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Future of FHS FAQ
The Future of Fayetteville High School
revised 9/29/08
What decisions regarding the high school have and have not yet been made by the School Board?
At the August 24, 2006 meeting, the board voted 7-0 to accept the proposed planning process schedule for planning and construction for the new high school. In February of 2007, the board voted to support one high school and in March of 2007, the board voted to add 9th grade to the high school. In September 2008, the board voted 7-0 to commit to building a new 21st century high school on the current FHS site. The board also voted 7-0 to authorize the administration to "conceptualize and present a plan for a 21st century school district."
What problems are we trying to address by building a new high school?
Classroom space is not the principal issue but several classrooms need more flexible spaces to accommodate 21st century teaching strategies. All of the common areas are much too small and most fall well below state standards. Areas for performing arts, gymnasiums, cafeteria, and band rooms cannot satisfy the current population. The school was built for a maximum 1,000 student capacity when it opened in 1952. Several renovations later, only a few spaces (such as the media center) have grown to accommodate more than the original 1,000 planned. Building safety is an issue due to the high number of entries to the buildings (54). Parking for the current 10-12 graders is also inadequate.
The building is not designed for teacher teaming and collaborative spaces for both teacher and student projects. One of the issues we are trying to address in a new building is to provide a more personalized, student-centered environment. A new design that makes every effort to create a small school atmosphere, when combined with personalized advising and mentoring programs, will have positive outcomes, providing opportunities for collaboration and engagement of all students. There are numerous examples of new, flexible spaces being built in high schools across the country that provide a more personalized learning environment. Research shows many different models that can work, including one model called Small Learning Communities.
What is the current enrollment and what are enrollment projections for Fayetteville High School?
Enrollment for the 2007-2008 school year is 1,884 in grades 10-12. The board voted to add 9th grade to the current configuration of the high school when building a new school. There are 624 9th graders enrolled in the district. Adding 9th grade to the 10-12 campus today would result in a population of 2,518 students. Based on slow growth trends in our city’s population, the district has projected enrollment using historical data from the past 8 years rather than the traditional, cohort survival method which has produced dramatically inflated projections. Since the 2000-2001 school year, the total number of new 9th-12th graders is 37, an average of 5 per year. Using this growth trend, the projection for 2012 would be 2,533.
What are population growth trends in the region and in Fayetteville?
While Fayetteville has a larger young adult population than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville (probably because of the U. of A), the city has a much smaller 35-44 year old population than our neighbors to the north. In comparing the 2000 and 2006 U. S. Census data, city planner Tim Conklin discovered that household size in Fayetteville has decreased slightly over time. There are many more school-age children per household in Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville (e.g. Using end of year 2007 population growth estimates, Springdale city population: 64,865; Fayetteville city population: 68,924; Springdale school enrollment: 16,834; Fayetteville school enrollment: 8,406). During the 90’s Fayetteville grew 3+% but between 2000-2006, only 2.4%. Mr. Conklin believes that while it is difficult to project, it is unlikely that we will sustain this growth rate into the future. Combining this knowledge with the numbers regarding fewer children per household, we believe the slow enrollment growth trends described above should guide FPS planning for the future.
What is the acreage of the current FHS property?
The existing high school, including the Bates Annex to the high school, currently sits on 19 acres. The total acreage of the entire property, including athletic fields and administration building is 40 acres.
What committees have been charged with which decisions regarding the high school?
The original FHS Select Committee was charged with working with the community to determine whether the district should build one high school or two and what that grade configuration should look like (9-12 or 10-12). Today’s FHS Select Committee II was charged with making a recommendation to the School Board about the future location of Fayetteville High School.
Why did the School Board decide to add 9th grade to the high school?
Based on the research during the first high school committee work which included over a hundred citizens in a dozen focus groups, the primary reasons that emerged included:
Why did the School Board decide to build one high school rather than two?
Building two high schools was considered and discussed at length by the FHS Select Committee I and by the School Board. Based on the research during the first high school committee work mentioned above, the primary reasons that came to be known dealt with how to build equity into two facilities, both in terms of the academics and population distribution so as to avoid a “have/have not” school environment.
If we moved to two high schools we would become two 6A schools. Our nearest conference competitors would be Mountain Home, Benton, Hot Springs Lakeside, Russellville, Little Rock and points East or South. While this arrangement is workable for a single round robin season such as football with only Friday night games, it becomes impractical to consider transporting a basketball, volleyball, softball, or baseball team to the other side of the state on a Tuesday when they would have to leave school early on Monday and would not be returning home until after midnight. In addition to robbing students of classroom and homework time, the cost in terms of fuel and manpower would be staggering.
What is the current enrollment of other area 7A high schools?
Classification numbers used by the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) for the 08-10 school years are as follows:
Why can’t FHS use University of Arkansas athletic facilities?
The first reason is that we could only schedule the facilities when the U. of A. teams were not using them. Many of their game facilities such as baseball, softball, tennis, and track are also their practice facilities. There would be very few reasonable times for our teams to use the facility that did not conflict with their use. A second important reason is that the U. of A. is a NCAA member school that operates according to NCAA regulations. Under those regulations, they cannot make special accommodations for any individual high school. Influence and goodwill are not factors to the NCAA and the U. of A. cannot bend those rules. The U. of A.’s standard rent structure would have to apply to us. (e.g. One use of the football facility would be $40,000. LadyBack Yard is $1,500 per use and LadyBack Soccer is $1,500 per use). In short, it is not economically feasible.
How many FHS students take classes at the U. of A.?
During an average year, approximately twenty FHS students take classes at the U. of A.
How many current FHS students ride the bus to school? How many drive? How many are dropped off?
There are approximately 400 students who ride the bus; the high school only has 550 available parking places to sell. The assumption then would be that the remaining 934 are either dropped off or ride with friends.
What would be the most environmentally sound choice – remodel or build new?
This is difficult to answer as both options have environmental impacts, from demolition and removal to potential development of currently undeveloped property. In principle, the district is striving for LEED certification in upcoming building/renovation projects.
What are projected costs for a new high school on the existing site?
There are five separate scenarios that have been discussed to date, ranging in price from $65 million to $113 million.
What is the potential millage that must be added in order to fund construction?
Precise calculations cannot be made available until the site location decision is made and design phase is complete. But, to give an estimate, each one mill increase would cost $20 per $100,000 home value.
If the existing high school site is chosen or if the district sells its acreage to the university, where will the Administration Building be housed?
Exact location of future Administration Building under this scenario is not yet known, but estimates above are based on square footage requirements.