New Carroll High School to be built at current site

OZARK - Carroll High School will be demolished and another high school built in the same location should a city-wide referendum pass in the next several months, officials said after a vote on Friday on where to locate the new school.

Ozark City School Board members voted three to one, with the opposing vote being James Harris, to build a new high school at the current high school site along Eagle Way instead of on Roy Parker Road.

Harris then offered a motion for a unanimous solidarity vote supporting the board’s decision to move forward.

School board chairman Mo Armstrong was not required to vote because there was no tie.

Harris said he believes building the school at the current site would be “more of the same” and not allow the “paradigm shift” for which he had hoped.

Building the high school on Roy Parker Road would have made it more visible to U.S. 231.

“One day, the Lord will bless this city and it’s gonna grow, but in the meantime I felt there was a need for a paradigm shift. ... Whatever you do and it’s not successful, if you continue to do the same thing, you likely will get the same results,” he said.

“I saw this as a great opportunity for a paradigm shift. ... I thought that ... it was an easy decision, but it did not turn out that way. ...”

Board member Ben Sneed said he believes it would be more economically feasible to build the new school at its current location and prevent a safety issue posed by students being closer to a highway.

Board members Charlie Harper and Brad Hull agreed on economic feasibility. The school system already owns about 30 acres of land at the current location, Harper said.

Ozark City Schools Superintendent Mike Lenhart has said acquisition of land was likely if the school was built on the current site in order to have enough land to build all the system hoped for.

He said Friday that the state school board is willing to work with the system to build on its 30 acres.

Ozark Mayor Billy Blackwell said the high school’s current site keeps with the city’s concept of neighborhood schools.

“ ... We feel building it (at the current site) is the consensus of the public we need to help pass a referendum. ...This is the best decision overall for the community ...,” he said.

“Ten or 15 years down the road we could be wrong, ... but we can’t wait that long to build a new high school. Our community and the economics of our community depend on a new high school.”

Lenhart said now is the best time to build a school because of construction costs.

Armstrong said Carroll High School was built in 1957.

Most of the school system’s maintenance budget over the last two years has been spent keeping even the necessities in operation at the school, Lenhart said.

Lenhart said the high school’s increased use of technology has also called for improvements.

Sockets at the school are filled to capacity and cause hazardous conditions, he said.

“We’ve had issues with the heating and air conditioning. ... We’ve had safety issues arise. When it rains, water seeps from under the floors. There are also problems as far as compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Lenhart said.

Lenhart said the next step after Friday’s vote is to work with the city council to set a date for a referendum to support building a new school, as well as to hire a firm to design the school.

If the referendum passes, Lenhart said ground would likely be broken on a new high school in two years.

Students would continue attending classes in the current building while the new structure is being built. Students will not have to relocate while the construction occurs, Lenhart said.