EDITORIALS : Can we talk?
Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008
THEY’RE at it again on Fayetteville’s
school board. Its members are
shutting down a wider discussion in favor of what they wanted to do in the first place. What is it with this school board ? It seems determined to keep options closed off. By doing so, it’s chipping away at public support. Which the school district is going to need whenever the board finally decides just how to build that better high school Fayetteville needs. The latest ? The school board has decided it will build a new high school on the property where the old one is now located. The old one won’t be renovated. End of discussion. This is not a board to be swayed by the public’s opinion. Decision first, discussion later. Wait, that’s not fair. Decision first, discussion hardly at all.
Talk about a new high school has been in the air for nigh unto forever, complete with committee meetings, public hearings, changes of course and endless talk. For the longest, the talk was about where to build a new high school. The choices offered were mostly someplace else. The existing campus got little attention. So little that when the decision was made to build in another part of town, the present site was simply put up for sale, with the expectation that its next-door neighbor, the University of Arkansas, would snatch it up. Didn’t happen.
Once the university said thanks but no thanks, the school board’s original decision had to be revisited. This time, the board decided that it would have to use the old campus after all. Not that the board had much choice, but this time its decision was the sensible one. The current location has tradition going for it. Another advantage of the site is its proximity to the university and other nearby educational attractions, like Fayetteville’s library and the Walton Arts Center.
Now the big question is how to go about upgrading the high school on the existing property. There would seem to be a number of possibilities: Build a completely new school, renovate the old one, or somehow combine the two approaches.
It’s not clear yet which of the options would be best. So why not talk it out ? One school board member, Becky Purcell, suggested that the board ought to look into the alternatives and then decide which one was best—and least expensive.
Heck with that, the rest of the board decided. Let’s just skip all that and choose one of the options without any more bother. So the board is committing itself to a brand new school. Period. Act first, think later. If at all.
The board really should learn some lessons from the way it’s been approaching the high school issue. All along, there was strong sentiment for staying in the present location, just as there was strong sentiment for moving elsewhere. The community was split. With the prospect of having to ask for a significant millage increase to build a new high school, the school board should be doing what it can to unite the community, not aggravate any divisions. It can do that by consulting the people, not shutting off discussion. The passage of a millage increase in the future may depend on it.
The school district does seem to recognize that it will need community support for whatever kind of high school is built (or rebuilt ) at the present site. But a consensus doesn’t jell until all the alternatives are honestly and fully considered. Just as Becky Purcell suggested. Instead, with their arbitrary decision to build a new school, they have closed off the options without adequate discussion. This is no way to bring everybody together. Fayetteville’s school board seems intent on repeating the mistakes it’s made in the past. And those who don’t learn from the past... well, you know. They’re condemned to repeat the same failures.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online