Little Rock School District
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Little Rock district celebrates completion of $94 million K-8 campus

May 20, 2024
The Dr. Marian G. Lacey Academy is set to open in August.

The Little Rock (Arkansas) School District has held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark completion of the new Dr. Marian G. Lacey K-8 Academy.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the 238,000-square-foot facility has been built on a 13-acre site that once was the site of John L. McClellan High School. The $94 million campus has space for more than 1,000 students and includes a 1,500-seat gymnasium, a FEMA-certified storm shelter, a dance studio and multiple large makerspace project rooms.

The school will open in August and will serve pupils who now attend Baseline Elementary, the former Meadowcliff Elementary and Cloverdale Middle schools in the southwest section of Little Rock.

The school is named for a long-time district principal and assistant superintendent who died in 2017.

Construction of the school was intended to fulfill commitments the district made in a settlement of a federal lawsuit that had challenged both the 2015 takeover of the district by the state and what were described as racially disparate schools and services within the district.

About the Author

Mike Kennedy | Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.

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