Fayetteville school board to discuss UA offer today
Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/66556/
The Fayetteville Board of Education will consider today an offer from the University of Arkansas to buy the Fayetteville High School campus.
The board is scheduled to meet at 5 p. m. in the Adams Leadership Center, 1000 W. Stone St.
Last month, the school board voted 6-1 to offer to sell the campus to the UA for $ 59 million to help subsidize construction of a new school.
At a meeting June 6, the UA board of trustees approved an offer of $ 50 million for the property and authorized administrators to negotiate the purchase. A June 12 memo from the UA, which featured a copy of the trustees’ resolution, was included in the packet for the school board meeting.
Fayetteville School District spokesman Alan Wilbourn said as of Tuesday afternoon the district had not received anything more detailed than the June 12 memo.
Also at the meeting, Associate Superintendent Randy Willison is scheduled to report on the implications of annexing the Greenland School District.
On June 13, the Arkansas Department of Education announced plans to have the Greenland district annexed into a neighboring system because it has been in fiscal distress. The Arkansas State Board of Education is scheduled to consider the matter at a meeting on July 14, though Greenland officials plan to contest the action.
Greenland borders six school districts, but Fayetteville and West Fork are considered the most likely choices to take over the schools. State Education Department Commissioner Kenneth James called Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New on June 13 to notify him of the possible annexation.
The board is also scheduled to discuss the upcoming search for a new superintendent to replace New, who is scheduled to retire in 2009. The discussion today could include the possibility of hiring a consulting firm to conduct the search.
An effort last semester to hire a superintendent ended when finalist Richard Abernathy, superintendent of the Bryant School District, decided not to take the job.
In other business, the board is scheduled to:
• Take action on revised elementary and secondary handbooks
• Consider the 2008-09 budget
• Hear a report on the communication strategy by Susan Norton, the district’s chief information officer