celebration. Our students LOVE reading! They went above and beyond and read over 8,000 books just this week! We are so proud! We had the BEST week!

The best way to find new favorite books to read is by book suggestions and thats why we LOVE We Read Wednesday! 📚 We Read Wednesday is so much fun because we get to share all of our favorite books! 🎉 The Faculty and Staff at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories! Meet Shelby Williams. She teaches Kindergarten. Mrs. Williams brings love and excitement about books and reading into her classroom! She loves surrounding her students with lots of books and creating connections and excitement through her read alouds! “ I enjoy reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" to my children because it teaches them the valuable lesson of being patient. The story follows Baby Llama as he gets anxious waiting for his mama to come back after bedtime, which is something many kids can relate to. My children learn that sometimes they need to wait calmly and trust that their parents will always be there for them, even if they can't be right by their side immediately. This lesson in patience is important for their growth and helps them handle similar situations in real life.” Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney Check it out in our school library!

We are ao very proud of our Second Grade students who competed at the Battle of the Books Competition at the Dequeen Mena Co-Op. These students read a lot of great books, worked as a team and had so much fun! Good job Second Grade ! You represented Mena Public Schools so well.