PULASKI COUNTY, Arkansas — At Tuesday night’s Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD) board meeting, parents and community members voiced complaints about what they see as inferior facilities at College Station and Harris Elementary Schools.
One of those parents was Brittany McCoy-Walker, who has two children that attend College Station. Elementary School.
"When it comes to Mills, Robinson, Sylvan Hills,” McCoy-Walker said, “Those plans were executed and complete. Nothing has been moved on the College Station project.”
McCoy-Walker is referring to the PCSSD’s Building for the Future initiative, which was passed in 2021.
It was a plan to make improvements to schools in the district using $80 million in bonds.
This included retrofitting College Station Elementary and Harris Elementary for $3 million each.
“They have allocated funding to retrofit College Station for years,” said Kellaneese Parker, a College Station grandparent. “Like I said in the meeting, the last renovation that was done in College Station was 1960 ... 12 years before I was born.”
According to this month’s meeting packet, the reason the district hasn’t gotten around to Harris and College Station yet is because some of their initial projects cost more than expected.
Only $23 million of the initial $80 million remains and much of that will go to Joe T. Robinson due to their growing enrollment, according to the packet.
But, the board said that they hear the concerns of residents and want to do something about them, which is why they approved a plan -- one regarding taking on a second lien bond to create more funding.
The district said this will allow them to commit a minimum of $10 million to the two elementary schools.
McCoy-Walker said Tuesday night’s discussions are a start, but as far as progress goes, she’ll believe it when she sees it.
“All we have is promises,” McCoy-Walker said, “But until we see action, I won’t believe it. Until then, it's just talk.”
District Superintendent Dr. Charles McNulty released the following statement on the ongoing discussions:
“We understand the frustration in our community, and we strive to make sure that our students are getting the same quality education, both in the instructional phase and in the facilities phase.”