The Arkansas Board of Education voted 6-2 Thursday afternoon to approve a license for Haas Hall to open a third campus in August 2017 inside the Jones Center in Springdale.
Haas Hall, a public, open-enrollment charter school, will be required to provide written quarterly reports on its efforts to collaborate with nearby school districts and its efforts to increase the diversity of students who apply for admission.
Board members Diane Zook and Jay Barth voted against the request.
The Charter Authorizing Panel denied the school's request in May.
Haas Hall operates charter school campuses in Fayetteville and Bentonville. The academy offers an accelerated college preparatory program for grades seven through 12. The older Fayetteville campus is nationally ranked for student achievement and recently received the highest number of points and an A grade from the state for student achievement and academic gains on state exams over a three-year period.
Martin Schoppmeyer Jr., the founder and superintendent of Haas Hall Academy, has told state officials that 22 percent of students at the Fayetteville campus and 30 percent at the Bentonville campus are of races and ethnicities other than white. He has said the new Springdale campus at the Jones Center would be a means of further increasing the school system’s racial and socioeconomic diversity.
The Springdale School District has opposed Haas Hall’s expansion into Springdale.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.