HOW WE SEE IT Officials Right To Fight Parking Plan

Remember in the not-so-distant past, before Fayetteville High School could handle its student body’s dining demands, when the lunchtime break sent a fl ood of kids across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for food (or other activities) at local restaurants?

One of the benefits of expanding and renovating the high school was added capacity in the cafeteria, so that now only seniors get to leave as a privilege,

not a necessity. When

is a bigger cafeteria

considered a safety

advancement? When

young people no longer

have to traipse across a

five-lane highway on a

daily basis.

So, having solved

that safety issue, whyin the world would the school, city or anyone else want to create a new situation that draws students across a heavily used road?

We will not argue there’s no profit to be made as a result of Fayetteville High School’s dearth of parking for students. Motivated entrepreneurs near the school charge steep prices for private spaces in their yards or driveways. One father recently acknowledged paying $1,000 for a private space for his kids. For that kind of money, we’d be introducing our kids to the concept of a bus stop.

Arguments advocating a new school at a new location made a few years back included recognition that staying put meant a shortage of parking. The fact there’s little parking room at the doghouse has left more than a few Purple Bulldogs feeling blue, but that’s the choice this community made. Now, the School District has to manage that decision.

We’re glad Fayetteville Planning Commission members rejected a private landowner’s request to develop a parking lot just across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from FHS. As badly as some solution may be desired, that’s not it. Just Tuesday in Springdale, a 13-year-old boy was hit by a truck and seriously injured as he crossed Sunset Avenue (U.S. 412) to get to Southwest Junior High School.

Why try to create a great educational environment only to set up a potentially dangerous situation outside the front doors?

RUMOR MILL HURTS SCHOOL EXPANSION

In case you missed it, here are the results again:

Bentonville voters, by a 70 to 30 percent margin, approved a millage increase to build a second high school.

Some, however, want to continue the debate. This town of a million rumors is currently ginning up the mill with assertions the school district doesn’t plan to actually use the new Centerton school as a high school.

The exceptionally reasonable plan to populate Bentonville’s second high school involves a staggered transition. In its first year, ninth- and 10th-graders will start their high school careers there. In year two, the school will grow to a three-grade setup that includes 11th-graders. Then, those kids will move into the 12th grade in year three, creating a four-year school.

Critics suggest it’s all a ruse, that the new school will maintain a two-grade population so Bentonville will remain a one-high-school town. They have no evidence of this dastardly plan, but when has that stopped them?

Some serious patrons have made principled, heartfelt arguments for something other than a second high school. Others, however, have been disingenuous in running a dishonest, underground campaign fi lled with rumors.

It’s time to move on, Bentonville, and get to work creating the brightest possible future for the district’s students. There is serious work to do in the three years or so before a second high school opens. The time for sour grapes is well past for anyone devoted to moving Bentonville schools and its students forward.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 09/27/2013

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