Parents air safety concerns at forum on combining 2 LR high schools

LITTLE ROCK — The plan to combine students from J.A. Fair and McClellan high schools generated a lot of passionate discussion Monday at the last of five forums on reorganizing and repurposing Little Rock School District campuses.

“We are concerned about safety at Southwest High School,” Charlene Rigs told the audience of about 100 meeting in the cafeteria of Dunbar Magnet Middle School. “J.A. Fair and McClellan can’t even play a football game without a fight breaking out, and we are going to put them all together?”

Safety, community participation, crime and politics were all discussed, but forum participant Tamara Dean-Franklin seemed to wrap up the thoughts of everyone inside the building during the open participation period.

“Just make it work, Little Rock School District,” Franklin said as the crowd cheered.

Superintendent Mike Poore and his staff have hosted community forums in different parts of the city over the past month to propose and solicit ideas for combining schools or altering their uses. The planning for the reorganization comes in advance of the opening of the district’s new Southwest High School in August 2020.

McClellan and J.A. Fair high schools will be closed as high schools and their students assigned to Southwest High. Additionally, about 300 students now attending Hall High will be reassigned to Southwest High.

The long-planned changes at the high schools trigger changes at other campuses.

Forums have also been held at McClellan, Fair, Pinnacle View Middle School and Bale Elementary. Each session

began with tours of the particular school site, followed by a presentation by district staff members and then a period for the audience to provide responses to the ideas and offer alternative ideas.

Students with the Dunbar Peer Leaders escorted guests around the school showing off their trophies, auditorium, computer lab, library and more.

Pictures of author Paul Laurence Dunbar, the school’s namesake, and the Little Rock Nine hang on the walls around the building to help ensure that everyone who walks through the halls recognize the school’s roots in black history, which Principal Eunice Thrasher said they are deeply proud of.

“We feel the ancestors who were here before us,” Thrasher said.

During the forum, Poore took time to confirm to everyone Dunbar wouldn’t be considered for closure.

“It was never up for closure, and the people who put that out there are trying to do harm,” Poore said to rousing applause.

Concern for school closings was a theme of the meeting as many forum participants voiced their anxiety about present events.

“Do we know what the impact these school closings will have on the community?” Wendy Sheridan asked. “How will it affect the value of homes and the business in the area? Will crime increase because we have these empty buildings?”

Ken Hubben, a consultant with Action-Craft Company, which is working with the school district, said more than 400 people have taken part in these forums discussions.

“We have had over 300 people request our online surveys

as well,” Hubben said.

Information gathered over the past month will be used as a guide for the district.

“We need more faith-based leaders, higher education, nonprofits, business and neighborhood activists to take part in these surveys,” ActionCraft consultant Marla Johnson said. “It can easily be accessed at Little Rock School District’s website.”

Poore previously said he anticipates providing his recommendations

on the building uses — which are also expected to affect school attendance zones throughout the city — to the Community Advisory Board and to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who acts as the school board in the state-controlled district, in late October.

A draft of the district’s future plan will be created sometime next month and be sent out to the community for input.