Committee begins work to determine site for FHS
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Members of the Fayetteville High School Select Committee 2, the group charged with making a recommendation on the future location of FHS, held their first formal meeting Tuesday evening.
Media members were allowed to observe the first 20 minutes of the meeting, when Board of Education President Steve Percival and Superintendent Bobby New talked about the committee's charge before leaving. School board member and committee leader Tim Hudson then closed the rest of the meeting for what he described as some "icebreaker"and question-and-answer discussions.
Some district administrators, including Associate Superintendent Ginny Wiseman, Technology Coordinator Susan Norton and Chief Financial Officer Lisa Morstad, attended to help answer questions.
The meeting wasn't subject to the open meetings law after Percival left because in the absence of two school board members, it constituted an appointed committee.
Percival thanked the committee members for being willing to step into the public eye and volunteer their time. He warned that the issue of location - whether to retain the current site or move elsewhere - is an issue some people feel passionate about and "some people will make it very hard on you. "No matter what the committee recommends, he said, someone will be upset.
"Once you realize you'll make half the people mad no matter what you do, it frees you up to do what you want to do," he said.
New said his main expectation from the committee members is that they be objective in making their recommendation, as they will be asked to look at a variety of factors. It shouldn't be dictated by emotion, he said.
"Emotions never play well with me," he said.
New said the biggest problem with the current campus is not so much classroom space as it is facilities space, such as undersized rooms for the performing arts, the cafeteria and other areas.
"We have one of the worst 7 A basketball gyms in the state," he said.
Percival said the district has been providing good education despite some of the facilities limitations.
"Think how much better they could do with everything at their disposal," he said.
The committee has been charged with recommending whether the district should retain the current FHS site, about 40 acres along the 1000 block of West Stone Street, or build a new school elsewhere. The group will also look at when the district should open a second high school.
The committee's meeting comes a year and a half after the first select committee met in fall 2006. The school board eventually adopted that group's recommendation to retain one high school and add ninth grade to the campus, but further board discussions became bogged down by the unresolved location issue.
Within the past year, two groups, Build Smart and Students First, have formed that advocate building a new facility on the current site and moving the school elsewhere, respectively.
Hu dson has said the select committee plans to hold community input sessions, but none have been scheduled yet. The committee has another meeting set for 9 a.m. Saturday, he said.
Committee members are: Jon Gheen, FHS teacher; Harold Haller, a retired physician; Rich Kley, an employee of Coca-Cola; Terry Lawson, battalion chief for the Fayetteville Fire Department; Mike Maloney, owner of Saatchi & Saatchi; Mary L. Mantooth, parent and school volunteer; Kim Peters, of Metropolitan Bank; Warren Rosenaur, FHS teacher; Susie Stewart, FHS teacher; Chad A. Scott, a Springdale school administrator who lives in Fayetteville; and Rolf Wilkin, owner of Eureka Pizza. FHS Principal Jim Price will serve in a nonvoting capacity.
In addition, Hudson announced FHS students Colby Berna and Sarah Brady would serve on the committee.
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