FAYETTEVILLE -- The new class of sophomores and some juniors and seniors are finding it's easier to get around the renovated Fayetteville High School after several days in school.
The newest section that opened Monday was the original high school built in the early 1950s. It was renovated into 48 classrooms and open learning spaces to accommodate up to 90 students. The classrooms are mostly for science, social studies and English.
Meeting Information
School Board Meeting
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
Where: Ray Adams Leadership Center, 1000 W. Bulldog Blvd.
Agenda: Consideration of a pay raise for classified employees; updates on plans for the transition of freshmen and professional development for teachers; progress report on the high school construction project.
Source: Staff Report
"It was weird on Monday," said 15-year-old Kayla Mounce, a junior. "I am relearning everything with the sophomores."
She relied on a map and teachers to help find classes in the 106,000-square-foot remodeled section.
Students can walk from the classroom building that opened a year ago through the library that forms a bridge to the new building.
It's all part of a $95 million renovation of the high school, which started three years ago. Completion is anticipated a year from now.
Mounce said she took the map home and traced her route through the school to get to all her classes.
By Wednesday, some of the school's 1,731 students made their way to a breezeway in the center of the buildings next to an open courtyard, meant to be a gathering spot for students. More than 100 students sat in small circles with their friends eating and visiting during the lunch period. Others stood in small groups.
Khadaja Ingram. 16 and a junior, said it was a little confusing navigating the new section the first day but by Tuesday it was easier.
Her friend, Amethyst Osborne, 17 and a senior, added, "Once we get used to it, it will be better. Better than last year walking through the construction."
Ingram said she was more comfortable with the building that opened last school year on the northwest corner of the campus because she spent so much time there.
Walter Ferguson, 15 and a sophomore, said, "I like the third-story bridge through the library with the windows. This is better than junior high."
His friend, C.J. Moon, 15 and a sophomore, agreed, "The library has the most windows."
So far, Moon said, high school is going well. "It's definitely a bigger campus, more people to meet, more diversity."
That's what their friend, Henry Halsell, 15, said he liked about high school.
Sarah Bunton is the new German teacher at the high school. Some 70 percent of her students are former students from Woodland Junior High School.
"I feel very lucky to have such a beautiful classroom with two walls of window," she said.
At Woodland, she had the smallest classroom with no windows, said several of her former students.
The new section also features several open areas designated as project labs. Bobby Smith, assistant principal, said some of the labs are temporary classrooms until additional classrooms are completed in the fourth and final phase of construction.
The project labs will be used as collaborative work spaces for a class or multiple classes to gather in one area, Smith said. The spaces can accommodate up to 90 students, he said.
When the renovation is complete, freshmen from Woodland and Ramay Junior High schools will be moved to the high school.
Principal Steve Jacoby said several committees working under the direction of Jon Gheen, assistant principal, are planning for the transition. Committees are looking at lunch and bell schedules, coaches and athletics, orientation, a zero hour, final exams, traffic, gym use and digital courses.
Parking will continue to be a challenge as it has been for years.
There are 375 parking places in six lots on campus for students. Of those, 225 are reserved for seniors and the rest for juniors. Sophomores are on their own to find a parking place. The University of Arkansas will sell stickers to allow parking in Lot 56 after football season is over.
Jacoby said high school staff members have met with city police officers to consider options for handling increased traffic when 600 to 700 ninth-grade students move to the high school next year. Several hundred cars of parents taking students to school are expected to add to the congestion.
NW News on 08/23/2014