BENTONVILLE -- The official colors and mascot for the new Vaughn Elementary School were announced during Tuesday's School Board meeting.
The district's 13th elementary school is scheduled to open in August at Southwest Barron and Opal roads, near the Benton County Fairgrounds. It will have the capacity to serve up to 730 students in kindergarten through fourth grade, and has an expected enrollment of 600, according to district spokeswoman Leslee Wright.
The school's mascot will be an eagle, and the colors will be long horizon blue, splendor blue and heirloom red -- or light blue, dark blue and dark red, said Principal Chad Mims.
The school is about 70% staffed, and staff members met earlier this month to suggest mascots, Mims said. A committee narrowed the recommendations to two final choices, the eagle or the Vaughn voyagers, he said.
From those two, the committee chose the eagle because eagles are regal and evoke a sense of honor and pride; they are cunning, intelligent, playful and bold; during winter months the birds can be seen in the area; and the bald eagle has been America's national emblem since 1782, Mims said.
In October, the school was named after the unincorporated community of Vaughn, where it's located. Mims was hired as the school's principal in January.
In other business, board members got a preview of the high school capacity results from the ongoing demographic study.
The board hired RSP & Associates, based in Overland Park, Kan., in January to perform an enrollment analysis and attendance boundary analysis for $60,000. The full results will be presented at the May board meeting.
The study's high school building capacity results were shared with the board Tuesday because of recent conversations about growth and projections, said Don Hoover, executive director of student services.
The topic came up at last month's board meeting, where board members approved a contract for Hight Jackson Associates for architectural services and Flintco for construction management services for a 430,000-square-foot expansion to West High School. The board won't commit to the project until it approves a guaranteed maximum price next fall.
Capacity is determined by taking the total number of seats available using every class period, then reducing the number by 10% to allow for teacher use of the classroom during preparation period, Hoover said.
The study found the maximum capacity of Bentonville High School is 3,800 students, Hoover said. The Oct. 1 enrollment of the school was 3,159, or 83% of capacity, he said. Historically, the school has grown about 1% a year, so it is forecast to be at 86.5% of capacity by the 2025-26 school year, he said.
The maximum capacity of West High School is 2,657 students, Hoover said. In comparison, the Oct. 1 enrollment was 2,279, or 85.8% of capacity, he said. Historically, the school has grown about 6% a year. At that rate, it will be over capacity by the 2024-25 school year, he said. However, the numbers don't include the planned addition, which will add the capacity for about 630 students, which is more than the 500 estimated last month, he said.
Superintendent Debbie Jones said a well-designed schedule is an important part of maximizing capacity. Administrators followed several other districts that did not allow teachers to remain in their rooms during their planning periods as a way to increase capacity and found those school districts discontinued the practice because it doesn't work, she said. The capacity formula Bentonville uses will make sure teachers are allowed preparatory time in their classrooms, she said.