Green Forest Board chooses two-site plan for new construction

The Green Forest School Board has decided to keep a close eye on the future.

At a special meeting held Monday, April 6, the school board voted to utilize both available locations on district property to construct new classrooms and adjacent buildings for students in grades 7-12.

“After much consideration of finances, best use of space, and much collaboration from the community, the board decided to utilize both building sites in order to reduce crowding on either site, rather than putting it all on one site or the other,” Green Forest Superintendent David Gilmore said.

Two pieces of land were surveyed and underwent core drilling over Christmas break to determine whether either was more suitable as the location for the new buildings, Gilmore previously told the board.

One site is across the street from the current high school, and the other involves a piece of land the district owns behind the current high school.

“They have tested both sites,” Gilmore said in February. “We’ve got two main sites here on campus that we’re looking at — one by where the old red brick building is by the old bus shop, and then we own a two-acre piece of land right behind the current high school between 9th and 10th Street.”

At the April 6 meeting, the board laid out plans it felt were the most suitable moving forward.

“It was deemed the main structure, with the majority of the classrooms, would fit better on Site One, which is the large open lot to the south of the current high school,” Gilmore said Tuesday, April 7. “The performing arts center will go on Site 2, which is where the old bus barn is located.

“We are all excited about the next few months while [architect] Josh Seibert and his team at Modus Studio come up with a good layout and architectural design of our future buildings.”

The new buildings became a reality after Green Forest residents overwhelmingly voted to approve a 6-mill tax increase to help finance the construction.

In a special election in November 2025, 337 voters (66.6 percent) voted in favor of the tax increase, with 169 votes (33.4 percent) against the proposal.

The money raised through the additional taxes, along with $9.990 million awarded by the state of Arkansas, will help fund the proposed $25 million, 72,000-square-foot, multistory facility, which will also include a performing arts building. The plan calls for seventh- and eighth-grade students to be housed in one part of the building, with grades 9-12 in another area.

Gilmore has said previously he doesn’t expect any groundbreaking to take place until approximately January 2027.

Posts on social media have included comments from residents hoping that some structures can remain on campus despite construction of the new building, specifically the red brick building that has been there for decades, Gilmore said.

However, because the district is using nearly $10 million in state funding for the project, Gilmore said requirements stipulate that buildings such as the red brick building be removed.

“I know people get very sentimental with the buildings that we have here on campus and everything,” he said. “It’s been out there for a while that we would have to tear down some facilities here … that’s how it works with the state. We received partnership money to build our new building project … but by doing so, the state says we have to tear down some of those older facilities that are not considered adequate. I know a lot of people were very concerned, for example, the old red brick building that we have here on campus.

“Well, they want to keep it, and I get it, they want to keep it and maybe turn it into a museum or something like that on campus, but the state says we have to tear it down. … We’d love to keep those old facilities, but we just can’t. … So, I just kind of wanted to clear up some things that maybe people in the community don’t know about that process, how that works with the partnership money, about having to tear down some of the older facilities.”

One facility that Gilmore said would not be affected by the project is the old rock gym, which is used regularly.

“It’s just the red brick building that has become pretty dilapidated,” he said. “That’s what we’ll have to tear down because the state says we have to.”