SPRINGDALE -- Springdale schools Superintendent Jim Rollins and his staff are ready to expand the Don Tyson School of Innovation, if the School Board is ready.
Don Tyson School of Innovation
• Opened in 2014-15 with 200 eighth-graders in The Jones Center
• Moved to new campus on Hylton Road in August
• Now has 500 eighth- through 10th-graders
• Began offering a virtual program this school year
Source: Staff report
Rollins also is interested in a pilot program to allow seventh-graders to attend the school, beginning this fall. A successful pilot program would allow sixth- and seventh-graders to attend in the 2018-19 school year, making the school a sixth- through 12th-grade campus.
The superintendent will make recommendations on both proposals at Tuesday night's School Board meeting.
"I think we've got a good plan for funding," Rollins said. "We believe in the model. I just want them to be comfortable with it."
The state Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission recently approved $14.9 million in state aid for the project that could cost from $30 million to $35 million, Deputy Superintendent Jared Cleveland said.
The Academic Facilities Partnership Program was started in 2006 to modernize public schools in response to a state Supreme Court decision that declared Arkansas' public schools inequitable, inadequate and unconstitutional.
Springdale was among 55 Arkansas districts to receive a total of $211.1 million in state aid to help pay for a variety of projects, including schools, additions, renovations, roofs, storm shelters and heating and air systems.
The partnership program would require the district to hire a construction manager by Nov. 1, 2018, Cleveland said. The building phase likely would begin in May 2019, with the deadline for completing construction being May 1, 2021.
The formal design process has not started, but expansion discussions have focused on a 150,000- to 200,000-square-foot addition that would sit on the east side of the campus. It would make room for 1,000 additional students and would provide classrooms, a performing arts center and a small gymnasium for physical education, Cleveland said.
The School of Innovation opened with about 200 eighth-graders in a temporary space at the Jones Center in 2014-15.
The school moved in August to a permanent home on Hylton Road. The 143,000-square-foot campus was built to accommodate as many as 1,000 eighth- through 12th-graders in north and south wings connected by a long corridor.
The school emphasizes a flexible environment that allows for individual learning at any time and any pace with the guidance of teachers. Students earn credit for their classes when they demonstrate they have mastered what is required.
Rollins and his staff have studied a possible expansion for the past year, and Rollins has discussed the idea in School Board meetings over the past few months.
School Board President Randy Hutchinson said he no longer has children in school, but thinks one or two of his children would have thrived in the setting. The concept would give parents an option for children to attend one campus for kindergarten through fifth grade and then a second campus for sixth through 12th grade.
Most Springdale students attend elementary school for kindergarten through fifth grade, middle school for the sixth and seventh grades, junior high school for the eighth and ninth grades and high school for 10th through 12th grades.
The state aid approval is the first major step in building the financial plan, Rollins said. The district is expecting to receive about $10 million from refinancing old debt. That leaves a gap of $5 million to $10 million that could come from freeing up some uncommitted money in a building fund.
"It appears to be workable," Rollins said.
If the district moves forward with the project, the next steps include finalizing what the construction project would involve and finalizing a budget, Rollins said. The district can then have the building designed and put out for bid, he said.
Rollins said he admits it's an ambitious plan.
"There are a lot of moving parts to this conversation," Rollins said. "I think all of it could come together beautifully."
Metro on 05/08/2017