Article by: Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
At a "shovel ceremony" Monday at the site of what will be the Little Rock School District's Pinnacle View High School, 100 hard-hatted dignitaries and students used gold-tipped shovels to flip over blue-tinged dirt.
Noise-makers popped and blue fog wafted through the throngs on onlookers at the Ranch Drive location in the northwest part of the city. Strands of gold-colored beads were dropped into the dirt -- a nod to an ancient practice of appeasing the earth for disturbance.
Three stories of already erected steel framework served as the backdrop for the celebration of what will be a 1,200-seat traditional high school in the district's northwest section, which will open for the first time in the 2027-28 school year to grades nine through 12.
"Now students in west Little Rock can journey from elementary school through high school with us in Little Rock School District providing a seamless pathway throughout their educational career," Assistant Superintendent Shana Loring said about the part of the city now served by Dr. Don R. Roberts Elementary School and Pinnacle View Middle School. High school students in the area are assigned to or elect to attend the far more distant Hall High, Parkview Magnet High or Central High schools.
Superintendent Jermall Wright called Monday's celebratory event "another extraordinary milestone" in the capital city district, pointing to the recent opening of the Dr. Marion G. Lacey K-8 Academy, the expansion underway at Central High and the renovation of Rockefeller Early Childhood Education Center. He thanked past and current School Board members, past and current parents of school-aged children and voters of a 2021 tax-millage extension for bringing the vision of a new school to life.
"Pinnacle View High School will be a model of innovation, inclusivity and opportunity, fulfilling the promise we made to our families in the western-most part of the city to provide exceptional public education with cutting edge technology, modern science labs and creative learning spaces," Wright said.
The high school is being built at a time when the district has both closed and combined multiple campuses in recent years and, later this week, will ask the School Board to consider discontinuing the use of the district's Carver and Brady elementary schools as traditional elementary campuses starting next school year. That is largely an effort to right-size the district's services to what has been a declining student enrollment.
It's also a time when the state's LEARNS Act or Act 237 of 2023 has greatly expanded the availability of state taxpayer funding for tuition and other private and home school costs across the state.
"We recognize this building comes at a time of challenge for public education," Wright said. "Across the country and here in Little Rock, we've seen many shifts occurring in the landscape of public education while also adapting to population shifts in the city of Little Rock -- all of which impacts the enrollment in Little Rock School District.
Action is necessary, he said.
"The opening of Pinnacle View High School isn't just about meeting a promise, it's about raising the bar to make this school a shining example of what public education can and should be," he said, adding that the goal is for every campus in the district to be the first and best choice for families.
The district has committed to a price not to exceed $147,093,496 for the 320,000-square-foot campus on 27 acres next door to Pinnacle View Middle School at 5701 Ranch Drive, which is just north of Cantrell Road.
Designed by Lewis Architects Engineers and being built by Baldwin & Shell Construction Co., the seven wings of the school will house 24 regular classrooms and 44 specialty rooms as well as a 913-seat arts center and choir room, and 530 new parking spaces bringing the total available to 979.
A competition basketball/volleyball arena, a baseball/softball complex, upgrades to the existing football stadium -- to include a practice field -- and auxiliary gym/storm shelter are other features planned for the school.
Speakers at the shovel ceremony included Keith Morris Jr., a student at Roberts Elementary, Eli Krupitsky, a student at Pinnacle View Middle, and Elsa Ramirez-Dominguez, a student at Hall West High who plans to be in the Pinnacle View's first graduating class.
Other speakers heralding the impact the new school will have on the city's future were School Board President Michael Mason, City of Little Rock Vice Mayor Kathy Webb, Vice President of Lewis Architects Engineers John McMorran, and President & Chief Executive Officer of Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. Bobby Gosser Jr.
Radio and television personality Craig O'Neill was the master of ceremonies for the shovel ceremony.
In the crowd Monday were those who years ago championed for new schools in the burgeoning part of the district. That led, at least in part, to the acquisition of the former Leisure Arts office building and warehouse that became the Pinnacle View Middle School.
Kelly Ann Thornton was a parent of a school-aged child when she and others began lobbying the Little Rock School Board for middle and high schools in the northwest section of the city.
"I really am happy that this is happened," said Thornton on Monday, despite the fact that her child has since graduated from college. "It has been a lot of work from waves of parents, not just me. There were parents before me and parents after me. And now it's here."
Thornton told Wright, the superintendent, that she may not be done with her advocacy.
"Dr. Wright, someone told me that when they said that the new high school might be too small right off the bat -- at 1,200 -- you said we'll just make the whole thing a high school and we will build a new middle school."
"I did say that," Wright acknowledged with laughter.
"I will say that I will hold you to that!" Thornton said.