By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Even as the Pulaski County Special School District Board presses on with its ambitious program to build two new elementary schools and a new middle school in Jacksonville, several Jacksonville Elementary School parents and teachers asked the board Tuesday to leave their school open until the replacement opens.
“We see other schools being built without kids being displaced,” said Tammy Mason, speaking for the group. “Our children don’t deserve to be moved twice while the school is built.”
She said she was hoping “that tonight, confirmation (to leave the school open) is made.”
Mason spoke during the public-comment period. The question was not on the agenda; the board customarily doesn’t act on remarks from public comment, and it has agreed, at least in principle, to close Jacksonville Elementary School at the end of this school year, reassigning the students and teachers to other nearby elementary schools.
The estimated $780,000 a year saved from closing the school would help the district service the debt on a proposed $104 million construction-bond issue.
“As long as the district proceeds with construction and issuing the bonds, we’re still in favor of building the new schools and understand there is going to be some pain to get to the final outcome,” according to Daniel Gray, who speaks for both the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Educ-ation Committee and the Jacksonville World Class Educ-ation Association. Gray said the long-range outcome is beneficial to Jacksonville students.
“If that’s the only way to achieve our goal, it’s a necessary evil,” Gray said. “But if the district remains in fiscal distress, and there is no bond issue, the first thing we would want to do is keep that school open.”
Closing the school would account for roughly 10 percent of the planned cuts to leverage a $104 million construction-bond sale.
A new Jacksonville elementary school, Jacksonville Middle School and replacement for the combined students of Tolleson and Arnold Drive Elementary schools are slated to open in August 2013, provided the district gets approval from the state Board of Education to sell the construction bonds. At the same time, complete makeovers of Harris, Scott and College Station Elementary schools and Robinson Middle School should be undertaken and completed.
The board voted unanimously to approve the sale of the bonds, provided that the state Department of Education approves the sale.
The board had been slated to vote on those cuts and approve its 2011-2012 budget at the April board meeting, but the state Department of Education notified the district March 15 that barring successful appeal, the district will be back in fiscal distress, and prohibited PCSSD from entering into contracts or spending money in the interim.
The fiscal-distress designation is based upon last fall’s state legislative audit report, that found nearly a million dollars worth of theft, misappropriation, improper expenditures and improperly documented expenses, and found fault with the district’s oversight of its monies.
Since that time, the board has rectified nearly all questionable expenses and actions, and a former employee is in prison for theft.
Superintendent Charles Hopson says he’s optimistic that the district’s appeal of fiscal-distress designation at the May 9 state board meeting will be successful.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Education is reviewing the district’s proposed budget and employee contracts, and is expected to approve—or approve with changes—the budget, freeing the PCSSD Board to approve employee contracts by the May 1 deadline.
Derek Scott, PCSSD chief of operations, says if the district escapes May 9 from the fiscal-distress designation, it will return for the June state board meeting seeking approval to sell the $104 million in bonds. If they get approval, they will sell the bonds later in June and begin demolition and construction on schedule by early July.
The board already has engaged architects and builders to do preliminary work toward designing and estimating costs of the projects. Scott said that so far, the professionals have said ballpark estimates were quite close to theirs.
Comments at the end of the board meeting demonstrated how far the board and administration have come in the scant months since Hopson’s hiring, election of two new school board members, and installation of Jacksonville school board member Bill Vasquez.
It resembled a love fest.
“Kudos to Mr. Vasquez for running good board meetings,” said board member Sandra Sawyer, and to Mr. Hopson and his staff. “I’m so glad I’m on this team. You came to play and win.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with you all,” Hopson said.
“(The board members) have a better working relationship than we’ve had in a long time,” said Mildred Tatum, who has 27 years on the board. “Thanks to Mr. Hopson for making things smoother.”
“Excitement is in the air all over this district,” concluded Vasquez. “We’ve made mistakes in the past but we’re moving forward. There’s a train a comin’ and you don’t need no ticket, you just get on board,” he said, alluding to the Curtis Mayfield song “People Get Ready.”
