Forget selling the high school; spend the next five years picking a site for a second high school and the following five years building it right

There is no excuse for selling the high-school property. There is no excuse for building either a new high school or a second high school within a decade.

An urban model needs to be used for the buildings for a second high school, and the athletic facilities must return to a classic model: The track runs around the football field and uses the same stadium. PE classes and the varsity basketball team use the same gym, weight room, etc.

Windows should be fully operable to ensure that heating is needed only in late fall, winter and early spring and that only summer school might need air-conditioning. And fans still work well in the real world.

Every possible way to conserve energy known today must be planned for and every known wiring requirement built or space provided for up front.

Windmills and solar panels should be installed in every conceivable possible place.

It must be assumed that public transportation will be provided and people under age 21 will be discouraged from driving automobiles to school. Walking, riding bicyles and maybe motorbikes should be the only alternatives to using school-provided or public transportation.
Parents should not have to even consider driving kids to school. Safety on public and school-provided transportation should be a given.

The second school's site should be selected based on many factors, but economical, safe transportation should be the main thing. No student doing anything other than voluntarily walking should have to spend an hour between home and school.

Third and fourth high schools will be required at some time in this century, if those who ignore the unsuitablility of Northwest Arkansas to become a major city have their way. So the planning now should be for a second high school in a place accessible from places far north of the current high school.

About some of the comments on who wants growth and who wants the high school moved: I talk with a lot of people. And I listen to a lot of people. And the majority want inexpensive, convenient transportation and the shortest possible commute from all areas of dense population to the schools. It is insulting to many to say that the current high school is inadequate. People know that dedicated teachers are the main requirement of a good educational system. Fancy buildings don't change the quality of education, unless the cost of them reduces the funding of teacher salaries and needed books and computers and such for students. New buildings probably send the wrong message: That appearance is more important than reality.

We can't expect mercy from the UA board. How many members of that board live in Fayetteville or pay taxes in Fayetteville?

This isn't about Jonah leading a conspiracy to vote down a millage increase for schools or anything else.

I hear "no to taxes" everytime this subject comes up in conversation.

Chidren who were walking to Bates School or would be now and children who were walking to Jefferson School or would be now are a long way from the schools now. Closing those schools killed the most recent attempt to pass a millage increase.
And Jonah hadn't started The Iconoclast site at that time. I suspect that listening to people offended by those two incredibly bad school-board, school-administration decisions may have been a part of the reason this Web log came into existence.
I would suggest that the failure of people involved in all aspects of government to listen to the common people, the people affected by their decisions, motivated Jonah.
Every vote counts one. So don't count on buying enough votes to pass a millage after selling the high school cheap.
A fair, realistic price would be enough to buy a site AND to build every single facility needed for a complete new high school. Whatever that figure is, it isn't the one offered by the UA board. Something like $400 million might be the only reasonable price that could make a case for selling the high school. That might be low, because selling that property should result in having enough money in hand to build not only a replacement for the current school but also a second high school.
A new high school isn't needed right now and selling the existing one would be a serious mistake.
Just stop this whole process and begin a slow, all-encompassing process of studying the possibilities of building a second high school in a place that will be environmentally harmless and comfortable for those who have to use it and to travel to it.