Bentonville School Board Close To Boundary Decision

BENTONVILLE -- The School Board appears set to decide at its next meeting how to proceed on recommendations to adjust attendance boundaries for the 2015-16 school year.

The board discussed boundaries for more than an hour during a meeting Monday, continuing its discussion from a week earlier.

By The Numbers

Boundary Change Impacts

The numbers and percentages of students at each building level that would be affected by proposed changes to the Bentonville School District’s attendance boundaries:

• Elementary schools, traditional: 1,101 students, 21.4 percent

• Elementary schools, nontraditional: 76 students, 6.6 percent

• Middle schools: 297 students, 12 percent

• Junior high schools: 188 students, 8 percent

Source: Staff Report

Members finally agreed they would vote on the recommendations for each building level separately, as well as the recommendation for nontraditional school boundaries, at their Nov. 17 meeting. The location of that meeting hasn't been determined, Superintendent Michael Poore said Wednesday.

The board also intends to choose one of two recommendations on high school boundaries for the 2016-17 school year, when West High School opens in Centerton.

The boundary subject has stirred up strong emotions across the School District since Jack Schreder and Associates presented its boundary recommendations to the board one month ago.

Parents in the Cooper Elementary School zone in Bella Vista have been especially vocal about the proposal because of how dramatically Cooper's zone would change. Many Cooper students would be shifted to Apple Glen Elementary School.

Chief on many parents' minds is the district's intention to open a new elementary school in 2017, which would require another rezoning for that level.

Brent Leas, a board member from Bella Vista, said the email he's received on the subject have gotten "very personal."

"We need to figure out a way to get to 2017 without having to (rezone)," Leas said.

Board member Grant Lightle also argued strongly in favor of holding off on boundary changes.

"To me, you look at two years, and you decide can we get through two years, and yeah we can do X, Y and Z. I'm doing X Y or Z before I'm doing this (rezoning)," Lightle said.

Lightle added he's afraid the public's perception is the board thinks boundary changes are inconsequential to families.

"My kids are beyond this, so this isn't going to affect me, but I would be very irritated if I thought that we just thought this was no big deal," he said.

Travis Riggs, board president, said he knows rezoning is a big deal, but his own experience going through boundary changes as a parent showed him it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be.

If the district doesn't adjust boundaries for next year, it might be forced to do so for the 2016-17 school year. That would mean two rezonings in two years, Riggs said.

"We need options. Telling me I don't want to change my boundary zones, that's not giving me any options," Riggs said.

The district has changed boundaries eight times since 2002, Poore said. Boundary adjustments are needed because the number of kids in certain school zones is more than those schools can handle, he said.

Currently about 200 students districtwide are attending schools outside their attendance zones. In two years that number probably will be about 500, Poore said.

Changing boundaries as Jack Schreder and Associates has recommended would affect 21.4 percent of traditional elementary students and 6.6 percent of students at the nontraditional schools.

Poore said he looked into whether converting the two nontraditional elementary schools -- R.E. Baker and Elm Tree elementary schools -- to the traditional calendar would help alleviate the need for boundary adjustments. Though there might be long-term benefits, in the short term it would probably double the number of students having to change schools, he said.

Adding portable classrooms to the elementary schools growing the fastest -- Willowbrook, Central Park, Centerton Gamble and Cooper -- is not feasible, he said.

Some parents have suggested "grandfathering" students in at their current schools. That would lead to situations where some families with multiple elementary students would end up seeing their kids going to different schools, Poore said.

Riggs and Leas argued about why families settle in Bella Vista.

The biggest reason families buy homes in Bella Vista is because the price per square foot is cheaper, Riggs said. Leas said he'd received many emails from parents saying they had bought homes in east Bella Vista specifically so they could send their kids to Cooper.

"The primary reason for being in Bella Vista has nothing to do with Cooper as much as the housing," Riggs said.

"I disagree with that 10,000 percent," Leas said.

Angela Hopkins, a Cooper parent who has spoken out against the boundary proposals, said after attending Monday's meeting she was "cautiously optimistic" the board would not go ahead with rezoning, at least at the elementary level.

"I still feel the need for parents to voice their concerns and be present at the next meeting," Hopkins said.

About the high school boundary proposals, Lightle and Leas both expressed support for scenario No. 1, which divides the district into east and west sides. The east side, including all of Bella Vista, would attend Bentonville High.

Scenario No. 2 would send all Bella Vista students to West High School. Some have complained that would cause long commutes for Bella Vista kids.

"Scenario No. 1 is the only one that makes sense," Leas said.

Meanwhile, the district is still trying to figure out where its next elementary school will go. Poore said he's explored numerous site opportunities. He's even trying to see whether the district could build a school outside its boundaries, such as in the Gravette or Pea Ridge school districts.

Gravette district voters turned down a proposed millage increase in September that would have paid for construction of an elementary school in east Bella Vista.

NW News on 11/06/2014

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