FORT SMITH, Ark. — In a unanimous decision on Monday, the Fort Smith Public Schools Board of Education voted to make the 2024-25 school year at Raymond F. Orr Elementary it’s last.
The district said the move allows for more students and fewer schools, which they said will lead to more efficiency.
“We will have more staff for collaboration,” Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Learning Dr. Tiffany Bone said. “We'll be able to have better use of our art, music and PE teachers. They won't have to be shared. We'll be able to have full time assistant principals. It will be better for our kids, because we won't have to do anything like move them.”
Bone said the district is aiming to get a minimum of 500 students in each school, eventually getting all schools near the max capacity of 625 students.
She said some schools in the district sit around 200 to 250 student enrollment and are able to take in students from other schools. She said come spring, parents and students should have an idea as to which school they will be attending.
“We have a firm that we use called Zonda, and they give us the projections of where the growth is in our district,” Bone said. “We also look at where the parents live, what is the closest school to their zone? And we give them options from that point.”
For parents who may be unhappy with where their students get rezoned to, Bone said that parents can fill out an Attendance Area Exception through Students Services to try and work out a solution with the district.
Orr Elementary just celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, and while the 61st may be its last, Principal Dr. Dawn Childress said she hopes to see the successes gained inside the school walls will be spread throughout the district.
“We've been a National Showcase school for two years, and we've achieved a high reliability schools level four certification. So our teachers are excellent, and I'm just really proud that they're going to be able to take that excellence wherever they go in our district."
Childress added that enrollment numbers are down at Orr, with just 240 students enrolled. She said being an undersized school has caused some issues in the past.
“We've got the issue of class sizing students, and we do have a higher mobility rate here,” Childress said. “Another thing is we don't have a full-time assistant principal. We don't have full time art, media, music, PE teachers, and so because of that, it causes some stressors that right sizing our district will fix.”
She said change may be uneasy at first, but it is necessary for student success moving forward.
“Our staff is really good about making commitments and making changes and doing what's best for kids,” Childress said. Change is change, but I think they're all ready and courageous and ready to step forward and do great things for kids.”
As to what will happen with the Orr Elementary building, Dr. Bone said decisions are left up to the school board after hearing proposals from the Long-Range Facility Planning Committee.
One proposal currently being considered is rehousing the existing alternative learning center and possibly putting a K-12 alternative learning school there. Bone added that whoever ends up occupying the space, the facilities team with retrofit the building to fit their needs.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.