EStem selects site for new school

Warehouse east of I-30 in LR proposed for K-8 school

Leaders of eStem Public Charter Schools Inc. will ask state officials to approve a new elementary/middle school near Heifer International headquarters at the same time the charter school organization asks for approval to move its high school to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.

John Bacon, chief executive officer of what is now the 1,462-student eStem charter school system, said Tuesday that the system will submit an application next week to amend its state charter to allow for a 1,200-seat elementary/middle school at 400 Shall St., now a warehouse south of Heifer International.

The amendment application for the 2017-18 school year -- which could be considered by the state's Charter Authorizing Panel at its Nov. 18 and 19 meeting, then by the Arkansas Board of Education -- will also seek approval of the previously announced plan to expand and relocate eStem Public Charter High School to the UALR campus and increase the elementary and middle school enrollment caps at eStem's two buildings at Third and Louisiana streets.

The taxpayer-funded, independently operated kindergarten-through-12th-grade charter school is entirely housed in the former Arkansas Gazette newspaper building and a former Federal Reserve bank at the downtown Little Rock intersection.

Bacon said the site for a second elementary school offers opportunities for partnerships with Heifer International and the Clinton Presidential Center. It's also close to the Rock Region Metro streetcar and bus routes that run on World Avenue, which would provide easy access to the downtown corridor on the west side of Interstate 30.

"It's a great location with a lot of space," Bacon said, adding that the school's waiting list has grown from 5,200 to more than 6,200 since the August announcement about locating the high school at UALR. Those families, by applying for the eStem schools, have indicated a willingness to send their children to school downtown.

"We tried to look around the current location to say, 'Is there another opportunity to serve K-8 students in close proximity?' It worked out just beautifully that we found the property that we feel good about," Bacon said. "We feel it will be pretty easy to fill that school."

School system leaders have made an offer to purchase the building. Bacon said that offer has been accepted, contingent on state approval of the proposed amendments to the system's charter.

The eStem charter school leaders envision serving as many as 3,000 students if the state approves the new elementary and the expanded high school, then growing over time to about 4,000, Bacon said. Ultimately, the school planners want to open a third elementary school in south or southwest Little Rock, growing the system's total enrollment to about 5,000 students.

The amendments for the eStem schools will likely be considered at the same time the Charter Advisory Panel will consider an amendment by a different open-enrollment charter school system. LISA Academy wants to combine its Little Rock and Sherwood high schools on the Little Rock campus on Corporate Hill Drive off West Markham Street and open a school serving kindergarten through sixth grades in what is now the Nichols Furniture Store building on Shackleford Road.

Little Rock School District Superintendent Baker Kurrus last month asked the state Board of Education to consider how he can fulfill the state board's directives to improve the traditional school system and student achievement, while the same board authorizes the formation of competing charter schools.

The Little Rock School District has been operating under state control with a state-appointed superintendent and without a locally elected school board since Jan. 28. The state Education Board voted to assume control of the district because of chronically low student achievement at six of the district's 48 schools.

Metro on 10/07/2015

Upcoming Events