Rogers charter school plans facility makeover

ROGERS -- Arkansas Arts Academy is preparing for a makeover of its high school campus officials view as a major step toward becoming a nationally recognized arts school.

Mary Ley, the academy's chief executive officer, said she has verbal commitments of funding from multiple people for the project, but they wish not to be identified until the project's details are finalized.

Preliminary plans call for demolishing one building and constructing two new ones on the school's campus just west of downtown on West Poplar Street. The school has occupied the former home of Immanuel Baptist Church since 2007.

The performing arts center would get a glass facade and be extended to connect with adjacent buildings. There would be a multipurpose courtyard in front of the performing arts center.

Hight Jackson Associates, an architectural firm based in Rogers, has been working with the charter school on those plans and has produced conceptual drawings that have been shared with stakeholders.

The firm this week interviewed each staff member and some students for input on the school's facility needs. Most of all, the school just needs more space, said Ron Shelby, the firm's chief executive officer.

"We'll take that input and create a program of how much space is needed and how much the original concept has to change to meet those space needs," Shelby said. "We've got to sit down with city planners and make sure what we're doing complies with their ordinances."

Ley and Shelby emphasized their plans are preliminary. Ley declined to speculate on the project's cost until the design is finalized, which probably won't be until this fall, she said. Construction likely will begin next year.

The academy's high school enrolls about 225 students in grades nine through 12. The additional space could allow the school to expand enrollment, though that will require state approval, Ley said.

The high school opened as the Northwest Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. Two years later it merged with the Benton County School of the Arts, another charter school for grades kindergarten through eight on South 12th Street. The combined operation was renamed Arkansas Arts Academy in 2014.

The high school's facilities don't align with the leaders' vision of everything they want the school to offer from an arts standpoint. Ley pointed to tap dancing as an example.

"We don't have the right facility to support that," she said.

The needs spill over into the core subjects as well. Science teachers do not have spaces separate from their classrooms to conduct labs, she said.

"My intention when I received this position was to make this a national model school, and the facility just hampers that," Ley said.

Though the pledges of financial support have been only verbal to this point, Ley said she's not concerned any of the donors will renege, adding she has a "trusting heart."

Tegan Mandras, a junior from Bentonville, was one of the students who met with Shelby this week to discuss facility needs. Mandras said she appreciated the school and architects sought students' input, even though those students probably will have graduated before the project is finished.

She said she understands the additional space will enhance learning but hopes the school will retain some character and what she called its "cozy feel."

"It's kind of got its nooks and crannies and it's old, but it's such a fun building to be in," she said. "We really didn't want that to turn into an industrial building."

Greg Hines, mayor of Rogers, said the school's plan is "extremely exciting news" for the downtown area. He said he believes the improvements the school has in mind will encourage people to consider living downtown.

"If you look at the trend of young professionals and parents being attracted to live here, they expect these sorts of options related to education," he said.

Hines said he's impressed with the school's vision of not only the campus, but its entire operation.

"Their board and leadership team have taken a very serious approach to saying, what can we do to have relevance not just in Rogers, but in the region," he said.

Arkansas Arts Academy is one of 22 open-enrollment charter schools in the state and three in Benton County.

Open-enrollment charter schools receive the same amount of money per student from the state as traditional public schools but don't receive money from property taxes like traditional schools do. That hinders charter schools' efforts to do things like pay competitive salaries and build new facilities, supporters say.

NW News on 02/13/2016