School district eyes parent choice program
FAYETTEVILLE — A pilot parent choice programming option could be part of the solution as the school district seeks to alleviate overcrowding at McNair Middle School, Superintendent John Mulford said.
Mulford told the School Board at its work session Tuesday a choice program at the middle school level — fifth and sixth grades — was a way to aid McNair. The district’s other middle schools are John L Colbert and Holt. Under the program, the district would offer a subject at Colbert or Holt that would not be offered at McNair.
He also recommended Tuesday the board consider creating a third junior high school as a piece of the plan to lessen the enrollment burden at McNair. Such a move would give the district three junior highs and three middle schools, potentially helping with attendance boundaries and other issues.
A survey seeking specific choice interests was to be sent out Thursday and remain open for replies until Dec. 15, according to Alan Wilbourn, the district’s executive director of communications. The survey is for parents of students in gradesthree through five, Mulford said.
The choice program would initially serve up to 112 sixth graders, with the subject based on parental feedback, Mulford said. There’d be a lottery-style selection process with controls ensuring students from each middle school have a chance to take part, he added. The program would be housed at Colbert or Holt, Mulford said.
There are many choice programs available, including fine and performing arts, the medical field and STEM, he said.
The survey contains a long list of concepts with a short description of each, and parents will be asked to rank them in order of preference, he said.
Concepts for reaching the three junior highs, three middle schools recommendation include converting Colbert, which opened this fall, into a junior high, then building another middle school — or constructing a junior high.
In regard to building another facility — whether a middle school or a junior high — the district is in a good spot, Mulford said. The district can issue second-lien bonds up to $88.5 million without a millage increase and without extending the repayment schedule past the current maturity date of 2050, he said Tuesday.
Mulford said his recommendation to forge a system with three middle schools and three junior highs wouldn’t immediately solve McNair’s crowding but would provide light at the end of the tunnel. There’d be a timeline of three to three-and-a-half years to complete a new facility with land acquisition, the design/ bid process and construction.
The school district is working with consulting firm MGT on the crowding issue. The project focuses on revisiting boundaries for the middle schools. McNair’s enrollment is 764, and Mulford has said the challenge is solving the overcrowding there without creating hardships for families. McNair has a capacity of 692 students, according to an MGT presentation on capacity and utilization, and is listed as having inadequate space.