A unique but fraught experiment between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a growing public charter high school has reached a truce for now.
After nearly two years of complaints from UALR students, faculty and staff members, the university, the University of Arkansas System and eStem Public Charter High School have reached a tentative agreement to move the high school students out of the university's student center during lunchtime.
The high school students would eat on the second floor of Ross Hall, which connects by skywalk to the high school's on-campus building.
The agreement, which has not been drawn up and signed but was reached Wednesday night during discussions among representatives of the three institutions and the Walton Family Foundation, would be for a one-year lease.
The plan is the same as what UALR and the university system pitched to eStem earlier this year. Since receiving the proposal, the schools went back and forth on how much eStem would pay in facilities fees and how long the lease would last.
Students from the university and from the high school both described their interactions as minimal. While the high school students said they were glad to have the opportunities that a college campus could provide, the college students said the high schoolers' presence made the college's atmosphere seem less mature and blocked their ability to use the student center.
"Students should not have to avoid our student center during the lunch hours because of decisions that we had no part in," said Chris Stephens, a UALR student who has started a Facebook group called All in for UA Little Rock...Students, which seeks to organize and increase students' influence on campus.
Stephens started the group two weeks ago. It has 551 members. He also encouraged students to join the Student Government Association, which he said has been helpful in the fight to resolve tensions regarding eStem.
"There is simply no way for an institution that is known for a higher average age of students and a professional and research-oriented atmosphere to coexist perfectly with a high school," Stephens said. "Hopefully, with the resolution announced today, this entire 'experiment' will begin to get easier and both schools will be able to reap the benefits initially promised."
Stephens met with UALR and eStem leaders in separate meetings recently and emailed University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt about the issue. He said he was dissatisfied with the characterization both schools were making that the other was unwilling to cooperate.
The university had asked eStem to pay $120,000 in facilities fees for the use of Ross Hall, up from the $60,000 it charges in facilities fees for the use of the Donaghey Student Center, and for a temporary lease. In contrast, eStem leaders had asked for the same $60,000 fee and a longer lease. The agreement reached Wednesday night is for a one-year lease and a $90,000 facilities fee.
"I really think this is a great breakthrough that just really benefits both of us," UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson said.
The schools will continue to meet to come up with a more permanent dining solution and discuss how the schools can be more mutually beneficial.
"We're certainly happy to have found, even if it's a temporary solution, a way to give students their space," eStem CEO John Bacon said.
Bacon added that he hopes the agreement allows everyone to "breathe" and discuss a long-term dining solution and a long-term UALR and eStem partnership.
When the schools entered their lease agreement a few years ago, Bacon had hoped eStem students would eventually have access to UALR courses for dual or concurrent enrollment, better facilities for conducting STEM education (science, technology, math and engineering) and UALR faculty members.
When asked what kind of suggestions he hears from eStem students or parents on the dining space issues, Bacon said his primary feedback was not about a lease agreement.
"My feedback is generally, 'When do we get to do the cool stuff?'" he said.
Rogerson said the schools had no ideas so far for a long-term dining solution and that further meetings will give the schools a chance to "think creatively" about better paths forward in their partnership.
"It gives us time to decide what we might do differently," he said.
UALR students can eat from the Donaghey Student Center's food vendors and have a designated dining hall in the same building. EStem students have not had a designated dining space other than throughout the union, where students occupied all or nearly all of the first-floor and second-floor tables and spots throughout the main hallway. When weather permits, they also eat outside.
When the university and eStem agreed to have eStem build a high school in the university's Larson Hall, Bacon said they made no plans to build a dining space for the high school students.
The crowds at lunchtime were worse than what Bacon anticipated, he said. About 150 to 175 eStem students dined at a time in the union.
"That facility doesn't seem to be able to handle that," he said.
The high school, which had about 500 students this year, plans to double in size in the coming years. About 600 students will attend next year, Bacon said.
EStem enrolled 506 students as of Oct. 1. About 38 percent of the charter school students are on free and reduced-price lunch, and 73.7 percent of the students are nonwhite, with about 58 percent being black.
The charter school earned a B grade from the Arkansas Department of Education based in part on the latest ACT Aspire test scores and other factors.
This fall, the university reported a student population of 10,525 that is about 55 percent white and 23 percent black. Federal College Scorecard data for the 2016-2017 school year, the latest year for which data are available, reported 38 percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants. The average family income of independent undergraduates was about $29,000; the average family income of dependent students was about $48,000.
The university and eStem have a lease for the high school to have its campus on the university campus. Under that lease agreement, signed in 2016, the annual rent of $1 is due to the university on or before Sept. 1. The agreement is for 30 years.
As the lessor in the agreement, the university is responsible for water, sewer taxes, electricity, gas and all other utilities consumed on the property, as well as telephone, cable and Internet access.
The university agreed to construction and renovations on the property and to keep and maintain the property.
The Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville is a party to the lease. The foundation committed to a non-interest-bearing loan to the charter school organization of up to $11.4 million for the new construction and renovations to Larson and Ross halls.
If eStem vacates the property, the Walton Family Foundation has a year to find another tenant. After a year, the foundation can assume the lease.
The termination provision of the lease agreement -- subject to the rights of the Walton Family Foundation -- stipulates that eStem or a successor tenant may terminate the lease at any time with 30 days' written notice.
The university board of trustees may terminate the lease upon default, in which case eStem or a successor tenant would have no further rights or obligations under the lease, and all facilities and improvements would become the sole property of the university board of trustees.
Metro on 05/10/2019