Members of the Fayetteville High School Select Committee 2 took their first formal tour of the high school's facilities Saturday to see where major improvements are needed.
The committee has been charged with reviewing the location of Fayetteville High School. It is scheduled to give a recommendation in April on whether to continue using the current site or build a new campus elsewhere. The building was first constructed in 1952.
The tour Saturday, which lasted about an hour and was lead by Principal Jim Price, was confined to the main academic building and focused mostly on the larger common areas. The building's most frequently cited shortcomings - based on the current population of 1, 900 students - include its cafeteria, auditorium, performing arts rooms and gymnasium.
"Two gymnasiums are not enough for a school our size," Price said, referring to the "Big Gym "and the secondary gym in the Field House.
He estimated the big gym seats about 1, 700 at capacity. Kim Peters, a committee member, asked if it was common for high schools to have a gym that can hold the entire student body.
Price said one trend is to build gyms that are large enough to hold additional spectators so they can be used to host regional tournaments.
Committee member Rolf Wilkin said he was "struck by the smallness"of the choir and band rooms and the cafeteria.
"I'm kind of shocked," he said.
The cafeteria seats less than 300 students at one time, but Price said it process about 500 students a day. Most of the other students either bring their own lunch or eat off campus "We have throughout the building neighborhoods where kids meet and sit on the floor (at lunch )," he said.
One committee member asked about how late students could be getting back to class after lunch before they were considered tardy.
Sarah Brady, one of the student representatives, said you have to be in class when the bell rings or else. Most of the time, though, she said, you can return from restaurants along Sixth Street or Dickson Street on time. The biggest problem is parking if you get back late, she said.
Another problem spot, the auditorium, can only seat 350 people, so assemblies have to be split among classes, Price said.
"We're now down to six assemblies," Price said.
Committee member and teacher Susie Stewart said she believes the auditorium was actually a bus garage years ago and it was converted to a lecture room in the 1970 s.
"It was a way of making the building fit a new style of teaching," she said.
Rosenaur said the ideal performing arts rooms to meet district needs would be a 1, 200-seat auditorium, a 350-seat auditorium for small productions and a small multipurpose room.
A big problem with the band and choir programs - besides fitting students into the rooms - is storage space, Rosenaur said.
Committee leader and school board member Tim Hudson said when he visited a new high school in Houston last year as part of an information gathering trip, it was "amazing"how much thought they put into fine arts needs. Older facilities will often have areas where they don't meet modern needs, he said.
"School districts inherit buildings built at different times with different standards, codes and needs," he said.
The group also toured the school library, which Hudson and Price described as one of the most "exemplary"and suitable rooms in the building. They also viewed a computer lab, one classroom and walked down a hallway in the 1990 s addition.
The committee did not tour other buildings on the 40-acre property such as the Bates Annex and Harmon Field, though they did meet for some discussion at the Adams Leadership Center, located across Stone Street from the school.
After the tour, District Chief Financial Officer Lisa Morstad gave a presentation to the committee on tax rates and school finance.
The tour occurred a day after University of Arkansas trustee John Tyson urged the UA administration to resume a dialogue with school officials about the prospect of buying the high school property, which is located next to the UA campus.
Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New said any resumption of discussions would not change the current committee's charge, but they will simply have more information to consider if the UA makes a formal offer to buy the property.
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