District to consider hiring search firm
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67415/
Fayetteville Board of Education members will consider hiring a search firm to find a new superintendent to succeed Bobby New and will consider taking action on a land purchase at the regular meeting Thursday.
The meeting will be held at 5 p. m. in the Adams Leadership Center, 1000 W. Stone St.
The board is expected to take action to hire a search firm after a self-conducted search in the spring ended with the final candidate, Bryant Superintendent Richard Abernathy, declining the job. The board had originally planned to hire a superintendent-elect to work for a year under New, who is scheduled to retire in June 2009.
According to the agenda, representatives from the search firms Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, McPherson & Jacobson and Ray & Associates will present information on their services to the board.
“ After the presentations and an opportunity to ask questions, the board will discuss and select the firm to use in the search for a new superintendent for the district, ” Board President Steve Percival wrote.
McPherson & Jacobson was hired by the neighboring Elkins school district to conduct its superintendent search last year. The firm also conducted the search for Bentonville eight years ago that resulted in the hiring of Gary Compton, the district’s current superintendent.
The land purchase involves 9. 6 acres that fronts Deane Solomon Road and borders a 101-acre land site owned by the district at Deane Solomon and West Salem Road. The land is owned by Brandon Barber, a Fayetteville developer who has been battling financial problems in recent months.
Barber is probably best known for the Legacy Building condo project off the Dickson Street strip and the canceled Divinity Building project, which led to an intense debate regarding building heights in Fayetteville.
Although 101 acres was soundly rejected as a potential new high school site by a recent high school committee, Superintendent Bobby New said he believed the $ 600, 000 purchase would still be worthwhile.
In April, the board voted 5-2 to enter into negotiations to buy the property. Board members Becky Purcell and John Delap, who has since resigned and been replaced by Conrad Odom, voted against the idea.
At the time, Purcell said, “ We’ve got enough property out there. We can use that money in other ways. ”
New said the Deane Solomon site and the additional 9. 6 acres will provide useful options on school sites for future Fayetteville School Board members. The 60 acres where McNair Middle School and Vandergriff Elementary are located were purchased years before the elementary school was built there in 1995.
“ I think future boards will be pleased that the 2008 edition of the board planned for the future, ” New said.
Also on the agenda is a proposed agreement for a private developer, Campus Building Group, to consider the purchase of Fayetteville High School. The board has offered the 40-acre campus for sale to help subsidize construction of a new facility elsewhere.
On June 6, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees offered to buy it for $ 50 million, but an attorney for the private group addressed the school board later that month, saying they were interested in paying $ 60 million for the property.
However, New said he expects to table that so the proposed agreement can be reviewed further.
Campus Building Group attorney David Fisher declined to reveal any of the developers involved in the project at the meeting, although it is known that, at the least, Springdale developer Gary Combs is involved with the group.
New said they haven’t discussed specifics about how the group would finance the proposed purchase.
“ In any multimillion-dollar proposition, it’s going to take a while to work out the details, ” New said.