FARMINGTON -- Citing projections from Mayor Ernie Penn, Farmington superintendent of schools Bryan Law expects a housing boom to increase student population in the district in the near future.
"According to the mayor somewhere between 600 and 900 houses will be coming out of the ground," Law said, speaking at a Dec. 18 School Board meeting held in Ledbetter Intermediate cafeteria. "So, we're expecting a pop."
Law explained that while Jerry "Pops" Williams Elementary has some room, not as much space is available at the district's other elementary school, Bob Folsom. He noted any space issues at those schools becomes compounded when students reach Ledbetter Intermediate School which combines students from both elementary schools.
"This building has the potential to be hit with a large number of students," Law said, explaining the district is trying to get ahead of the surge as much as they can.
Law told the board and those in attendance, including many Ledbetter teachers, staff, students and parents, the district's next construction project pending the completion of Phase 3 at the new high school campus which contains a football stadium and soccer field, will likely be expansion and renovation of facilities at Ledbetter.
Law noted the district has the ability to add classrooms at all of the lower grade schools, yet the biggest challenges loom in cafeterias and offices.
"The common shared-areas are some of the real difficult areas," Law said.
He listed three main areas of concern: the cafeteria, security issues and traffic flow. According to Law, a tentative plan proposes repurposing the current cafeteria space and constructing a new cafeteria at the far end of the building.
Ledbetter Principal Julia Williams said repurposing space and putting the office in the central area of the building is a great idea. Law went on to discuss security issues.
"The No. 2 area of concern is security," Law said. "There are lots of ways in and out of the building. We're looking at having one main area in and out so we can control who comes in and who goes out and making the main entrance more secure."
"The third problem identified is traffic in the afternoons," Law said.
Law described a possible solution would be to utilize an old softball field the city has been leasing from the school as an alternate route to bring traffic into Ledbetter.
"We've looked at building a road in there as a drive in and bringing that drive up past the bus barn," Law said. "The thought is we can stack a lot of cars on that road and get them off the main road. It won't take it all, but it will help us take some of the traffic off of this corner (intersection of Double Springs Road and Rheas Mill Road)."
Law emphasized the proposed renovations to Ledbetter have not been finalized. He was not asking the board yet to approve any such projects. Law said the board submits a facilities plan to the state, which must be submitted by Feb. 1, 2018. Law said a schematic, which is nothing more than a drawing, will accompany the proposed master plan, and the district will know by May 1, 2018, whether the state will partner with them on the proposal.
The board voted to approve a resolution to submit the facilities plan.
In other action, Board members voted to increase substitutes' pay $5 a day,
Citing competition from adjacent school districts, Law recommended the increase to be able to compete with Fayetteville and Prairie Grove for subsitute teachers.
"We compete every day with them for subs," Law said. "I recommend that we raise substitutes pay $5-a-day. It's not a dramatic amount, but it gets us ahead of Prairie Grove and even with Fayetteville. Some days it's hard to get a substitute."
The Board also approved the sale of a box truck to Ernest Smith, who submitted a bid in the amount of $850, and the sale of a bus to Brad Allen, who submitted a bid of $805. Board president Jeff Oxford inquired if any member of the school board saw any reason to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. None was give and the board approved a personnel action.
General News on 12/27/2017