School district plans process for rezoning

Public meetings scheduled

ROGERS — The process of revising elementary school attendance boundaries will begin next month, with a decision on the matter expected by December, according to a timeline presented at Tuesday’s School Board meeting.

Rezoning is necessary because Fairview Elementary School, the School District’s 16th elementary building, is expected to open in August 2019.

A rezoning committee, co-led by assistant superintendents Virginia Abernathy and Charles Lee, is scheduled to meet for four consecutive Thursdays beginning Sept. 6.

Other committee members will include principals, parents and teachers from each of the three elementary schools most profoundly affected by the rezoning: Bellview, Darr and Tucker elementary schools. All three are near Fairview, which is being built at West Garrett and South Bellview roads.

In October, the district will host public meetings for feedback on rezoning, with meetings to be held at Bellview, Darr and Tucker.

A recommendation on new boundaries will be presented for approval at the board’s Dec. 18 meeting, according to the timeline.

Marlin Berry, superintendent, said the district will devise a section on its website where information on the rezoning process will be stored.

Enrollment projections will drive much of the boundaries discussion. Enrollment forecasts are based on several data sources, including new housing reports, school enrollment trends from the past 10 years, household density patterns and information from city planners, according to a district document.

Curtis Clements, a board member, asked about Fairview’s effect on feeder

patterns. That will be a subject of discussion in the months ahead, Berry said.

Each of Rogers’ elementary schools feed students to one of the district’s four middle schools. Berry cautioned board members that, depending on the district’s growth, an elementary school might have to be split so students from that school attend different middle schools.

“I’m not saying it’s going to happen,” Berry said. “I’m just saying, we have to be open to that kind of thing as

we balance our schools in the future.”

Elementary is the only school level at which attendance boundaries will be changed for the 2019-20 school year.

In other business at Tuesday’s board meeting, the board agreed — for the second time in six months — to sell property the district owns at 212 S. Third St., this time for $375,000 to MGD Development.

The board earlier this year agreed to sell the building to a different company for $360,000, but the deal fell through a week before the closing date, according to Jake Haak, chief financial officer.

This time, the district put the building out for bid to make sure “all the community members that maybe had an interest had an avenue” to place a bid, Haak said.

The Third Street building most recently served as the district’s special services department, and before that was the district’s administration building. The special services department has moved into the district’s new facility on West Perry Road.