ROGERS -- The School District is rethinking its plans for a new elementary school and might postpone the project.
The district for over a year has talked about building its 17th elementary school on property at North Second Street and Stratton Road and opening it in time for the 2024-25 school year.
Superintendent Jeff Perry, during a School Board work session meeting Wednesday, suggested there is not an immediate need for additional student capacity at the elementary level.
There are a combined six empty classrooms at five other elementary schools: Garfield, Grace Hill, Mathias, Northside and Tillery. Those five schools could accommodate about 240 additional students combined if necessary, Perry said.
Escalating building costs is another issue. The district's best estimate is the cost to build the 17th elementary school would be at least $36 million, he said. Rogers' last new elementary school -- Fairview Elementary, which opened in 2019 -- cost about $22 million, Perry said.
Meanwhile, Perry said, the district has a pressing need for renovations at Oakdale Middle School that the district estimates will cost about $45 million.
Oakdale opened in 1974. Its cafeteria and gymnasium are both too small, and its heating, cooling and electrical systems are either wearing out or inadequate, Perry told the board.
Perry said after the meeting he doesn't think it's financially responsible to do both the new elementary and the Oakdale renovation at the same time, "so the board will need to decide between the two projects."
The district's plan up to now has been to put the elementary project out for bid in December. During discussion at Wednesday's meeting, the board agreed it will decide at its next meeting on Nov. 15 whether to postpone that move.
Oakdale Middle School serves about 850 students in grades six through eight, according to state data.
District enrollment as of Oct. 1 was 15,665. That was only 62 more students than it was a year earlier, and fewer than the 15,697 recorded five years earlier.
Perry told the board he is "100% convinced" that an elementary school eventually will be built on the Stratton Road site. But enrollment hasn't increased as much as was earlier anticipated.
If the board decides to go ahead with a renovation at Oakdale, it would probably be at least a year before such a project would move forward, Perry said.