Board Considers Elementary Redistricting, Middle School Addition

District growth and how best to deal with it was just part of a full agenda at the September 20th Board of Education meeting. In addition to a welcome reception for thirty-nine teachers who are new to the district, the Board considered two agenda items that both dealt with the continued growth of the district. North Middle and South Middle Schools are both near capacity. North Middle School is currently at 98% capacity with 442 students enrolled. South Middle School, with a current enrollment of 618, has a bit more capacity, but the district prefers to keep its enrollment at the low 600s. District administration reported to the Board that there is an immediate need for the addition of 5 classrooms, which could be funded through a lease-purchase agreement. A lease purchase agreement is similar to bond money in that it is borrowed funding that the district agrees to repay. With a bond, the debt is paid back using the district’s debt service levy. Payments to pay back a lease purchase agreement come from the operating levy. “Our approach to a lease purchase is to use it for projects that are smaller in scale, such as replacing a set of buses or adding a few classrooms to an existing school. As the scale of the project or purchase gets larger, then it becomes more challenging to repay with our operating levy, which we rely upon to provide for the operation of the schools and programs,” Brad Welle, Deputy Superintendent for School and Community Services said. The Board is considering two options at this time. The first option would be to build out a current half wing of the building at North Middle, adding 5 classrooms. The other option being considered is a full buildout of the remaining 1 ½ wings of North Middle School. The building was designed to allow for build out to three full classroom wings which would enable the school to support the same number of students as South Middle School. Regardless of the option selected, administrators are working on plans to best utilize existing space at North Middle School for the 2019-20 school year. If the Board decides to only build out a half wing, adding 5 classrooms, work would still not be completed before next fall. Administrators will look at how each space in the building is being used, downsizing smaller classes into alternate spaces. They will consider solutions such as traveling teachers who utilizing classrooms not being used during plan periods, Welle said. The Board also reviewed a process proposed by District Administration to establish an Elementary Boundary Steering Committee to convene in October. The Committee’s mission would be to review enrollment and growth at each of the district’s elementary schools and draft a proposal to adjust existing boundaries. Committee recruitment is well underway, with representatives for Matthews and Prairie Branch covered. “PTA leadership have been helping recruit volunteers for the steering committee. Matthews and Prairie Branch are pretty well covered. Community members from Stony Point and Sni-A-Bar are still being recruited,” Welle said. Those interested in serving on the committee may contact their building principals or Dr. Welle at Central Office. The first meeting of the steering committee is scheduled for October 3rd at 6:00pm. A community engagement session will be scheduled for mid-October, allowing the community at large to learn more about plans and to share feedback. The Steering Committee is expected to wrap up work by November 1st. Redistricting could allow the district 5-10 years of time before the district would need to consider adding a 5th elementary school. Welle said a demographer was hired a year ago to look at the district’s past growth and projected growth over the next 10-15 years. “He (the demographer) pointed out that at the elementary level, we are 180 students from needing a 5th elementary school. If we continue the average growth of new students per year, it will take us 10 years to get to a 5th elementary. But with current housing growth, particularly on the north side of town, there is reason to believe it will happen sooner than that,” Welle said. The district has 88 acres adjacent to North Middle School available for an elementary school and second high school campus if continued growth necessitates those additions. Welle said the district is mindful of demographic changes in the community so they do not overbuild. “One of the important points the demographer pointed out was that established neighborhoods like the Sni-A-Bar community neighborhood is not regreening. In other words, families have empty nested and the parents are staying in those homes. The growth we are seeing is on the north side of town, and those new students are replacing graduating students. They are not necessarily creating a large spike in student enrollment at this time,” Welle said. In other business, the Board adopted the tax rate levy set at $5.4163 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for the 2018-19 school year. This rate is down from a rate of $5.4255 last year and the sixth consecutive year the Board has lowered the tax rate levy.