Students Could Change Schools To Balance Poverty

— Students might have to change schools to balance poverty levels when the school district opens a new middle school and junior high.

As administrators ponder how to change attendance zones to accommodate new schools, they have an opportunity to change the uneven makeup of the district, said Superintendent Jim Rollins.

Sonora Middle School is scheduled to open in August and Hylton Junior High is set to begin classes in 2013. Both schools will be on Springdale’s southeast side.

Rollins stressed administrators are keeping their options open, and any potential zone changes are only in the idea stage.

Administrators will make final decisions in the spring, Rollins said.

“This conversation is just developing,” he said.

Eighty-four percent of students east of Thompson Street receive free or reduced lunch, compared with 56 percent of west side students.

“We’re having to talk about how to balance poverty while two-thirds of our kids live in poverty. That’s difficult to do,” Rollins said. “We’ve got to make it better.”

There is also a sharp ethnic gap between east and west side schools.

“We’re slipping,” said Jeff Williams, a school board member. “Every year we’re losing more Caucasians. It’s time to do something to fix it.”

Springdale High’s academies, which focus on specific career tracts, help attract some white students to the high school, but the ratio is still skewed, Rollins said. Students may easily transfer from Har-Ber High School to Springdale High, as long as they are entering an academy.

Fifty-four percent of west side students are white, while the east side has a 33 percent white student population.

Balancing the socioeconomic breakdown of district schools means administrators should examine options to possibly change which elementary schools feed students to secondary schools, Rollins said.

The balancing keeps teachers in high-poverty schools from being overwhelmed with students who may need extra help and attention, Rollins said.

“I think it’s in the schools’ best interest. It’s in the students’ best interest,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

School Plans

Administrators gave the School Board six possible plans for feeding elementary school populations into middle schools. The elementaries are listed beneath the middle school the students would attend. The middle schools would have the percentage listed of students eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch.

Williams said the district should move forward with balancing the schools despite public opposition that may arise.

Joe Shadowens moved his family from Fayetteville to Springdale in 2002 for the school system. He said administrators should loosen school restrictions and give parents more choice in where their children go to school.

Changing attendance zones only cures a symptom. It may not create any real lasting change in the district, said Shadowens, who has children at Hellstern Middle School and Central Junior High.

“It’s an economic issue,” he said. “I don’t know if you could ever legislate that. I don’t know how you would change it.”

Besides public perception, the district could face legal obstacles. It is illegal to zone schools based on race, according to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Administrators gave School Board members six options for flattening the free and reduced-price lunch levels and detailing which elementary schools would feed into which middle schools.

The most balanced plan sends students from Young, Elmdale, Westwood, Sonora and Lee elementary schools to Sonora Middle School. Four of those schools are closer to other middle schools.

Ron Bradshaw, assistant superintendent for support services, stressed the plan is just one of many, and it may not be the right fit for the district.

The plans do not mention junior highs and high schools, but those attendance zones may need to change as well, considering the poverty differences between Springdale High and Har-Ber high schools, Rollins said

Ideally, Springdale High and Har-Ber will each take students exclusively from two junior highs, Bradshaw said. Each junior high would take students from two middle schools.

Sixty-five percent of Springdale High students receive free or reduced lunch, compared with 35 percent for Har-Ber. The numbers compare closely to the minority populations of the schools. Springdale High’s minority population is 64 percent, while Har-Ber’s is 34 percent.

Administrators and board members must toe the line between flattening poverty levels and keeping students close to home, said Kathy McFetridge, board president.

To balance poverty levels, any plan will include transporting some students to schools further away from their homes than other schools.

“We are going to need to look at all that to make sure we are doing the best thing as a whole,” McFetridge said. “It can be very emotional to change schools. We know that. We just have to keep studying it.”

Transporting students farther in the name of socioeconomic balance may not be embraced by some parents, especially if their current situations are more convenient and closer to home, Shadowens said.

“Nobody wants to be told what to do,” he said. “Closer’s a good thing for us.”

Rollins said administrators are considering hiring an independent adviser.

A consultant from outside Springdale, without the context and history of the school district, may be able to better make a dispassionate decision, McFetridge said.

Board members and administrators should hold town hall meetings to gauge public reaction, said David Van Bebber, board representative.

“No option should be left unturned,” Van Bebber said. “I think we need some help.”

Upcoming Events