TENANT WITHDRAWS: The old Garland School, being renovated by the Walton Family Foundation to hold a charter school, won't have a tenant in the fall of 2018 because a potential school operator has withdrawn, at least for 2018l.


Friendship Aspire Academy
has withdrawn a request to move up by a year plans to open a charter school in Little Rock to take advantage of a vacant building being remodeled by the Walton Family Foundation for another charter operator that withdrew.

The state Board of Education had set a special meeting Friday to review the application. The withdrawal canceled the meeting and means Friendship won’t open in the 2018-19 school year and the remodeled Garland school building will not be occupied for a time. I’ve been unable to reach Friendship officials, but they presumably will proceed with original plans to open in Little Rock in 2019, though it’s unclear what the location will be.

Advertisement

The state charter review panel had given Friendship Aspire the green light in May. But, somewhat to the surprise of many, the state Board last week voted unanimously to give a full review to the application rather than immediately ratifying the charter panel’s approval. The Board heard opposition to the plan from former state Board member Sam Ledbetter, former U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder and Little Rock School Superintendent Michael Poore. They expressed concerns, among others, about impact on Little Rock, which had made budget plans that anticipated no school would open at Garland this year and thus no students would be lost from the district.

Questions also were raised about Friendship’s original plan, which was to open a school in Southwest Little Rock in 2019. Garland school is far to the east of the area it planned to serve. Board members wondered about a compressed timeline for the startup. Friendship moved to take advantage of available space after the Einstein charter school operating company, facing some difficulties in another city, dropped plans in Little Rock for the old Garland school location.

Advertisement

No reason was immediately available for Friendship’s decision to drop its accelerated plan. State Education Director Johnny Key, who confirmed Friendship’s decision, has said he’ll forward the letter notifying the state of the decision when he can get access to a WiFi signal.  I’ll share it when I receive it.

UPDATE: Here’s the letter from Friendship Aspire. It cites the Board’s decision to review and “potentially reverse” the charter advisory panel.

Advertisement

Given the burden of evidence required to review, and the time that has been lost in this process, we do not believe it to be in the best interest of the children and families of Little Rock to rush our school opening. The uncertainty, with less than seven weeks to open our doors to staff and eight weeks to open our doors to students, has created an untenable position and is unfair to our families.

The letter, from Donald Hense, said the decision was “disheartening” because it would mean “one less quality school choice” and almost mean “a completely renovated
and state-of-the-art school facility will go underutilized.”

Hense said Friendship would open in 2019. But a question remains on what review process will be necessary given that their original approval was based on serving Southwest Little Rock.

Advertisement

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article Another prison death under investigation Next article Military lawyers drafted for border immigration duty