BENTONVILLE -- The School District's search for a place to build its next elementary school likely will land on a spot in the district's south or southwest area, Superintendent Michael Poore said Monday.
Poore told the School Board he intends to present a recommendation for purchasing land during the board's next meeting Feb. 16. The district has targeted August 2017 as the elementary building's opening date.
Sophomore Survey
The Bentonville School District delivered a survey Monday to members of the class of 2017 to gauge their interest in enrolling at West High School for their senior year. Survey results will help determine whether the high school has a senior class when it opens in August 2016. The district is hosting an informational meeting on West High School for class of 2017 students and their families at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Arend Arts Center at Bentonville High School.
Source: Staff Report
Though he indicated the site likely would be in the district's southern half, Poore said he's still trying to satisfy the need for another school in Bella Vista.
"That's not off our radar," Poore said. "We're looking at everything from the cost of land to the availability of utilities."
The district has spent months looking at potential school sites, including ones in Bella Vista. The terrain and other factors, however, make it difficult to find suitable land for a school there, Poore said.
One of the complications is a state requirement that an elementary school's property be at least 10 acres. Travis Riggs, board president, noted he had asked Poore to see if the state would waive that rule for a Bella Vista building. That might involve building a relatively small school with a capacity of 300 to 400 students.
The average enrollment at Bentonville's 10 elementary schools is nearly 640.
"If we could get that waiver, that opens up a lot more opportunities for possible sites that we may have said no to because of that 10-acre requirement," Riggs said.
Poore said he would present information on a possible waiver to the board at its next meeting.
Brent Leas, the board's only member from Bella Vista, reiterated concerns he had expressed at previous meetings about the district's ability to serve families there. Cooper Elementary is the only school in Bella Vista. Some Bella Vista students must catch their bus about 6 a.m. in order to make it to school.
"We need to try our best to find a property in the north first," Leas said.
But Leas acknowledged Bella Vista, which started as a retirement community, wasn't planned with schools in mind.
"It was supposed to be snowbirds coming down and playing golf. But it's changed," Leas said.
Paul Wallace, the district's director of facilities, said the per-square-foot cost of building in Bella Vista would be higher than it would be elsewhere. The state could grant a conditional waiver of the 10-acre rule if the district didn't have a specific property in mind at the time.
"It comes down to availability," Wallace said.
The district already owns some vacant land in south Bentonville, land which once was considered for construction of the second high school. Officials chose a different site, however, largely because of concerns about the number of schools already in that area.
Some board members also have argued the need for a school on the district's south side outweighs the need on the north side. Central Park and Willowbrook elementary schools, neighboring buildings on the south side, have the two highest enrollments among the elementaries with 872 and 829 students, respectively.
NW News on 02/03/2015