FORT SMITH -- The School Board put the brakes on possibly changing where Barling Elementary School students will attend high school, despite survey data showing the idea's apparent popularity.
The board voted 5-2 Monday to table discussion of a proposed rezoning of the attendance area for Barling Elementary until October.
The proposal would have made it so students who live in the attendance area eventually attend Fort Smith's Southside High School, as opposed to Northside High School. Board members Phil Whiteaker and Dalton Person, who represent district zones 1 and 5 respectively, voted against the tabling.
The board's decision to delay action came after it voted 5-2 against a proposal Person made to phase in the rezoning starting with the ninth grade during the 2024-25 academic year. Grades 10-12 would have been added one at a time in the following years, with the district providing bus transportation to Southside for the students involved.
The board will have a "snapshot" of district enrollment for the 2023-24 school year by mid-October. Board president Dee Blackwell, representing Zone 3, said the board may also discuss the zoning of the district at large that month.
Most Barling students attend Chaffin Middle School before attending Northside. This is despite Barling being in Southside's attendance area and geographically closer to that high school by road-- 6.6 miles from Barling Elementary versus 6.9 miles between Northside and Barling.
Marty Mahan, the district's deputy superintendent, said this originated from the district having just one high school when Barling was annexed into it.
High School Growth
Northside had 2,497 students enrolled compared to Southside's 1,794 in the 2021-22 school year. The current school year has seen Northside's enrollment surpass Southside's by about 477 students -- 2,433 over 1,956.
Northside and Southside high schools' maximum capacities are nearly the same -- 2,787 and 2,739, respectively. Both schools were expanded to include freshmen in the 2021-22 school year.
A 10-year enrollment projection shows Northside will continue to have more students than Southside going forward if Barling was shifted to Southside, but the difference each school year would be smaller than if the attendance zones remain the same.
Mahan said in response to a question from Blackwell these projections don't take school choice into account. There are 109 Barling students currently going to Southside through attendance area exceptions or other factors, while 104 go to Northside per the current attendance area.
In terms of transportation, the district serves Barling with three buses that carry Northside and Chaffin Middle School students. A total combined average of 115 students ride the buses to Northside or Chaffin, with about 50 being Northside students. The district doesn't provide bus transportation for the Barling students at Southside.
Community input and discussion
The district hosted a community input meeting on the potential rezoning at Barling Elementary on Feb. 6. It gave the Barling city directors a presentation on the subject Feb. 15.
The district also sent an online survey to Barling Elementary School and Chaffin Middle School families to gauge their opinions on the proposed attendance area rezoning, according to Mahan.
The survey showed out of the 112 people who responded, 81 were in favor of the proposal while 26 were against it; three people had no opinion on it while the remaining two wanted to be free to choose between Southside and Northside.
Mahan said 71% of the respondents reported living in the Barling attendance area while the rest did not. Twenty-three respondents, or 20.5%, reported not having children enrolled in the district.
Person said while he believed the proposed rezoning wouldn't make a significant difference in addressing the disparity between Southside and Northside enrollments given the number of Barling students who already attend Southside, he was surprised to learn through the survey responses the Barling community seems to support it.
Barling Mayor Greg Murray said Wednesday he supports the rezoning as both a Barling resident and parent with a child in the district. This is due to the fact Southside is closer to Barling than Northside, and the rezoning would allow students who grew up in Barling to attend the same high school with the friends they met in middle school without being separated.
School choice would also continue to be an option.
Murray said while he understands everyone has an opinion on the proposal and Northside has been Barling's default high school since the city began, times have changed.
"Barling is growing, and Fort Smith is growing," Murray said. "I applaud the FSSD for allowing students and parents to be able to have a choice of which high school they could go to. However, we are now at a time where if we do not make some sort of move to correct the possible overcrowding issue in the future, then there will be no high school choice."
Terry Morawski, district superintendent, told the board the district is unsure of the impact the Arkansas LEARNS Act would have on school choice.
Morawski also expects Haas Hall Academy will affect the district's enrollment at the high school level. Haas Hall is an open-enrollment, public charter school encompassing grades 7-12. It's opening a campus in Fort Smith this fall.
Talicia Richardson, a School Board member representing Zone 4, said the board voting to phase in the rezoning as Person proposed would be premature until it has more "real data" based on August enrollment numbers.
Murray said the board tabling discussion until October is a good idea, allowing the district more time to gather information and make the correct decision.
Kinlee Ross (center) and other second-graders work on math problems Friday in the classroom of Jessica Beshears (right) at Barling Elementary School. Fort Smith's School Board on Monday voted 5-2 to table further discussion until October on the possibility of rezoning the attendance area for Barling Elementary so students who live there eventually attend Fort Smith's Southside High School, as opposed to Northside High School. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Ryan Denham and other second-graders read Friday in the classroom of Jessica Beshears at Barling Elementary School. Fort Smith's School Board on Monday voted 5-2 to table further discussion until October on the possibility of rezoning the attendance area for Barling so students who live there eventually attend Fort Smith's Southside High School, as opposed to Northside High School. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Future growth
Barling Elementary School's enrollment is predicted to steadily increase to 435 students by the 2032-33 school year. The school's official enrollment for the 2022-23 year as of Oct. 1 is 332. Barling Elementary has a maximum capacity of 596 students.
Source: Fort Smith School District