The Little Rock School District Community Advisory Board delayed until Tuesday its vote on whether to support the district's plan to close or repurpose seven schools.
The vote was rescheduled because three board members were unable to attend Thursday's 5:30 p.m. meeting, said Jeff Wood, the advisory board president.
The board will send its recommendation concerning the plan to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who acts as the school board for the state-controlled Little Rock district. Key will ultimately decide whether to enact the plan.
More than 30 people attended Thursday's meeting, and two residents voiced concerns about the plan.
Anika Whitfield, a community activist and podiatrist, is against closing schools in Little Rock and said she doesn't know of any community benefits that would come from the closings.
She criticized the district's communication with families throughout the process.
"There have not been any conscious efforts to keep community members informed," Whitfield said.
She said Thursday's meeting should have been full of parents and that the district should have informed community members earlier about the meeting.
She said she's concerned about the estimated cost of converting McClellan High School -- at $50 million -- and J.A. Fair High School -- nearly $1 million -- into schools to accommodate kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students.
Wood said he is also wary of the high cost of the plan.
"I am concerned about some of these projects that would require dozens of millions of dollars to accomplish them," he said.
He described his attitude toward the changes as interested but cautious of incurring debt, especially because Little Rock has been losing students, and therefore state dollars, to charter schools and other school districts.
Little Rock lost more than 600 students this year alone, Superintendent Mike Poore said.
Valencia White, a southwest Little Rock resident who has two children in the school district, said at the meeting that she feels better about the plan after listening to Poore explain it, but she's still worried about the district busing students to new locations. White is concerned that students will lose access to bus service.
To convert McClellan High School into a campus for kindergartners through eighth-graders, officials would incorporate students from Cloverdale Middle School, and Baseline and Meadowcliff elementaries.
Officials intend to tear down McClellan, which Poore said is the school building that's in the worst condition in the district, and rebuild it. The district will retain McClellan's gym. The new school's design will be similar to that of Pinnacle View Middle School and will cost more than Pinnacle's campus.
J.A. Fair's move to a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school will mean combining Henderson Middle, and Romine and Dodd elementary schools. Officials are considering transforming Henderson Middle School into an athletic facility that could host sporting tournaments or indoor car shows, Poore said.
The district will first need to conduct a feasibility study regarding the financial benefits of renovating Henderson to create such an athletic facility. Poore said such a renovation would have to generate money for the district.
Officials don't have any plans regarding the Meadowcliff Elementary space. But Poore said officials are investigating what it could be used for, adding that they don't want it to become a location for a charter school.
"If we use the building, it then prevents the charter school from saying they want the building," Poore said.
The district plan would add two kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools and the new southwest high school. The changes would require the district to redraw multiple district lines.
"It is not just about making shiny new buildings, but it's about getting better results in the classroom," Wood said about changes in the district.
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Metro on 12/14/2018