Four charters' school plans OK'd by state

LR, Rogers, Helena sites score approval from board

The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday accepted a state panel's earlier approval of a new adult education charter school in Little Rock and a new Haas Hall Academy campus in downtown Rogers.

The Education Board also finalized the state Charter Authorizing Panel's approval of a 400-student increase for the Arkansas Arts Academy in Rogers and the relocation of the KIPP Delta Elementary School to a former Helena-West Helena School District building.

All four school open-enrollment charter schools' plans were initially reviewed and approved last month by the Arkansas Department of Education's top-level staff. But the panel decisions are subject to Education Board scrutiny. The Education Board can vote -- either on its own initiative or at the request of charter school planners or a local school district -- to conduct a full hearing on a charter school proposal before voting to approve or disapprove it.

The four open-enrollment school plans considered Thursday and six applications for school-district operated conversion charter schools, including one in North Little Rock and another in Hot Springs, were quickly approved with almost no discussion.

Only the Haas Hall Academy campus for as many as 500 students in grades seven through 12 in a vacant downtown Rogers hotel generated some questions and a divided 7-1 vote of approval. Education Board member Jay Barth of Little Rock cast the single no vote.

Education Board Chairman Mireya Reith of Fayetteville said she had received emails questioning the increased traffic and the availability of parking around the proposed Haas Hall campus, 121 W. Poplar St.

Mark Henry, an attorney for the Haas Hall Academy, objected to being questioned about the emails that he had received earlier in the day.

"There are steps that allow me to adequately prepare," he said about the process of presenting and defending a charter school application. "It seems to be a left field shot from out of the dark," he said later, adding that the Rogers mayor and the city's business leaders are in support of what will be a "beautiful" school in what is now the boarded-up Lane Hotel.

Any successful high school is going to have parking issues, Henry told the board members.

"We'll work with whomever to make it work," he said. "Is it a crisis? Absolutely not," he said.

Henry volunteered that there are restaurants in close proximity to the school that sell alcohol, but that is not illegal. He also said those business operators will be able to easily identify Haas Hall Academy students because "We put giant uniforms on our students," he said.

At the same time the Rogers' campus opens next summer, a previously approved Haas Hall Academy campus will open at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale -- bringing the total number of Haas Hall campuses to four. The first college-preparatory campus is in Fayetteville and has been ranked the No. 1 school in the state by U.S. News & World Report. It started in 2004 and was followed by the 2015 opening of a Bentonville campus.

State leaders over time have questioned the lack of student diversity at the original campuses and the random lottery system used by Haas Hall to identify students for admissions. Haas Hall system leaders submitted to the Education Board this month a report on its recruiting and lottery plans.

The report was done in response to a board request earlier this year. On Thursday Education Board member Brett Williamson of El Dorado questioned why the board was singling out Haas Hall among all charter schools in the state for the report.

The approval of the new Haas Hall Academy and the approved expansion of the Arkansas Arts Academy will have the effect of adding as many as 900 charter school seats in Rogers over the next few years.

Most of the approved 400-seat addition to the current 825-student enrollment cap at the Arkansas Arts Academy will be phased in at the high school grades. The larger number of high school students will enable the charter school to eventually expand its course offerings as well as support the construction of a new high school building.

The Education Board voted 8-0 for the Excel Center, a charter school that will offer as many as 125 adult students -- ages 19 and older -- the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. The school is planned for 7400 Scott Hamilton Drive in Little Rock in the 2017-2018 school year.

The school is sponsored by Goodwill Industries of Arkansas Inc., and is modeled on other Goodwill Industries-backed schools in Texas, Tennessee, Indiana and Washington D.C.

The new charter school will operate year-round with five eight-week terms. The school will feature flexible scheduling of classes, free child care and transportation assistance.

Students will be assigned a "life coach" to help with academics and barriers of success outside of school. The life coaches will help students plan for their futures as they approach graduation.

The KIPP Delta Public Schools charter system received the state Education Board's approval to move its elementary school from its location on Cherry Street in Helena-West Helena about 5 miles away to the site of the former Beech Crest Elementary in the Helena-West Helena School District. KIPP bought the elementary school for $50,000 from the district. The move -- which takes effect in the 2017-2018 school year -- will allow the charter system to reconfigure its downtown campus.

In addition to the decisions on open-enrollment charter schools that are operated by nonprofit organizations other than traditional school systems, the Education Board on Thursday approved six conversion charter school plans that were also approved last month by the Charter Authorizing Panel.

Those newly approved conversion charter schools for the 2017-2018 school year are:

• Arkansas River Valley Virtual Academy in Van Buren for up to 325 students in kindergarten through 12th grades.

• Harrisburg College and Career Preparatory School for up to 600 students in grades nine through 12.

• Hot Springs Junior Academy for as many as 600 students in grades seven and eight.

• North Little Rock Center of Excellence, an academic and career education program for as many as 3,000 in grades nine through 12 within North Little Rock High.

• Prairie Grove High for a maximum of 750 in grades nine through 12.

• Harrison High for a maximum of 1,400 students in grades nine through 12.

Information for this article was contributed by Aziza Musa of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 11/11/2016

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