UA officials get tour of Fayetteville High School
Posted on Sunday, March 2, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Officials with the University of Arkansas System and its flagship campus got a look Saturday at its next-door neighbor’s 40 acres.
UA-Fayetteville Chancellor John White and Chancellorelect Dave Gearhart said the morning tour of Fayetteville High School’s academic, athletic and administrative facilities was one step in talks between the two sides about a possible deal for the property.
Two members of the UA board of trustees and some campus deans attended the 2 1 / 2-hour tour, hosted by Superintendent Bobby New and other administrators with the Fayetteville School District.
The district hasn’t decided whether to sell the high school campus and build a new one elsewhere or to renovate its current facilities, New said while standing in the school’s foyer, where the floor is decorated with purple tiles celebrating the FHS name, school color and Bulldog mascot.
White said UA officials have tried to respect the Fayetteville district’s decision by being open to talks, but not acting aggressively.
“We don’t want to appear that we’re about to pounce on the school,” the chancellor said.
The Fayetteville board has decided $ 59 million is a reasonable asking price, New said. Two appraisals had assessed the land at roughly $ 57 million and $ 61 million.
On Feb. 18, Fayetteville district officials decided during a special meeting to approach UA again, this time to get a sense of what the university might be willing to pay so the district would have more information.
Since then, New said, he and two other district officials met briefly with White, Gearhart and Don Pederson, UA’s vice chancellor for finance and administration, to discuss “overarching issues” and the process needed for each side to gather information.
“The stakes are high for both sides,” New said. A decision concerning a deal would be complex, he added, noting it would involve two different boards — the elected, seven-member Fayetteville board and the 10-member, governor-appointed UA board. “So it’s not just a land trans- action,” he said.
Some members of the Fayetteville School Board also have raised the possibility of asking for other concessions as part of any land sale, such as partnerships that would benefit FHS students, or the high school’s use of UA facilities.
Gearhart, himself a Fayetteville High graduate, said a closer working relationship and more partnerships would benefit both sides, but whether that should be part of a land transaction “is another question.” White added that partnering with local schools wouldn’t be a first, since UA has academic partnerships with schools in Springdale and Rogers.
White said while both sides have to consider wise use of taxpayer money, UA also has to weigh the interests of its tuition-paying student constituents.
“Is there a win-win-win solution here ?” the chancellor asked.
UA Trustee John Tyson of Johnson urged White during a Jan. 25 board meeting to keep talking with the Fayetteville district, saying it is rare for a university campus to have 40 contiguous acres that it could buy in one transaction.
UA needs to buy the land, Tyson said Saturday.
Otherwise, the growing Fayetteville campus will become “land-locked,” and forced to take on the costs of growing upward rather than outward, he said.
“If everybody is talking, it’s healthy — it’s out in the open,” said Tyson, a Springdale High School graduate. If the dialogue is not open, he added, there is a chance that some bit of information critical to a sale would be lost.
Longtime UA Trustee Jim Lindsey, who marked his first day as board chairman Saturday, said he was impressed by the high school facilities but he wanted to hear recommendations from White and Gearhart before saying anything else.
White and Gearhart said they were impressed by the school’s athletic fields, gymnasiums and buildings and that UA has a pressing need for space for its intramural programs.
There is also some current need for academic space.
The next step is to ask the deans and others who took the tour how the FHS space might fit their needs.
“I told Don Pederson, if we do this he’s really going to have to increase his budget for red paint,” White said, referring to the purple hues that dominate much of the decor inside the high school.
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