Judge schedules tour of 3 schools
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr., the presiding judge in a 35-year-old Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit, finalized plans for an Aug. 9 tour of the new Mills High and Robinson Middle schools, as well as the older Maumelle High.
Additionally, Marshall directed representatives of the Pulaski County Special district and the Joshua intervenors, which represents black students, to suggest dates in September and October for him to tour Sylvan Hills High, which is being expanded; Fuller Middle, which is being relocated to the old Mills High site; plus College Station and Harris elementary schools.
The Joshua intervenors has asked the judge to order the replacement of the College Station and Harris campuses, both of which are decades-old schools in predominantly black communities. The intervenors group has also complained to the judge that the new Mills High and the relocated Fuller Middle school campuses in southeast Pulaski County are inferior in their features when compared with the Robinson Middle and High school campuses in predominantly white areas of west Pulaski County.
The Pulaski County Special district is obligated by its federal court-approved desegregation plan and various court orders to equalize the conditions of its school buildings, some of which are old and in communities with high percentages of black residents.
"Based on the parties' developing dispute about facilities, it's clear to the Court that a visit to all the schools mentioned in the [earlier] joint report [by the district and intervenors] would be helpful," Marshall wrote. "We will do it in two rounds, though."
LISA Academy buys school land
The LISA Academy charter school system has purchased about 7.88 acres on Briley Road in North Little Rock for $1.218 million to become the site of a $13 million secondary school.
The RPM Group/Corfac International real estate brokerage company announced the sale Friday.
Sellers included the Jean Varvil estate that owned approximately 3.9 acres at 700 Briley Road. Scott D. Jolly and Brad W. Jolly were the sellers of the Fleming Mobile Home Park that makes up the remainder of the parcel.
In March, the Arkansas Board of Education unanimously approved the LISA Academy charter school system plan to build a secondary school building behind its existing kindergarten-through-12th-grade school at 5410 Landers Road.
The new school building will open to middle and senior high school students starting in the 2019-20 school year. The existing school will become a building for elementary grades, charter school system leaders have said.
Metro on 07/22/2018