FORT SMITH (KFSM)-- The majority of the school board is putting its support behind bringing a charter school to the city. Now it's up to the Arkansas Board of Education to give its stamp of approval.
“People think that this is just a Fort Smith charter school, but it`s gonna be open enrollment to kids in the entire River Valley, and I`m excited about it,” Wade Gilkey, school board member said. “It`s a tremendous opportunity.”
On Monday night (Sept. 28), the Fort Smith School Board voted 5-1 to support the charter school.
“There was one member in particular, that she has her reservations,” Gilkey said. “I think that the vast majority of the board is quite excited. It was kind of the fear of the unknown for several of the board members.”
Trish Flanagan is the founder of Future School of Fort Smith. She said she’s excited about the board’s support.
“Our strategic planning has been going on for about a year, but a few years before that, there has been a lot of brain storming, community discussions, but yeah largely it`s this year, that we`ve really put the full-court press on you could say,” she said.
Flanagan says there’s no official location for the school yet, but it’ll likely be on the north side of town near the U of A Fort Smith.
The school will operate primarily on state and federal funding, and will be separate from the Fort Smith Public School District.
“Fort Smith is ready for this, and it's gonna be a huge benefit to the kids in our area,” Gilkey said.
If the future school gets approval from the State Board of Education, Flanagan said she plans to have the charter school open by next August.
The school will eventually have 450 students. Flanagan said it'll start with 150 students during the first year (all 10th graders), and by the third year it will have 10th, 11th and 12th graders.