Pulaski County district says hearing, expert not needed to ensure new schools are 'equal'

An attorney for the Pulaski County Special School District said Monday that neither a federal court hearing nor an independent facilities expert are necessary to ensure that district’s two new Mills High and Robinson Middle schools are “equal.”

Last month, attorneys for the black students known as the Joshua intervenors asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr., the presiding judge in a long-running school desegregation lawsuit, to appoint an expert to evaluate the quality and equity of a new Mills High in the southeast section of the district versus the new Robinson Middle School in the more affluent western, predominantly white section of the Pulaski County Special district.

[DOCUMENT: Read the report on Robinson/Mills sports complexes]

The Joshua intervenors’ request came after district leaders reported that the system had fallen millions of dollars short of its commitment to the federal court to spend $55 million on a new Mills High and the relocation of Fuller Middle School to the current Mills campus.

District leaders have since offered assurances that the $55 million commitment will be met — but they also said that doing so will put the district $20 million over its total $80 million construction plan for Mills/Fuller and Robinson.

Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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