LITTLE ROCK -- Friendship Aspire Academy's Arkansas campuses will officially operate under one umbrella beginning with the 2022-23 school year.
The state Board of Education on Thursday voted unanimously to allow the charter school system, to be renamed Friendship Aspire Academies Arkansas, to merge its three "districts" -- Friendship Aspire Pine Bluff, which operates an elementary school on Hazel Street and will soon open another building on Main Street; Friendship Aspire Southeast Pine Bluff, which runs the former Southeast Arkansas Preparatory high school; and Friendship Aspire Little Rock, which manages an elementary school and middle school. The change in Friendship's charter allowing this merger also calls for name changes to each campus: Friendship Aspire Academy Downtown Pine Bluff (the downtown campus that will house grades kindergarten through 3); Friendship Aspire Academy Pine Bluff (the Hazel Street campus serving grades K-4); Friendship Aspire Academy Southeast Pine Bluff (the high school campus on 73rd Avenue); Friendship Aspire Academy Little Rock Elementary (grades K-4) and Friendship Aspire Academy Little Rock Middle School (grades 6-8).
"What they're requesting to do is put all their charter schools under one charter," Deborah Coffman, Arkansas Department of Education assistant commissioner, told the board before its vote.
Virginia Henry, deputy superintendent for Friendship Aspire Academies Arkansas, said the merger will not affect the management structure, as each campus will still operate separately. The Friendship system operates similar to a regular school district in that it is led by a board and a superintendent, Phong Tran.
"When we were three different districts, it was triple the paperwork," Henry said. "The merger will help with that."
Friendship took ownership of the Southeast Pine Bluff campus in 2020 when the state board revoked the prep school's license. Henry said the move allowed the students already enrolled to graduate from the campus, but it is entering the final year of phasing out the high school with only the class of 2023 remaining. Tenth and 11th grades were phased out in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
The upcoming seniors will be joined by fifth graders who previously attended Friendship Pine Bluff on Hazel Street. This cohort will begin a phased growth of Southeast into a middle and high school, adding a grade level from fifth grade up each year.
The enrollment cap at Southeast will expand from 25 to 75. Henry estimated the campus will enroll 68 in August, given the 47 who have advanced from the Hazel Street campus and the 21 rising seniors.
Kindergartners through third graders planning to attend the Downtown campus at 700 S. Main St. will begin the upcoming school year on Hazel Street if construction on the new school isn't completed by the first day of classes, Henry said. The Downtown campus addresses an overflow of enrollees at Hazel Street.
"We'll be ready to be open this fall," Henry said of the Downtown campus.
Arkansas Department of Education director of charter schools Dorie Summons, left, and ADE assistant commissioner for public school accountability Deborah Coffman address the state Board of Education about Friendship Aspire Schools' successful request to merge the operations of its campuses Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Little Rock. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
