MODERN TIMES
Art Hobson
ahobson@uark.edu
NWA Times 3 Feb 2007
Whither
Fayetteville High School?
It's school decision time again.
Reaching these decision-points every few years is one more price we
pay for rampant growth.
What with focus groups, open meetings, and an informative web site
and citizen's blog, this decision process has been commendably participatory,
far more so than previous decisions.
With about 1950 students, our single high school is cramped. The school's population by 2011, when
a new high school could possibly be opened, is expected to be 2150.
The
options are: Expand the present
school; sell the present school and build a large new one; or retain the
present school and build a smaller new one. At the same time, there are various proposals for
re-arranging the grade structure:
Put grades 9-12 together; retain the present 10-12 structure; put 9-10
and also 11-12 together in separate schools; or put grade 9 into a separate
school.
The location for any possible new school is undecided, but the district
recently purchased 73 acres out past I-540 in the far northwest corner of
town. It's a strong candidate for any new schoolÕs
location.
I hope we all agree that students and student learning are the prime
considerations. So the one versus
two schools question comes down to:
What effect does school size have on students and learning? In 1996, Kathleen Cotton of the Northwest
Regional Education Laboratory published a powerful survey, "School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance,"of
106 research papers that bear on this issue. It's at http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/10/c020.html.
Cotton concludes that there is a large and consistent body of research regarding
the effects of smaller (400-800 secondary students) versus larger schools,
and smaller schools are preferred on the basis of academic achievement, student
attitudes, truancy, criminal behavior, gangs, extracurricular participation,
attendance, dropout rate, interpersonal relations, and teacher attitudes. Furthermore, operating costs are not necessarily
higher in smaller schools, and college prospects (entrance exams, acceptance
rates, completion rates) are the same.
Furthermore, a study titled "An Evidence-Based Approach to School
Finance Adequacy in Arkansas" by Lawrence Picus and associates that was
commissioned in 2003 to advise the Arkansas legislature states that high schools
of over 1000 students should be broken down into separate schools of 500-900. These numbers agree remarkably well with
the 400-800 suggested by the Cotton study.
I
conclude from these clear, consistent, and evidence-based results that a single
high school would be bad for our kids because it would be far too large. Those who support a single high school
need to explain why they are ignoring these studies.
We
should stick with the traditional 10-12 grade structure. Some studies point to student stress
arising from frequent shifts between schools, as would be caused by creating a
separate school for grade 9 or two schools for grades 9-10 and 11-12. Putting 9-12 together could work, but
it would increase the number of high school students in 2011 from 2100 to 2800,
creating an immediate need for a third high school.
So
I come down in favor of a second school for grades 10-12, with about 1000
students initially.
There
are other less important but still real considerations. One is financial. Sale of the present school property
could net perhaps $50 million. On
the other hand, a new single school of over 2000 students would surely become
too large within just a few years.
After all, our present school is already one of the largest in the
state. So another school would
soon be needed, and its expense would wipe out most or all of the $50 million
income.
Regrettably, the discussion has neglected the effects on the city of
Fayetteville. Most people consider sprawl and traffic
to be the city's top problems. A
single school out beyond I-540 would
create new sprawl, new traffic, and long drives for parents or students who
insist on driving cars to school--especially those living on the east and
south sides of town. Selling
our present school would suck vitality and livability out of midtown Fayetteville,
a process already promoted by the Mall, I-540, the suburbs, and the closure
of two mid-town grade schools. Sustainability, which Fayetteville has
been cultivating lately, requires that the school district pay attention to
the effects of its decisions on Fayetteville.
Incredibly, some folks think football should be an issue in this debate. The issue here is whether our boys will
get to compete with the biggest 16 schools, the so-called 7A category. Splitting the present school could knock
our teams down into 6A status, leading to "category envy" of Springdale,
whose category would be bigger than ours.
An assistant superintendent, the high school principal, and many citizens
have bought into this issue.
It's no wonder that Arkansas winds up near the bottom of so many measures
of success, when we have educational leaders who are willing to give football
this kind of attention. Dubious
arguments such as the distance the team will have to travel if they are relegated
to 6A status have been put forward. I'm not sure what the concern is here; is it accidents, or
time? If it's either one, then
the last thing you want to do is build a single high school out beyond the
by-pass and vastly increase everybody's danger and travel time every school
day. It says something about our priorities
when we argue over this decision's effect on football, while neglecting its
effect on our city.
Let's keep our priorities straight, and let's go with two high schools,
grades 10-12.