Six organizations or individuals have submitted proposals to use the Woodruff and Franklin school buildings, which will be vacated by the Little Rock School District beginning with the 2017-18 school year.
Two separate proposals call for converting Woodruff Early Childhood Education Center, 3010 W. Seventh St., into a mixed-use complex of apartments with features such as community meeting rooms, a neighborhood swimming pool or a day care center.
As for Franklin Elementary, at 1701 S. Harrison St., one proposal calls for it to be the new home to the Watershed Human and Community Development Agency, which has long provided food and other assistance to those in need from its 3701 Springer Blvd. address on the city's east side.
Other proposals for Franklin would use it to house a community health center or make it a hub for community involvement and sustainability initiatives in health, the environment and the economy.
Anika Whitfield -- a leader of the monthslong opposition to the Little Rock district's plans to shutter the two campuses -- submitted proposals for both schools, calling for the Little Rock district to continue to operate Woodruff and Franklin as elementary schools.
"The residents and tax payers of the LRSD are already helping fund the necessary resources," Whitfield said in her proposals. "The LRSD should call upon businesses, colleges/universities, hospitals, philanthropists and other community members/supporters in our city and state to assist in providing any additional costs that will not be covered in our 2017-18 budget."
The other proposals made offers to the district that ranged from no mention of compensation to a promise of upkeep and free physicals for student athletes to as much as $700,000.
Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore has said he and his staff will seek feedback about the different proposals from the school neighborhoods at public forums. The times and dates have not been announced.
The availability of the two school properties comes at a time when the Arkansas Legislature has just passed Act 542 of 2017, which grants public charter schools located in a district the right of first access to unused or underused public school facilities if the property has not already been leased or sold to a third party on the effective date of the act.
None of the organizations that submitted a proposal is affiliated with existing public charter school organizations, and none of the proposals specifically suggests that the properties be used for publicly funded, independently operated charter schools.
The Little Rock district earlier this year requested proposals for use of Franklin and Woodruff after Poore recommended that a total of three schools be closed and a fourth be repurposed for the coming school year as a way to cut district operating expenses.
The district is facing the loss of $37.3 million in state desegregation funding after the 2017-18 school year. The plans will pair cuts of about $11 million for the coming year -- including $3.8 million from closing the schools -- with cuts made this school year and in previous years to offset the end of the desegregation funds.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who serves in place of a school board in the district that has been operating under state control since January 2015, approved Poore's recommendation to close Woodruff, Franklin and Hamilton Learning Academy.
Key also approved Poore's recommendation to transform Wilson Elementary into the home for the district's alternative-learning program for secondary students. That alternative school for students who have not been successful at their regular schools is currently at Hamilton.
Whitfield on Monday called the process for finding new uses for the schools "heartless."
She noted that the district is seeking an extension of the millage rate in a May 9 special election for the purpose of building a new school and renovating others, instead of for saving the schools threatened with closure. She also said the district did not obligate the organizations submitting proposals to meet with the city's neighborhood groups.
"My proposal was the only one submitted, to my knowledge, that included the concerns and interest of the main stakeholders: the students, parents, teachers, administrators, neighbors, businesses, churches, libraries, and other community supporters," Whitfield said.
The proposals for the development of Woodruff into a mixed-use complex come from Moses Tucker Real Estate Inc. of Little Rock and from Ross Toyne, a Miami, Fla.-based real estate attorney. Toyne wrote that he submitted the proposal as part of his decade-long interest in Little Rock's potential growth.
The Moses Tucker plan envisions converting the schools to 23 one-to-three-bedroom apartments ranging from 700 to 1,400 square feet. Additionally, 2,000 to 3,000 square feet of the first level of the building would be reserved for use by local nonprofit organizations as well as by the nearby University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital complexes, for large and small events. A community swimming pool and a small park space on the north side of the property are included in the plan.
Jimmy Moses, Rett Tucker, Chris Moses, Jamie Moses and Ray Nolan of Moses Tucker would be the controlling members of a yet-to-be-formed ownership entity for the project.
"Woodruff is a beautiful, old, historic building that we would like to see well used in the community it sits in," Tucker said Monday. "For that reason, it kind of piqued our interest."
The proposal states that the redevelopment of the building would serve to link community members both from the immediate neighborhood and elsewhere in the city.
"To this end, the rationale behind our community room is simple -- to provide a space where positive and purposeful connections can be made," the plan states. "We envision everything from organization lectures, meetings, seminars and community forums to more informal events such as book readings and theater classes."
As for the outdoor features, the Moses Tucker proposal notes the site lacks the size of a city park but that "the membership swimming pool will give neighborhood residents a place to come together in warmer months; the jungle gym and half-basketball court will provide the entire community with a safe, family friendly place to play."
Toyne's Woodruff Historic Properties proposal calls for 17 to 25 "well appointed" apartments, the actual number depending upon the possibility of retaining an early-childhood education center at the site.
"While reducing the project's long-term economic prospects, this is consistent with our community-focused development objectives and could be considered as non-monetary compensation to the community itself," Toyne said.
The renovations would retain the 1911-constructed school's "historical character while incorporating renewable energy [features] and high technology," Toyne wrote in the proposal.
Low water-consumption utility features, rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, electric-car charging provisions and bicycle storage as well as complex-wide Wi-Fi, high-efficiency air conditioners and insulated wind-resistant windows would all be installed as permitted under historical restoration standards, Toyne wrote.
Toyne's offer for the property is $250,000.
As for Franklin, the Watershed Human and Community Development Agency Inc. is offering $25,000 in compensation to the district and draws on its long partnership with the school district as the basis for that offer.
"Watershed has been leasing the Gilliam Elementary School from the LRSD for the last 34 years and has rendered an invaluable service to the community," the proposal states. "As the 'World's First Social Hospital' this organization has become an intricate part of this community and we are intertwined in its history, which is priceless. As a non-profit organization we would like to continue this arrangement with the Little Rock district."
The Gilliam location has become problematic for the agency because of its distance from the people it serves, an inoperable kitchen, and the possibility of a company expanding its industrial mining operations to within 200 feet of the site.
The proposal states that Watershed can't use all of the space at Franklin and would like to partner with a health clinic or other entity to benefit the community. But the use of Franklin would allow Watershed to expand its current services and create more programs that will benefit children and adults, including computer and job-skill programs, summer camps, nutrition programs and after-school care.
The Community Health Centers of Arkansas and its chief executive, LaShannon Spencer, submitted a 23-page proposal for the use of Franklin as a community health center that "aligns with the vision of the Little Rock School District as well as creates an innovative approach to health care delivery for the community."
A farmers market and academic-oriented after-school and summer programs would be included in addition to the provision of primary medical, mental, dental, vision and health education services.
The Community Health Centers of Arkansas Inc. Arkansas' Primary Care Association is a nonprofit organization established in 1985 to expand access to affordable, quality care with financial support from the Health Resources Services Administration. The organization serves 12 Community Health Centers with more than 100 sites across the state, according to the proposal.
The plan calls for the school district to agree to a no-payment, no-interest loan for five years. The Community Health Centers of Arkansas Inc. would reinvest a percentage of annual revenue and would offer all school district athletes free physicals during the 2017-18 school year. At the end of the designated time frame, the district would deed the property to the health agency.
Kesha Cobb of North Little Rock and The Sustainability Project Inc. submitted a one-page proposal to make Franklin a central hub for community involvement and local sustainability initiatives. Office space, education programs and an event center would be part of the redevelopment. Urban agriculture would be a primary focus of the development, Cobb said.
Cobb said Monday that she came across the availability of Franklin just hours before the deadline last week to submit a proposal. She said she would supplement the proposal, including a compensation offer for the property, in the coming weeks.
A Section on 04/04/2017