Springdale School Board hears updates on zoning, School of Innovation campus

SPRINGDALE -- Early discussions about rezoning elementary attendance zones to accommodate an 18th elementary school involve moving students out of four other elementary schools.

Springdale School District's next kindergarten through fifth-grade campus under construction near J.O. Kelly Middle School likely will take in students from George, Harp, Parson Hills and Sonora elementary schools, said Gary Compton, assistant superintendent for support services.

Springdale boundaries

Attendance boundaries under revision

• Adjustments affect Springdale elementary schools east of Thompson Street

• See current boundaries and proposed draft of new boundaries at www.nwadg.com

• Questions or comments can be directed to Gary Compton, Springdale assistant superintendent for support services, at [email protected].

photo

File Photo/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - The Springdale School District is preparing to open its latest elementary next year.

School Board members got their first chance to hear from district-level administrators on zoning for the new elementary school during a workshop Tuesday. The meeting also included an update on the new School of Innovation campus.

"We're beginning this process," Compton said.

Compton hopes the new geographical boundaries for attendance zones will be formalized with Superintendent Jim Rollins and the School Board in February or March, he said.

Nine elementary schools sit east of Thompson Street. The new elementary school due to open in August is expected to open with about 560 children in kindergarten through fifth grade, Compton said. The $16.9 million campus also will be home to a pre-kindergarten center for 300 children.

The school being built on Oriole Lane is on track to finish in time for the 2016-17 school year, said Bradley Chilcote, architect for Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson Architects in Little Rock. The plans include a metal roof and brick on the front and sides of the building.

Central office staff have studied options for rezoning for at least six weeks, with Superintendent Jim Rollins giving his input within the past three weeks, Compton said. Compton shared with School Board members the 17th draft of the zoning plan.

"This is not perfect," Compton said. "We're continuing to refine this. It gets better every time we do it."

The proposal not only affects neighborhoods near the new school, but district officials also looked at the attendance zones for Turnbow, Sonora and Monitor elementary schools, among the largest elementary schools in the district, Compton said.

The changes include shifting some students now attending Turnbow, the largest elementary school, to Sonora and Harp elementary schools. Turnbow's enrollment would be expected to drop by 189 students to 593 students, Compton said.

In looking at moving children, Compton said the thought process included looking at neighborhoods within a mile of the schools, disrupting the fewest number of students, attempting to create contiguous and well-defined boundaries and making sure enrollments didn't become too small or too large, Compton said.

He considered the safety of potential bus routes and sought geographical boundaries for attendance zones that made sense, but ran into some some challenges, he said.

"We are so densely populated right here it becomes very difficult to split things up," Compton said.

One area of concern has been around Butterfield Coach Road, Emma Avenue and Huntsville Avenue on the east side of Springdale, Compton said. Children living in that area are in Sonora Elementary School's zone, but would go to the new school under the draft presented to the School Board.

Questions or comments on zoning can be sent to Compton at [email protected].

Moving the School of Innovation

The School of Innovation, with 400 eighth-graders and freshmen, will outgrow its temporary home at the Jones Center in the 2016-17 school year when it becomes a school for about 600 eighth-graders and sophomores next school year. The school will add a grade each year until it becomes a school of up to 1,000 eighth-graders to seniors.

The school is set to move to a $24 million 143,172-square-foot campus in August on Hylton Road, though construction is expected to continue several months after school starts, Superintendent Jim Rollins told the School Board. District officials are working to finalize a bid, he said.

"We're not going to have this building built in nine months," Rollins said. "It's going to take more time than we have to get this ready."

Rollins said plans are to build as space as necessary for 600 students by the start of the school year.

School Board member Mike Luttrell said the board needed to know the building wouldn't be completely ready by the start of school and asked school officials to communicate with parents in an "excessive fashion."

NW News on 11/11/2015

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