East Side building closing doors again
The East Side School building, the fifth- oldest school building still in use by the Hot Springs School District, is closing its doors once again, and its future is uncertain.
The building, which originally opened in 1939, has been used by the HSSD for the Vista program. Vista is a component of the Alternative Learning Environment program.
A push was made by citizens in 1935 to get a school built on the east side of Hot Springs. The school board, in August of that year, authorized filing an application through the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works for a lien and grant to aid in the construction of the original building.
Negotiations continued until 1938, when the lot was purchased, and architect I. D. McDaniel presented plans for the building and a grant was accepted by the board.
The East Side School building was constructed on Oklahoma Street off of Spring Street on the east side of Grand Avenue.
The school opened for the fall semester of 1939 with Curtis Hovell as principal. Harvey Haley was superintendent of Hot Springs Schools when it opened.
Some of the original school district buildings still standing
include the Jones School building, which was constructed in 1912 and now houses the HSSD administrative offices; the original Hot Springs High School, built in 1915; the former Central Junior High School, completed in 1925; and the Greenwood School building, which was built in 1930.
Greenwood is now only used for storage, but HSSD Superintendent Joyce Craft said the district has received inquiries for use of the property.
A cafeteria was added to the original four classrooms at East Side in 1947 and a new wing was added in 1949. The construction of larger cafeteria facilities was approved by the school board in 1963.
East Side saw nine principals follow Hovell until the school closed in the spring of 1978. The desegregation of schools in Hot Springs resulted in the consolidation of schools within the district, while others were closed for economic reasons.
A total of 284 students were enrolled at East Side during the 1977- 78 school year.
The district utilized the building to start a teacher center under a federal program from 1978- 81. Bill Nipper, director of the center, said it was funded for $ 170,000 in its first year.
“It was really a blue- ribbon project,” Nipper said.
The district and grant funds helped to refurnish the building and add new technology. The center began with the purpose of making graduate courses available to local teachers, professional development and hosting workshops with national consultants.
“We had plenty of classrooms and a media center – things that teachers had never had before,” Nipper said. “Our time in the building was just fantastic.”
Nipper said the program was one of only 60 in the nation and two in the state. Teachers at the center worked to redesign the entire district’s curriculum.
The teacher center continued to operate through district funding until 1991.
Hot Springs teachers learned and earned degrees from classes with professors from surrounding colleges such as the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, the University of ArkansasLittle Rock, and Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.
The building fell out of use from 1991 until the Vista program began in 1996. Craft said the decision was made to discontinue use of the school based on educational purposes.
Craft said the district tested an ALE classroom at Langston Aerospace & Environmental Studies Magnet School this past school year.
“We piloted the one school at Langston and it worked very well,” Craft said.
Craft said the district looked at the configuration of the schools and decided it was better for students to have access to programs at the other schools, as well as coordinating with the new Common Core curriculum.
“They will have access to the music, the art, the P. E. and all of that,” Craft said.
The plan is for each elementary school to house its own ALE classroom.
“We are trying to educate the whole student and not make it a punitive issue,” Craft said.
Craft said she will sit down with the school board during the upcoming school year and discuss how the building will be used going forward.