BENTONVILLE -- The School District expects to spend about $3.1 million on the additional teachers, administrators and other staff needed for two schools opening this fall.
That's the cost of the equivalent of 54 full-time positions -- including benefits -- added to the district's payroll, according to Dena Ross, the district's chief operating officer.
School costs
The total cost of designing, building and furnishing Osage Creek Elementary School and Creekside Middle School is expected to be close to $37 million. The Bentonville School District was able to afford the debt payment for both schools with existing revenue and didn’t need to ask voters for a tax increase.
Source: Staff report
Ross presented those numbers at the School Board's meeting Monday.
Osage Creek Elementary School is projected to open with 562 students. Creekside Middle School is projected to open with 463 students. That would put them at 77 percent and 69 percent of their capacities, respectively.
Administrators intentionally designed the schools' attendance zones so they would open with some breathing room in what is a fast-growing part of the district, Ross said.
The process of staffing both schools is beginning this month. Central-office administrators are working to achieve staffing that is effective, equitable and economical, Ross said.
Teachers and other licensed staff members will be surveyed next week on whether they prefer to stay at their current school or transfer to one of the new schools. The decision on which staff members will transfer will be communicated to them on Feb. 22.
Other positions not filled through transfers will be posted when other district positions are opened in late March and early April, Ross said.
Willie Cowgur, board vice president, asked if there would be a cut-off on the number of people chosen to transfer from a certain school.
"We have been very transparent with all of the principals. No more than 20 percent of their staff will be taken out of a given building," Ross said. "We do not want any building to be completely pillaged."
Osage Creek Elementary and Creekside Middle schools will be connected to each other. They are being built on Featherston Road.
Lisa St. John just left her job as principal of Apple Glen Elementary School to begin working full-time as Osage Creek's principal. Jeff Wasem, principal of Old High Middle School, is about to go full-time as Creekside's principal. Their old positions will be posted in late March, with hiring decisions expected in April, Ross said.
St. John and Wasem presented the mascots and color schemes chosen for their respective schools through votes of the students expected to attend.
The otter was the most popular among three choices St. John offered students, earning 63 percent of students' support. Other contenders were an owl and a turtle. Teal and orange will be the school's colors.
St. John said students like otters because they have strong family bonds, like to hold hands and they're smart.
Creekside will go with the cardinal as its mascot, with a color scheme of cardinal red, navy and white, Wasem said. The School Board will be asked to approve the mascots and color schemes at its next meeting on Feb. 21.
Also at Monday's meeting, Superintendent Debbie Jones presented a plan to reorganize the central office administration, effective next school year.
Under the plan, the position of professional development coordinator, currently held by Matt Saferite, will be eliminated and an executive director of middle-level education position will be created. There already are positions for an executive director of elementary education and an executive director of secondary education.
Saferite is also serving as interim executive director of secondary education. He will fill either that job or the middle-level position on a permanent basis, Jones said.
Jones said the reorganization will streamline communication from the schools, integrate professional development with curriculum and instruction, infuse special education into the curriculum and instruction unit and refine the job duties of the executive director of student services.
The board will be asked to approve the change at its next meeting.
NW News on 02/07/2017