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Long-awaited renovations for Harris and College Station elementary schools are just around the corner for the Pulaski County Special School District.
The district's School Board has committed $2 million in repairs at Harris, located in the McAlmont neighborhood of North Little Rock, for changes to the entryway, office areas, media center and exterior canopy as well as repainting, minor sidewalk improvements, replacing the gymnasium roof and various other floor and ceiling repairs.
The work to Harris Elementary was approved by the School Board in a 6-0 vote with one member absent at a May 13 meeting and will take place this summer.
The district's executive director of operations, Curtis Johnson, said at the board's May meeting that the initial improvements at Harris have to be completed for the school to receive College Station students in the fall who are being relocated for major renovations to that school expected to begin next school year.
If all goes according to plan, the classroom building at College Station will be demolished and replaced with a new facility, while the existing cafeteria and storm shelter will remain in place for now.
"You have a building that is 70 years old, it's outdated and it's well past code," Johnson said of College Station. "I like to think that this is (a) new, exciting and fresh school."
He added that the existing cafeteria will "have to be addressed at some point," but that the classroom building is the priority due to its age and condition.
To prepare for the demolition, the district administration plans to relocate students for the 2025-26 school year, with the new classroom building expected to be completed by August of 2026.
The school's new site plan would also include a bus loop at the rear of the school and a 2.3-acre, all-inclusive playground funded by the county.
Johnson told the School Board that following conversations between building-level leadership at Daisy Bates Elementary and Harris Elementary, school administration decided Harris was the best option for College Station students.
Board member Wendy Potter noted the potential for College Station parents to be concerned with their students being transported across the Arkansas River and suggested holding a community meeting to gather parent feedback.
Johnson said that the "new information" on Harris and College Station improvements would be shared with families, who could ultimately use their discretion to relocate their students, but noted that transportation for getting College Station students to other schools is still being hashed out.
Once College Station renovations are completed and students are moved back in, additional improvements at Harris could be pursued, although Johnson said in an email on May 19 that a 40,000-square-foot renovation project for Harris is "not confirmed at this point."
Repairs at both schools will eventually be funded with $15 million generated from second-lien bonds approved by the state Board of Education this spring, with College Station slated to receive $8 million and Harris to get $2 million from the bond issuance.
College Station's new building will also be paid for in part by $2.23 million in insurance proceeds awarded to the district in April for storm damage the classroom building sustained in 2023, Johnson confirmed in an email.
Johnson told board members on May 13 that the current classroom building was damaged beyond repair and would have to be demolished, meaning that students can't be housed on the school's campus while a replacement is built.
"It took us a minute to get here because we didn't know financially where we would land," Johnson said of repairs for College Station. "I think we're in a good place now to basically make haste to get this done."
He added that the district's Cabinet thought it best to "get moving this summer" to get the school's new building up, compared to starting construction and relocating students during a school year.
Board President Stephen Delaney said one of the "clear issues" with College Station was that its classrooms open to the outdoors instead of to an interior hallway, noting that the new classroom building would solve that.
Flooding issues would also be addressed with the new building, Johnson said Tuesday, adding that the new building will be raised up from where the current classroom facility sits.
Prior to the School Board's motion, several parents and community members expressed concern over College Station students being displaced and the resulting harm to the larger College Station community.
Brittany Walker, a mom and College Station resident, questioned how relocating students could impact the school's enrollment, noting that students could choose not to return after a new building is up if they are sent elsewhere now.
"I just feel like we are so near the end, why give us other obstacles to face," Walker said, adding that "the core of College Station is a community school" that students rely on for afterschool activities and other services.
In 2021, district voters approved of a plan to refinance current debt and issue new bonds to generate $80 million toward construction projects at Mills, Maumelle, Sylvan Hills and Joe T. Robinson high schools as well as Harris, College Station and Baker elementary schools.
Burgeoning construction costs at Maumelle and Mills in the years following the vote left the district with $23 million of the original $80 million, and not enough to address the rest of the schools.
The School Board initiated the process of issuing the second-lien bonds for this year in November at a meeting during which board members also adopted a resolution committing to the projects originally planned in 2021.
Anika Whitfield, executive director of Little Rock-based community organization Grassroots Arkansas, said that College Station has a public school with a history of "bringing the community together, has a history of accepting and knowing the culture of the community" and elevating community members.
She added that Grassroots Arkansas would "hate to see" a place of safety and comfort for the community be taken away.
"We recognize that there might be some things that need to happen to the structure, but please don't kill the school," Whitfield said, adding that the community was willing to meet with and be involved in decisions regarding the elementary school.
Following similar concerns from board member Tina Ward, who expressed that parents didn't want to be relocated unless improvements are "for sure" going to happen, Johnson said that he will "get it done" with the "blessing" of the School Board that he received on May 13.