Times Editorial : Officially
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008
Last month the Fayetteville Board of Education voted unanimously to keep Fayetteville High School right where it has been since the 1950 s.
Yes, we know, a shockingly decisive moment when one considers that the University of Arkansas, the only suitor interested in buying the high school land, had withdrawn its earlier $ 50 million offer to buy, citing inaction on the school board's part. But we digress.
Top leaders of the school district had strongly backed relocating Fayetteville's only high school to Morningside Drive, where a 73-acre parcel of land, they said, held the school district's future. A "select committee"created to debate the sensibility of staying or going concluded that building on Morningside made the most sense. Despite the emotional attachment thousands still hold for today's Fayetteville High School and regardless of its excellent location (so close to the UA, as well as much of downtown Fayetteville ), school officials determined that the old building, architecturally disjointed as it is because of past Band-Aid approaches to upgrades, could simply not be retrofitted to deal with all the needs a 21 st-century student body requires. The renovation, which learned minds said could take years, would simply be too much trouble. And then there were the costs of staying. Experts said staying put could prove decidedly more expensive than going. Heck, it's tough building new facilities around young adults going to school.
Once the UA told FHS it was no longer interested in buying the high school (and, thus, mitigating the construction cost of a new high school ), everything changed. Now, district administrators find themselves in the somewhat awkward position of advocating a massive expansion / renovation of the current site. No doubt everyone who fought for just this resolution is thrilled to death with this news, even with the flip-flop character of the district's position.
Perhaps bothersome for some is the way that the school district's leadership now says that the Morningside Drive site really wasn't all that great to begin with. It's too expensive, has acreage in a flood plan, requires the extension of sewer lines, etc. Now, the creation of a state-of-the-art high school on Morningside Drive is described as an almost insurmountable task. Funny how all that is discovered after the district has no other option but to stay on Stone Street.
But that's all right. The bottom line, when one considers all the facts at hand, is that a flip-flop is required.
Reality brings us to where we are today, and pining about missed opportunities and better locations is, pure and simple, meaningless. With no buyer, the Fayetteville School District cannot afford new construction on a new site. With that avenue closed, the time has come for everyone to focus their energies on the possibilities that remain.
Without a doubt, people from every perspective agree that the current facility has serious limitations that must be addressed to provide a 21 st-century educational atmosphere.
Surely all of us can agree that the time for creative ideas to develop the FHS campus is now.
Surely the disappointment over how the last two years have turned out isn't significant enough to stifle the community's enthusiasm for educational excellence.
We believe accomplishing this feat is absolutely possible if committed citizens and leaders put their minds to work and follow good examples of high school's across the country who have already faced such challenges and have dealt with them winningly.
The only way all this will result in any long-term disappointment is if the school district's goal - creating a top-notch high school facility to house the already top-quality instruction going on at FHS - is unmet when all is said and done. The school board, even as it has merited some criticism, has remained a group of people serious about accomplishing that goal. Nothing has demonstrated anything about to the contrary.
What does the future hold ? Well, we hope it will deliver a growing sense of purpose not just among school district officials, but among the members of the public. The future of Fayetteville High School will ultimately be in the hands of the voters. We hope the coming months bring decisive advancement of the cause of educating Fayetteville High School students to the utmost of this community's abilities.
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