FORT SMITH -- The School Board unanimously voted to adjust the Howard and Morrison Elementary lines to match the existing middle school boundary once Trusty Elementary School closes next year.
Board President Dalton Person said at the board's meeting Monday he thinks adjusting the two elementary school boundaries is the cleanest and least disruptive approach for staff, students and parents.
The School District announced earlier this month Trusty is closing at the end of this school year due to low enrollment and a dilapidated building. The outgoing fifth-graders will go to middle school, and the roughly 60 elementary students will move to neighboring schools.
Trusty kindergarten and first-graders already transitioned to Morrison Elementary School for the 2023-2024 school year.
Under the attendance boundary change, households in what is now Trusty's attendance zone will be zoned for Howard or Morrison elementary schools starting next school year.
Trusty Elementary was built in 1928, according to its website. The closing was suggested by Corgan, a Chicago-based architectural firm the district hired in 2018 to do a facility assessment as part of the district's five-year plan.
The district's website said Corgan focused its assessments strictly on facility conditions and not educational performance. It identified Trusty Elementary only had 22% of its remaining facility life and additional district data indicated Trusty's enrollment would drop significantly over the next five years.
District administrators last month presented the board with attendance boundary considerations for the remaining Trusty students.
The other options included extending the Howard Elementary boundary line farther north beyond the existing middle school attendance boundary line and adjusting the Howard and Morrison Elementary lines to match the existing middle school boundary lines.
The district held several public input meetings over the last two weeks to discuss the options: two at Tilles Elementary, two at Morrison Elementary and two at Trusty Elementary.
Marty Mahan, the district's deputy superintendent, said the input meetings had 93 attendees, with 25 people providing their questions and comments online instead. He said staff mostly preferred the option the board picked, while parents preferred doing that in addition to adjusting the Tilles Elementary boundaries farther northwest to cover the neighborhood east of Midland Boulevard and 11th Street.
Mahan said the parents' preferred option would make Howard's attendance zone a lot smaller but would keep students from having to walk on a busy intersection to get to school. During the input meeting on Dec. 14, he said the district aims to have enrollment numbers around 500 at all the elementary schools in order to make them collaborative.
"When you're in an elementary school of 500 or 600, you may have three or four teachers teaching the same grade level," he said. "And if we had three or four people teaching the same grade level, they can collaborate and share, 'OK, I'm trying this for my students; I'm not getting results. What are you doing that is getting your results?' So you learn from each other as a staff, and the instruction has an opportunity to improve for our students."
Mahan said under the approved proposal, Howard would go from roughly 255 this school year to 274 students in the fall, and Morrison would increase from 417 to 528. He said Trusty teachers will have the option to go to Morrison because that's where the majority of students will be. He said the district will be notified of who is moving or retiring from the district in the spring. Other employees, including office staff, childhood nutrition staff and counselors, will be able to fill those positions.
"We lose about 10% of 2,000 employees annually, so we'll always have open positions to fill with great people that do great work," Mahan said. "We don't want to lose them, I know that.
"I expect there are staff members that may not like the options. I don't want to suggest there aren't. But most that have spoken to me have been positive and understanding of the need, and they've been excited."
The district released a list of frequently asked questions, which states attendance area rezoning is the process of adjusting the geographic boundaries that determine which school a student attends. It said school rezoning typically occurs to balance student enrollment, optimize facility use, accommodate population changes or address other educational needs.
Mahan said attendance area exceptions will open for a three-week period in the spring. He said parents can apply to have their students go to a school outside their attendance zone.
Trusty parent Heidy Monterroza said she plans to use the attendance area exception to have her child attend third grade at Morrison in the fall if they don't already live in the new boundary. She said the input meeting answered her questions.
"She's used to being here since she was in first grade, so she's very upset, but it is what it is," Monterroza said about her student.
Mahan said a study will be done on what the district can do with the Trusty property, which will be brought back to the School Board soon.
Lauretta Hill, the mother of a Trusty Elementary School student, looks for her address on a boundary map Dec. 14 during a public input meeting inside the auditorium at the elementary school in Fort Smith. The Fort Smith School District hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty at the end of the school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent of Fort Smith Public Schools, discusses a proposed boundary plan Dec. 14 during a public input meeting inside the auditorium at Trusty Elementary School in Fort Smith. The district hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty at the end of the school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent of Fort Smith Public Schools, discusses a proposed boundary plan, Thursday, Dec. 14, at a public input meeting inside the auditorium at Trusty Elementary School in Fort Smith. The district hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty Elementary at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Parents of students who attend Trusty Elementary School discuss proposed boundary plans Dec. 14 during a public input meeting inside the auditorium at the elementary school in Fort Smith. The School District hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty at the end of the school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent of Fort Smith Public Schools, discusses a proposed boundary plan Dec. 14 during a public input meeting inside the auditorium at Trusty Elementary School in Fort Smith. The School District hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty at the end of the school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Parents of students who attend Trusty Elementary School discuss proposed boundary plans, Thursday, Dec. 14, at a public input meeting inside the auditorium at the elementary school in Fort Smith. The Fort Smith Public Schools district hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty Elementary at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent of Fort Smith Public Schools, discusses a proposed boundary plan, Thursday, Dec. 14, at a public input meeting inside the auditorium at Trusty Elementary School in Fort Smith. The district hosted several public input meetings this month to discuss the options for combining schools after closing Trusty Elementary at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)