Parents Discuss Plan

School Boundaries Will Change When Darr Opens

— Parents asked for more time and more options to grandfather into their present schools during a parent feedback meeting held Monday night.

Some parents were happy with the proposed changes.

Kendall Jones and Alexandra Cantor found themselves a little bit torn. Both have children at Elza Tucker Elementary who, if the present boundary change is approved, will attend Janie Darr Elementary School when it opens this fall.

“We’re kind of sad. We love the teachers out there,” Jones said.

The school, however, will be much closer to the Creekwood subdivision where she lives. Nearby neighborhoods like Cross Creek are poised for growth, Jones said. Darr elementary will open with 300 students as administrators anticipate growth in the area.

Cantor said she expects the school to be the same or better.

“I just want to make sure they have the same good teachers and system,” Cantor said.

Parents around the room expressed similar sentiments. Many of them, however, appealed to administrators and the school board to create options for students already invested in a school they will no longer attend.

Darr, the new elementary school, will draw 300 students from Tucker and Bellview elementaries. An estimated 120 students will transfer from Bonnie Grimes Elementary School to Tucker. A few students will transfer from Frank Tillery Elementary to Northside Elementary and some of Grace Hill’s attendance zone that borders Pea Ridge will transfer to Garfield Elementary School.

Garfield students will attend Greer Lingle Middle School instead of Oakdale Middle School but keep Rogers Heritage as their high school destination.

Children living within the Westside Elementary School boundary will no longer attend Rogers High School. A switch from Elmwood Middle School to Oakdale Middle School will send them to Rogers Heritage High School. Westside’s enrollment for first through fifth grades was 440 students in October.

A grandfathering option allows children going into fifth and eighth grades this fall to be allowed to stay in their present elementary or middle school with parent transportation. Students already in high school would also not have to change if they can get to school. Siblings are not included in the grandfather plan.

Applause broke out when one parent stood and asked that children be grandfathered into their present feeder pattern. Others asked that siblings be included in the grandfather system.

“I don’t want to split my family,” said Westside parent Amy Stone.

Younger siblings go everywhere with big sister and her fifth graders had planned to go to Rogers High School.

“We’ve invested time in the Elmwood and Rogers High School. That’s our culture,” Stone said.

At A Glance

Information & Feedback Meetings

A second public information and feedback meeting on the school boundary changes will be held at 6:30 p.m. today in the Rogers High School commons area. Parents can also make comments and view the proposal by following boundary meetings link on the Rogers School District homepage www.rogersschools.net.

Westside children headed into Elmwood represent a small number, said Brooke Bisbee-Ribar, parent teacher organization president. Keeping those families together was one of the Westside talking points developed in Parent Teacher Organization meetings.

Westside parents are concerned that students trying out for eighth-grade practices in March might make the team, but find out after a March vote that they’re headed to a different high school, Bisbee-Ribar said. Parents took issue with the process as their school representative felt she was sworn to secrecy and could not discuss possible changes. Families want to know why changes are being and when they will be made next, she said. Many are worried that they are moving from a middle school with the highest test scores to a middle school with the lowest test scores.

“That’s a big concern to our parents,” she said.

Westside mother Jeannette Eberhardy said the reason they bought their home was so her children could attend Elmwood.

Her son, Jonathan Matchhett said he lives within walking distance of Elmwood and Rogers High School. His mother wants his siblings to go the Elmwood, but Jonathan has a more pressing problem.

“All my friends go there,” said the Elmwood seventh grader.

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