FAYETTEVILLE -- The School District is pressing pause on its decision to remake its middle school attendance zones and will take up the issue again toward the end of this summer, according to district officials.
Rezoning is expected now to take effect in August 2024 rather than August 2023.
Until this week, the School Board had been planning to decide on a rezoning plan at its Jan. 26 meeting, with the expectation those new middle school attendance boundaries would take effect this fall.
District administrators and board president Nika Waitsman, however, agreed this week they didn't have all the information they needed to make a good decision, Waitsman said.
Also, a new superintendent is expected to start in July, and the administration is "working through new organizational duties," according to a message posted on the district's website Tuesday.
"All team members would like to engage the community in a robust conversation with the new leadership team," the website's message stated. "This will involve a complete analysis of the new data with new partners to determine the best long-term solutions to organizing addresses into zoned regions for students. Accelerating student learning and achievement will be the central focus of the rezoning process."
This process will begin in August, the message states.
The attendance zones for the three middle schools will remain as they are for the 2023-24 school year.
Owl Creek, currently a school for grades K-6, will become strictly an elementary school -- grades K-4 -- in the 2023-24 school year. Colbert Middle School, which is set to open in August on Rupple Road, will be the new school for middle school students who previously attended Owl Creek.
The district's other two middle schools are Holt and McNair.
The problem is not that the district doesn't have enough capacity at the middle school level; it's that the attendance zones are unbalanced, Waitsman said.
McNair currently has 747 students, above its capacity of 692. Michelle Hayward, director of elementary and middle school education, told the board last month McNair's high enrollment presents numerous challenges, such as crowded hallways and traffic crunches outside the school during drop-off and pick-up times.
The district had proposed rezoning the southeast portion from McNair to Colbert starting this fall, a plan that would have impacted about 113 current McNair students, according to Deputy Superintendent Megan Duncan. While that would relieve the crowding at McNair, it would add to travel times to and from school for those students, Duncan said.
McNair has a portable building on campus that contains two classrooms, Waitsman said. The district intends to seek approval through the Fayetteville City Council to extend the permit allowing the portable building at McNair for another year, according to the district.
The board in August adopted new elementary attendance zones that will take effect next school year. That was done in response to population growth and several schools nearing capacity.