Schools readied for talks on sales; Little Rock group hopes to save 2 facilities

Map showing the location Woodruff Early Childhood Center and Franklin Elementary
Map showing the location Woodruff Early Childhood Center and Franklin Elementary

Little Rock School District leaders remain open to ideas for use of the vacant Franklin and Woodruff schools but will also begin negotiations with at least two organizations that sent in plans earlier this year.

The district had set a June 16 deadline for accepting a second round of proposals for the buildings, but none were submitted in that round. The first deadline for submissions generated about a half-dozen proposals, including plans to keep the schools in operation.

"We will still receive proposals if somebody wants to submit something," Superintendent Mike Poore said in an interview about the properties. "We aren't against receiving concepts or ideas. But, in the meantime, we are going to work with the vendors or the companies or organizations that did submit viable options.

"In other words, we are going to begin communications on the health clinic concept at Franklin and with Moses Tucker Real Estate Inc. on the Woodruff property," Poore said.

The closing of schools and the construction and updating of others comes at a time when the district is facing the loss of $37.3 million in annual state desegregation funding after the 2017-18 school year and growing competition with independently operated public charter schools for students and state education funding.

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Poore said Ross Toyne, a Miami-based real estate attorney, withdrew his proposal to make Woodruff a mixed-used complex of apartments and a private pre-kindergarten school.

Similarly, the Watershed Human and Community Development Agency also has withdrawn its proposal to relocate its services to Franklin. For more than three decades, Watershed has provided food and other assistance to those in need. It leases the Little Rock district's former Gillam Elementary School at 3701 Springer Blvd. as its headquarters.

The Rev. Hezekiah Stewart, who heads Watershed, said Monday that he would prefer the agency remain at its current site despite what has been described as an inoperable kitchen and despite the possibility of a company expanding its industrial mining operations to within 200 feet of the site.

"It does need a lot of work," Stewart said about the current location. "But it will be cheaper for us in the long run to try to get these repairs done here, even if we have to do it little by little."

The Little Rock district had asked for proposals for use of Franklin and Woodruff after Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who serves in place of a school board in the state-controlled Little Rock district, approved Poore's recommendation to close three schools and repurpose a fourth as a way to cut district operating expenses starting with the 2017-18 school year.

Those state-approved plans call for shutting down Woodruff Early Childhood Education Center, 3010 W. Seventh St.; Franklin Elementary, 1701 S. Harrison St., and the Hamilton Learning Academy, 3301 S. Bryant St. Key also approved Poore's recommendation to convert Wilson Elementary, 4015 Stannus Road, into the new home for the district's alternative-learning program for secondary students, which has been housed at Hamilton.

The district's plans for closing or repurposing the schools sparked strong opposition from neighbors of the schools. Many of the neighborhood opponents joined to form the Save Our Schools grass-roots organization that sent letters, held rallies and news conferences, and organized meetings with Poore, Key and Gov. Asa Hutchinson to object to the closures.

Anika Whitfield, a leader of the Save Our Schools group, said Monday that the organization wants to remain involved in the uses of the schools and she met with Poore earlier this month about that.

"We asked him to work with us in creating meaningful ways that parents and community can be involved in decision-making processes, transparency and accountability," Whitfield said, suggesting that a parent budget committee or other kinds of parent committees could be formed.

She said Poore was receptive to meeting with the Save Our Schools group in late July or early August and that efforts to set a convenient time and date are underway.

The availability of Woodruff and Franklin properties comes at a time when a new state law -- Act 542 of 2017 -- grants public charter schools located in a district the right of first access to unused or underused public school facilities. Charter school acquisition of district properties could result in competition between the traditional and charter schools for students and state education funding.

Poore said the law -- one that he actively opposed in the legislative session -- will not be applicable to the Little Rock School District properties until 2018 at the earliest, giving the district months to find alternate uses.

The negotiations with Moses Tucker for Woodruff and with Community Health Centers of Arkansas for Franklin will address sale prices for the sites, Poore said.

Moses Tucker had made an initial offer of $700,000 for 1911-built Woodruff, which would be made into 23 apartments as well as space for use by the surrounding community and nonprofit organizations.

Community Health Centers had proposed investing a percentage of its revenue into the Franklin site for a period of five years and providing school district athletes with free physicals.

In comparison, recent construction of elementary schools in Pulaski County has cost in excess of $15 million.

"We want to get the best value we can for the properties," Poore said about the talks. "We also want to make sure we have a pretty good understanding of what will be a part of the building so we can feel we are being a good neighbor to the community. We're trying to make sure we understand how they are going to use the space -- what the particulars are."

Poore said he intends to report to the district once development of the plans is further along. He said he doesn't have a specific time frame for making that report.

"We want to do it right and we want to be inclusive of the community at least one more time in terms of sharing out a little deeper what these proposals are starting to look like," he said.

The district has not asked for proposals from the community for acquisition of the Hamilton Academy campus in the same way it has with Woodruff and Franklin.

School district leaders intend to explore the possibility of pairing Hamilton, which is the former Southwest Middle School, with the nearby Bale Elementary School to form a complex for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, Poore said. That would be similar to the Forest Heights STEM Academy that has proven to be popular with parents.

In the short term, the district is likely to use Hamilton for part of its new Excel career education program for high school students. The Excel program for prospective teachers is a likely candidate for partial use of the Hamilton campus. That would give the teacher academy students access to working with the Bale Elementary pupils. Excel's medical professions program and technology program also may be housed at Hamilton, Poore said.

The changes underway for Franklin, Woodruff, Hamilton and Wilson are one component of facilities planning in the school district.

The district is transforming the former Leisure Arts warehouse into the Pinnacle View Middle School for as many as 1,200 students in grades six through eight.

The district also is taking steps to issue $92,055,000 in second-lien bonds later this year to help pay for a new southwest Little Rock high school and for updates to other buildings in the district.

Metro on 06/27/2017

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