Board inclined to delay school zone re-shifting
Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008
The task of redrawing elementary school attendance zones continues to be a job the Fayetteville School District Board of Education prefers to postpone.
At Thursday’s board meeting, discussion turned toward delaying the implementation of new zones until 2012.
Board President Susan Heil asked if implementing new zones could be delayed until 2012, a possible date for the opening of a new high school if the board holds an election for the project in September.
The board plans to add ninth grade to the high school, which would lead to districtwide format changes and reduce the number of students at existing elementary schools.
At one point, member Becky Purcell made a motion, seconded by Jim Halsell, to delay rezoning until 2012-2013. Purcell later withdrew the motion following further discussion.
The administration will report back to the board later on the enrollments at the district’s nine elementary schools and the feasibility of delaying a comprehensive rezoning effort.
This summer, the board had planned to rezone for 2009-2010, when a remodel and addition project at Butterfield Trail Elementary School will be finished. Purcell later recommended that the rezoning be delayed until 2010-2011, and that the current year be used to evaluate and study the issue.
Before the possibility of delaying new zones until 2012 came up, the board members discussed the criteria for rezoning developed in September 2005. New zones were last developed during the 2005-2006 school year and implemented for 2006-2007.
The criteria developed in 2005 included school capacity, transportation, safety, efficiency, keeping neighborhoods together, diversity and stability, meaning that zones should remain stable for three to five years.
Halsell and Purcell said they believed being able to walk to school was an important factor to consider that should be emphasized more when designing zones.
“I would give greater weight to children who are able to walk to school, within a mile,” Purcell said.
Several other board members said they believed the capacity of the buildings was the most important criterion to consider.
Associate Superintendent Ginny Wiseman said the district staff is re-evaluating each building’s capacity.
“We have redone the capacities, and we’ll have that information in December,” she said.
On another matter related to attendance zones, Wiseman recommended the board repeal its formal policy that students attend the school where they are zoned. No action was immediately taken, and the matter was scheduled to be voted on in December.
Wiseman said she believed the policy was dated given current standards by the Arkansas Department of Education and district practices.
The department regulates class sizes, so students may have to be reassigned depending on space at their zoned school, she said.
Also, the district allows “open enrollment” at Washington and Leverett Elementary schools, the district’s two smallest schools, and at the special calendar schools, Asbell and Happy Hollow Elementary schools, she said.
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