Board of trustees to discuss FHS offer Friday
Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The potential purchase of Fayetteville High School will be brought up at the University of Arkansas board of trustees meeting Friday even though it wasn’t listed on a meeting agenda released Monday.
Vice Chancellor G. David Gearhart, the UA’s chancellor-elect, said the issue will be discussed at the meeting.
Gearhart blamed the omission on the fact that trustee meeting agendas are often developed by the president’s office several days in advance. The Fayetteville Board of Education voted 6- 1 to offer to sell the property to the UA for $ 59 million at its monthly meeting Thursday.
The school board suspects proceeds from the sale, if approved, could help subsidize the construction of new facilities elsewhere. It is likely the board would still need a tax increase to fund the new high school, which has an estimated cost of about $ 92 million, but no election date has been set.
In making a recommendation to sell the property, Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New said the many details involved in the trans- action could be worked out and presented in a formal contract after the UA agrees to the purchase.
The UA administration is evaluating the school district’s offer to sell the 40-acre property and is looking at all factors involved, Gearhart said.
“ It’s a big issue, and we’re taking it very seriously, ” he said.
The board set a deadline of July 1 for the UA to accept the offer.
Gearhart said he didn’t mind the time limit because the school needs an answer.
“ I don’t see that as being a deterrent, ” he said.
The UA administration has tried to take a hands-off approach to the matter, saying last year that the school board should make a formal decision to sell the property before the institution acts on the matter.
The meeting Friday is scheduled to be held at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton. The audit committee will meet at 8: 30 a. m., followed by the Buildings and Grounds Committee at 9 a. m. The full trustees meeting is scheduled to begin at 9: 30 a. m.
Discussion about the property has come up at two prior trustee meetings. Both times it was not an official agenda item but prompted by questions from trustee John Tyson. He declined to comment when contacted Monday.
University employees have been less enthusiastic about the potential purchase. A union that represents UA employees adopted a resolution in April opposing the deal, and UA professors have been some of the most vocal proponents to keep FHS at the current site, the 1000 block of West Stone Street, which is adjacent to the university.
The union resolution argued that the purchase was unnecessary given the current amount of available classroom space within the university’s existing facilities. It stated that financing the purchase through a tuition increase would amount to “ misdirecting scarce financial resources to acquire additional real estate and buildings for which no need has been nor can be demonstrated. ”
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