FAYETTEVILLE — The School District’s effort to reduce crowding at some schools and fill other schools to capacity took another step forward Thursday when the School Board approved Owl Creek School to be an open enrollment school.
At A Glance
School Board
The Fayetteville School Board has received the Healthy School Board Award by the Arkansas Coordinated School Health Program. Carol Stone, coordinator of the district’s coordinated school health program, said the board was recently honored for its support of different physical and mental health issues in the district, including Farm to School; the school-based health center; funding for physical education activities at several schools; tobacco cessation programs for employees and students; healthy cooking classes; mental health care; and the physical fitness center for employees. The award was based on a 15-page questionnaire and two essays. “We brought home the gold,” Stone said. “I applaud you for being great, great people.”
Source: Staff Report
That means parents can request to transfer their students to Owl Creek if they don’t reside in the school’s attendance zone. Assistant Superintendent John L Colbert said the designation could alleviate crowding at the district’s other two west side schools, Holcomb Elementary and Holt Middle schools.
The first-day attendance at Holcomb on Salem Road was 577 in kindergarten through fourth grade. That’s an increase of 22 more students over the first day last year. About six years ago, the school transferred the fifth grade class to Holt on North Rupple Road. Both schools are north of Mount Comfort Road.
First-day attendance at Holt was was 543 students in fifth, sixth and seventh grades, an increase of 87 students over the first day last year.
Owl Creek is the district’s only school housing kindergarten through seventh grade.
As of Thursday, Owl Creek had 88 spaces for students in the elementary grades and 131 spaces in the middle school, Colbert said.
“The open enrollment concept has been very beneficial by helping reduce overcrowding and increasing enrollment of certain schools” Colbert said in his written presentation to the board. He noted parents request transfer most often based on school preference including location, size, proximity to work, child care, regular school calendar versus continuous learning calendar.
Asbell, Happy Hollow, Leverett and Washington elementary schools are the other open enrollment schools in Fayetteville.
In other business, the board also approved an application to the Arkansas Department of Education, asking for permission to issue up to $17 million in bonds tied to a 2010 election when voters authorized $51 million in bonds to continue with the second phase of the transformation of Fayetteville High School.
Although board members asked several questions about timing, Dennis Hunt, Stephens Inc. fiscal agent for the district, said this action only was for permission to issue more bonds. If the State Education Department approves the request, the board will have to act on the amount of bonds to be issues.
Of the original $51 million, the district has already issued $33.9 million in bonds, leaving the remaining amount to be issued at $17.1 million, Hunt said. The board can issue the total remaining amount or issue bonds in increments, he said.
The district will have three years to spend the money once the remaining bonds are sold, he added.