BARLING -- One city director said he feels Barling students are being targeted in a School District proposal to move which high school they attend because they aren't in Fort Smith city limits. Another said the academic programs at the new school aren't as strong as the one students attend now.
Marty Mahan, deputy superintendent of the district, provided the city board information Wednesday about possibly rezoning the attendance area for Barling Elementary School so students who live there eventually attend Fort Smith's Southside High School. Mahan said the School Board hasn't made a decision on the matter yet.
Most Barling students attend Chaffin Middle School before attending Northside High School. The School District hosted a community input meeting on the potential rezoning at Barling Elementary on Feb. 6.
Bill Young, an at-large Barling city director, said while he understands the logic behind the potential rezoning, he believes Barling residents feel like they're being singled out due to not living in Fort Smith and are the only ones "taking the hit" on the change.
School Board member Dalton Person said the potential rezoning isn't singling out Barling. He also said the majority of Barling residents who responded to the survey the district sent out to get feedback on the change were in favor of it.
Aaron Roe, director for Barling's Ward 1, said in his experience, Northside has significantly more to offer than Southside.
Person said the School Board has been trying to make the programs at both schools, while different, more equitable the past few years. He recognized each student could have preferences for one school over the other, but said that's why the attendance area exception policy exists.
Mahan said Friday the city contacted the School District after the meeting requesting a similar question and answer opportunity for city directors on the rezoning and the effect it would have on Barling students.
Person told directors he believed Northside has too many students. This is based on the school's enrollment exceeding its average capacity of 2,293 students for the past several years and is projected to do so for the next three years. In contrast, Southside is well below its average capacity of 2,490.
"These schools were built and remodeled with very similar average capacities in mind, and yet one school currently exceeds its average capacity by several hundred students and the other high school is nowhere near its average capacity," Person said. "So I think, numerically, the numbers are a big reason for looking at this proposal."
Person also pointed out Southside is geographically closer to Barling than Northside. Northside is at 2301 N. B St., which is 6.9 miles away from Barling Elementary. Southside is 6.6 miles away at 4100 Gary St.
Mahan said according to annual enrollment data dating to 1989, Southside had more students than Northside until 2015, at which point Northside eclipsed Southside by 84 students. Northside's enrollment continued growing to the point it had 2,497 students 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.
Both schools were expanded to include freshmen in the 2021-22 school year.
"One of the reasons we're asking the public to give us input on this is our board, by policy, examines our zones every three years," Mahan said. "And so the discussion came up, Barling Elementary is completely in the Southside attendance area, but has always gone to Northside High School."
A 10-year enrollment projection Mahan presented showed Northside would continue to have more students than Southside going forward if Barling was shifted to Southside, but the difference each school year would be less than if the attendance zones remain the same. This is expected to change starting in the 2030-31 school year, when Southside is projected to surpass Northside's enrollment by one student.
The total enrollment between the two schools during this time is expected to stay between a high of 4,465 in the 2024-25 year and a low of 4,092 in 2028-29.
Mahan said the School District also has attendance area exceptions, which allow students to request which school they want to attend regardless of where they're zoned. This has allowed 116 Barling students to attend Southside this school year as of Oct. 1 while 105 go to Northside per the current attendance area. The district doesn't provide bus transportation for the Barling students who have these exceptions.
Young asked how the potential rezoning would be implemented.
Mahan said it would depend on whatever direction the School Board decides based on both the district's research and the input received. One option the board will have is to phase the rezoning in over a period of years, possibly based on a grade level.
Person said he would be in favor of phasing in the rezoning while seriously looking at exceptions.
"I get that there's a lot of history here, and that this is a complicated thing for us to look at," Person said. "This alone won't solve the issue in my mind even if we do implement it because we're talking just over 100 students currently go to Northside and then still have the potential for an attendance area exception, but they would have to provide their own transportation."
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NoneBarling Forecast
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