School Zones Proposed

BENTONVILLE — More than 1,000 students could be on the move next year if the Bentonville School Board approves proposed attendance zones for junior high and elementary students on Dec. 17.

Superintendent Michael Poore said rezoning is needed once a new junior high school opens next school year and additions to four elementary schools are finished.

“Any time you talk about boundaries it makes all stakeholders shudder from the superintendent to the kids,” Poore said. “We know we have to do it.”

Travis Riggs, board president, agreed with Poore.

“I think it is a necessary adjustment we have to do,” Riggs said.

The School Board’s Curriculum Committee recommended the boundary changes for approval last week.

Brad Reed, district student services director, said officials reviewed geography, building capacities and student demographics when developing the new boundaries.

“We were trying to develop zones that made sense for parents and for students,” Reed said.

Reed said 559 seventh-graders will be impacted if the proposed junior high boundaries are approved. More than 340 of those students will go to the new junior high school under construction on Gamble Boulevard.

Also, 67 students at Lincoln Junior High School will be moved to Washington Junior High School and 144 students at Washington will be moved to Lincoln.

The proposed changes geographically group students for each junior high zone. The junior high school attendance map now used geographically divides the attendance zones for the schools.

“Some people will like this better and some will not,” Reed said.

Kathy Murry, principal of Washington Junior High School, will be the principal of the new junior high next year. District officials sought input from her and other principals when designing the proposed zones. Each building has room to grow with the new zones, Murry said.

“I’m very pleased with the way they designed them,” Murry said.

More than 1,100 students attend the two junior high schools now. The proposed zones would place 780 at Washington Junior High, 840 at Lincoln Junior High and 646 at the new junior high.

District officials have said the southern portion of the district where the new school will be is a high-growth area. They expect the new school will see student growth quicker than the two established junior high schools.

The district rezoned elementary school boundaries last year prior to the opening of Willowbrook Elementary School on Gator Boulevard near the construction of the new junior high school.

Poore said the addition of 20 new classrooms in the district has forced the district to look at rezoning elementary schools again.

The board approved building four new classrooms at Cooper, Willowbrook and Centerton Gamble elementary schools earlier this year. Eight new classrooms will be built at Central Park Elementary School.

“We have 550 more seats being added on,” Poore said. “You have to do something.”

A document provided with proposed attendance maps shows 458 elementary students are attending schools outside of their zones because of overcrowding at their zoned school. Construction of the new rooms should place those students back in their zoned buildings, Reed said.

The proposed attendance maps for the elementary level will move 627 students to a new zone. Students attending Willowbrook, Thomas Jefferson, Sugar Creek, Mary Mae Jones will see the largest impact.

Parent Lindsay Shelly has children at Mary Mae Jones who are zoned for Sugar Creek. There were moved to Mary Mae Jones because of overcrowding. Next year they will move back to Sugar Creek.

“I would be OK with staying at Mary Mae Jones,” Shelly said. “It is a little concerning. I wish I could just leave them here so they don’t have to switch schools again.”

Shelly said the movement of students to other schools in the district is no one’s fault.

“The district has a hard job,” Shelly said. “Can you imagine having to do it all yourself? I don’t have a fix for it.”

District officials will start working on an online tool parents can use to find their zoned school if attendance zones are approved. It could be on the website as early as February, Reed said.