PEA RIDGE — School officials are scrambling as they seek a solution to theneed for dressing facilities at Blackhawk Stadium. On Monday, superintendent Rick Neal learned that Head Start will remove a building that has been used as thedressing room for visiting teams for the past four years.
The building, owned by the federal preschool program, was constructed on Pea Ridge School District property in the early 1990s, according to Head Start director Carla Clark. The building was leased to the school district in 2008, when then-superintendent Mike Van Dyke orchestrated an exchange of buildings with Head Start.
Van Dyke talked to Head Start officials about remodeling the Home Economics building, which is on the elementary school campus downtown, and moving Head Start there so the school could use the old Head Start buildingfor athletics, according to the March 10, 2008, School Board minutes. The board approved his entering negotiations.
Current School Board members toured the football stadium, the facilities there and the former Head Start building prior to theJuly 19, 2012, School Board meeting. Board members expressed surprise when they learned the building was not owned by the school district.
An undated proposal on Pea Ridge School letterhead entitled “Proposal to Acquire Head Start modular building at Blackhawk Stadium” suggests remodeling an existing Home Economics classroom at the current elementary campus to be used by Head Start in exchange for using the modular classroom of Head Start for athletic dressing facilities. The proposal states that the “endeavor to benefit Head Start and the Pea Ridge School District athletic department” and will allow the school district to “be better stewards of tax dollars by remodeling instead of new construction of a dressing facility.” The proposal is signed by Van Dyke.
At the April 16, 2008, School Board meeting, Van Dyke said school board attorney Rudy Moore was working on a lease. The board authorized Van Dyke to negotiate the lease.
Neal said no record of the lease or negotiations can be found at the school administration office, but Head Start fiscal agent Michael Thurdsen provided him with copies of two leases - each fivepage agreements, dated Aug. 29, 2008, authorizing the exchange of facilities - one with the school district as the lessee and one with the district as the lessor. Each is signed by Mike Van Dyke and Ann Williams, executive director of Northwest Arkansas Head Start. Both provide for $10 annual rent and for the lessee to be responsible for all utilities: water, sewer, electricity, gas, telephone, cable Internet and other utilities consumed on the premises. Each lease states it shall be in effect fro Aug. 15, 2008, until Aug. 14, 2013, providing 360 days written notice for termination.
There are two pages missing from each of the five-page leases. Pagestwo and four are not in the copies given by Thurdsen to Neal.
Both Thurdsen and executive director Jerry Adair are new to the Rogers Head Start office.
On Tuesday Adair said that there is a need for the building in Huntsville and he is working with Neal to try to avoid “any adverse affect on the school district.”
He said it is common for Head Start to lease a building or rooms and often works with school districts in order to provide a smooth transition for the children from preschool to kindergarten.
Neither Thursden nor Adair have personal knowledge of the previous transactions with Pea Ridge, but are relying on the paperwork. Adair said he will speak with his board of directors next week about the issues.
Notes entitled “Pea Ridge Project meeting” dated April 4, 2008, and signed by Van Dyke, were with the lease agreements. Those notes are signed by Head Start board chair Joan Forsyth, board members Steve Pelphrey and Carol Meimerstorf, Head Start executive director Ann Williams, Head Start agency program director Lisa Owens, Head Start facilities employee Nelson Walter and Clark.
The notes list expectations of both the district and Head Start including various expectations of the remodel.
The discovery of the lease agreement was the result of Neal contemplating demolition of the current building housing Head Start. He proposed offering three vacant classrooms in the old wing of the Intermediate School to Head Start in exchange for the building now housing it. He said the current facility is too small and is in poor condition.
“It’s a frustrating situation,” Neal said, adding that it does not appear that the move four years ago was approved by Head Start officials from the state level.
News, Pages 1 on 07/25/2012