Ozark school board to vote Friday on new high school location

OZARK – After months of executive sessions, public hearings and working meetings, Ozark School Board members are expected to make a long-awaited decision Friday on where to build a new high school.

Ozark City Schools Superintendent Mike Lenhart said board members will vote at noon Friday on whether to build the new school at the existing Carroll High School site, or to build a completely new school along Roy Parker Road.

CHS was built more than a half-century ago and has fallen into dire need of repairs, according to some officials.

School leaders had debated whether to announce a site for a new high school before or after an Ozark referendum that is expected early next year. If the referendum passes, officials have determined the 10 mills could bring in about $750,000 to $800,000 a year that could fund an $11 million debt service to build the new school.

Lenhart said board members have sought to evaluate cost efficiency of both locations and whether the existing high school would remain in operation if a new school was built on Roy Parker Road.

Lenhart had said previously he was not advocating one site over another, but that about seven more acres of homes and other property around the existing site would have to be acquired in order to add a bus facility and practice football field.