Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Board To Consider Selling School Property
FARMINGTON — Two Farmington School Board members have approached the school district about purchasing school property next to Williams Elementary on Broyles Street.
School Superintendent Bryan Law asked that the two board members, Doug Williams and Bleaux Barnes, step out of the room while he shared the men’s proposal with the rest of the board. Jeff Oxford, board president, was the only other board member present at the July 22 meeting. Members Tony Parsley and Travis Warren were absent.
Law said he has asked Stringfellow & Associates Appraisers of Farmington to appraise the 31 acres sitting vacant next to Williams Elementary. Law said Williams and Barnes have indicated they may be interested in purchasing part of this land or all of it for a single-family housing development. The men have not made an offer on the land, Law said.
Any proposal to sell the land to Williams and Barnes would have to be approved by the Arkansas Department of Education because they are school board members, Law said.
The Farmington School District owns 40 acres on Broyles but is only using about nine acres for the school. The remaining land has a large drainage ditch going through part of it and another three acres in the back of the property is in a flood plain.
Thinking out loud, Law noted that if the district sold roughly 20 acres for $25,000 per acre, that would generate $ 500,000 toward the cost of a new high school. In addition, he said, if each acre had three houses on it and each house had one student, that would bring in another $250,000 per year in state education aid.
“It’s sitting there and we are not using it,” Law said. “Obviously, it’s a whole new dynamic when board members are involved.”
This is the third time that interested parties have approached the school about purchasing the land. Previously, the plans did not work out and Law pointed out the latest proposal “may or may not” be successful.
Oxford said he was “kinda excited” the last time someone was interested in the land. He pointed out that when the school purchased the property, it was believed that the land left over would someday benefit the school district.
After the meeting, Barnes said the infrastructure is already in place for a housing subdivision on the vacant property. If the proposal moves forward, they would probably create a limited partnership to purchase the land, Barnes said.
In other business last week, the board looked over student handbooks for each of the individual school buildings.
Jon Purifoy, the high school’s new principal, said the school will have one change this year for students who are tardy to class.
Previously, students with excessive tardies were sent to in- school suspension. Purifoy said he wants students to stay in class, instead of missing instruction.
Under the new policy, tardies will accumulate throughout the entire year. After the fourth tardy, students will be sent to Jay Harper, dean of students. Penalties for additional tardies include lunch detention, Thursday after school detention and Saturday school detention.