District Boundary Changes Raise Questions

Online Comment Form Still Available; Plan To Be Formally Presented To School Board Feb. 19

Nick Fletcher, left, and Eli Simek, both sixth-graders at Oakdale Middle School, work Friday on their science projects in Susan Tillery’s class at the Rogers school. Westside Elementary School students may have Oakdale as their destination middle school, according to the boundary plan going before the Rogers School Board Feb. 19.
Nick Fletcher, left, and Eli Simek, both sixth-graders at Oakdale Middle School, work Friday on their science projects in Susan Tillery’s class at the Rogers school. Westside Elementary School students may have Oakdale as their destination middle school, according to the boundary plan going before the Rogers School Board Feb. 19.

— Questions bounced around the room as Rogers School District officials unveiled school boundary maps during public input meetings Monday and Tuesday.

The boundary plan will be formally presented to the Rogers School Board during a Feb. 19 meeting. Parents’ questions from the two meetings were collected and will be copied and put into a packet for School Board members. An online comment form is still available, said Ashley Kelley Siwiec, communications director. Administrators said this week they are trying to anticipate how to find answers for board questions, but giving parents solid answers on what will happen will be hard until the plan is in place.

Among the most frequently asked questions were these:

At A Glance

Proposed Changes

Elementary schools

Bellview Elementary School

About 75 students will transfer to Janie Darr Elementary School. The northern boundary for the new school will run parallel with West Drive from Bellview Road to the western edge of the district.

Elza Tucker Elementary School

An estimated 226 students will transfer to Darr Elementary School. Students living in the current Tucker boundary west of Interstate 540 will be assigned to the new school.

Bonnie Grimes Elementary

About 122 students will be moved to Tucker Elementary School. Children living between 13th and Eighth streets south of Blossom Way Creek will be reassigned from Grimes to Tucker.

Frank Tillery Elementary School

A pocket of 27 students will transfer to Northside Elementary School. Students living between Easy Street and Will Rogers Drive east of 12th street will be moved to Northside.

Grace Hill Elementary School

A rural area of the attendance zone will be transferred to Garfield Elementary School affecting 19 students. U.S. 62 will mark the new western boundary for Garfield and the southern boundary will extend along Sugar Creek Road.

Secondary schools

Janie Darr Elementary School

Students in the new attendance zone will attend Elmwood Middle School and Rogers High School.

Garfield Elementary School

Students will move on from Oakdale Middle School to Greet Lingle Middle School. They will still attend Heritage High School.

Westside Elementary School

Students will change middle and high school destinations. Instead of Elmwood Middle School, students will attend Oakdale Middle School. These students will be assigned to Heritage High School. The Westside Elementary School boundary is between Walnut and New Hope bordered by Turtle Creek on the west and Dixieland Road in the east with the exception of a few blocks toward 15th Street in the northeast corner

Source: Staff Report

Q. Why do these changes need to be made now?

A. School attendance zone maps were redrawn in part because Rogers will open a new school, Janie Darr Elementary School, 6505 S. Mount Hebron Road, this fall.

Southwest Rogers is growing, said David Cauldwell, business manager. To collect data for the committee studying boundaries, he drove neighborhoods and counted 800 lots subdivided and ready for houses. Some were under construction, and almost all of them are in the Darr boundary, Cauldwell said.

When Rogers divided into two high schools in 2008, Rogers High School had fewer students assigned to it. Rogers High School is growing by about 100 students a year, Cauldwell said. The elementary schools assigned to Elmwood Middle School have the highest potential for growth.

“If we don’t make any changes and just added Darr, Elmwood would have 1,000 students in just two years,” Cauldwell said.

If the plan goes through as is, Tim McClung will have two children who could opt to stay at Rogers High School through the grandfathering system, but one would start at Heritage High School this fall. Keeping his kids together is important, McClung said.

“Why does the change have to be in effect immediately?” McClung asked.

If there was more time he could move, he said. The current grandfathering plan does not take into consideration siblings and does not provide busing for students who opt to use it.

Q. Does Rogers need a new high school?

A. An opt-in, technology focused third high school will open in Rogers this fall. A charter for New Tech High School was received in January. If students elect to attend the project-focused school, Rogers may not need another high school for seven to 10 years, Cauldwell said. New Tech is anticipated to open with 300 freshmen and sophomores this fall and add a new grade level and 150 students until it reaches 600. Administrators said Tuesday night that 140 students have signed up for the school so far.

District numbers show 2,236 students in the Heritage boundary and 1,683 at Rogers High School if the changes are adopted. Boundary numbers don’t give the full picture, Cauldwell said. He expects the number of students to equalize because the plan would allow all high school students the option of finishing their high school career at their current school if they can provide transportation. Cauldwell estimates 90 percent of this fall’s seniors will opt to stay.

Enrollment on Jan. 25 showed 2,078 students at Rogers High School and 1,981 students at Heritage, Cauldwell said.

Q. Will the School Board consider grandfathering siblings into the feeder pattern?

A. A grandfathering system will affect her ability to volunteer, said Angie Pelletier. As a choir booster at Rogers High School, she knows what would happen when her sixth-grader becomes a Heritage freshman during the senior year of her Rogers High School student.

“I just wouldn’t be able to volunteer at all,” Pelletier said.

She can’t pick a favorite school or a favorite kid. She wouldn’t need her Westside second-grader to stay on the same path, but she can’t divide her time between high schools.

“I may be at the school every night, but I would be able to support them both in whatever they do,” Pelletier said.

It’s hard to determine how many children who came from Westside and are currently enrolled in Elmwood have brothers and sisters at Rogers High School, Cauldwell said. Through district software, administrators can look for matching last names and addresses for middle school/ high school students, but that is not entirely accurate as a different name or different address could throw the number oft , Cauldwell said. Administrators are looking for ways to provide the numbers if the board requests them, he said.

Her children will be switching schools, said parent Cindy Miller. Her seventh-grade daughter could finish out middle school at Elmwood but would miss out on making friends who will go with her to high school, Miller said. Switching schools now will keep her children together later, but the decision didn’t come easily.

“We’re trying to look at the whole picture,” Miller said. “It’s been a process for our family.”

Q. Will there be a transition plan for middle school students living in the Westside area who will change middle schools from Elmwood to Oakdale?

A. “If this plan goes through we will do our utmost to ensure that every child who is scheduled to attend Oakdale Middle School receives a warm welcome,” said Donna Charlton, Oakdale principal.

Parents who have talked to Oakdale officials have come away impressed with a summer science camp, project-based learning and Oakdale’s effort to form a bridge to Heritage by bringing in high school staff to talk with students, said Bryan Holmberg, assistant principal. Test scores are improving, Charlton said.

“We want to be the school looking for new ways to engage kids in the curriculum,” Holmberg said.

Q. Will a middle school child miss high school tryouts for football or cheer if they are changing high schools?

A. “There are no tryouts until later in the spring,” said Mark Holderbaum, athletic director.

A School Board vote is anticipated in March. Spirit tryouts in April are the first on the schedule, Holderbaum said. Coaches want students to be involved, he said. Once a decision is made, his department can decide how to adjust for affected children.

“Nobody is going to be left out,” Holderbaum said. “They’re all still members of our School District, and we will get them plugged in once that decision is made.”

Q. Why are so few Bellview children being moved?

A. The current map divides children who ride the same bus, said Bellview parent Jason Trenary. The new boundary tracks down West Drive and splits four neighborhoods that function as one, he said. Trenary lives south of West Drive, and his children would attend the new school.

“If you’re gonna move ’em, move ’em all,” Trenary said of the four West Drive neighborhoods. He worries the 75 children being reassigned will not be enough to ease crowding at Bellview Elementary.

Children who live a half mile from Bellview will attend Darr.

For Bellview parent Chris Eseary, there will be no change. He lives on the north side of West Drive.

“They’re just as close as we are, and they’re having to go to a different school, a different middle school,” Eseary said of families across the street.

He said he is curious if parents’ input and questions will be reviewed publicly by the board.

“I think it’s going to be really interesting how much response comes back,” Eseary said.

NWAonline

Boundaries Map

To see a map of the proposed changes go to www.nwaonline.com.

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