UA trustee pushes FHS buy; Gearhart OK’d
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008
One University of Arkansas trustee wants the Fayetteville campus' leaders to talk further with Fayetteville School District officials about buying the district's high school campus.
Trustee John Tyson of Springdale said at a board of trustees meeting in Little Rock on Friday he wanted the two sides to reopen talking about the future of the 40-acre high school campus, which is adjacent to university grounds.
The Fayetteville School District is considering the future of the high school. The Fayetteville High School Select Committee 2 has been charged with developing recommendations on whether to retain the current location of FHS at 1000 W. Stone St., or build a new school elsewhere. They are to give a recommendation to the school board in April.
John A. White, chancellor of the UA's Fayetteville campus, prefers to wait for the school board to decide whether to move the high school to a new campus before the university proceeds with further discussions.
At an October meeting, the school board set $ 59 million as a starting point for any discussion about the sale of the 40-acre property. The amount is a compromise between a $ 56. 4 million estimate from a university commissioned appraisal and district commissioned appraisal that valued it at $ 61. 28 million.
Fayetteville School Superintendent Bobby New said Friday he would be willing to again discuss the prospect of selling the campus to the university if UA officials are interested. He added he would hold to the $ 59 million as a starting point.
Also Friday, the board unanimously approved hiring G. David Gearhart as the new chancellor of the Fayetteville campus. Gearhart will take over the job from White, who is retiring on July 1.
The 55-year-old has been vice chancellor for university advancement since 1998 and led the campus' $ 1 billion fundraising campaign. UA System President B. Alan Sugg bypassed a national search for a new chancellor by looking within the university for White's replacement.
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