FORT SMITH, Ark. — The Fort Smith School District's Board of Education approved a rezoning proposal for Orr Elementary students at Thursday's meeting.
In August, the board voted to close Orr after the 2024-25 school year. Now, the board is left to decide what schools students will attend next year.
At a meeting on Nov. 21, Deputy Superintendent Marty Mahan presented three different proposals that would add students to Ballman, Cook, or Fairview. Ahead of the meeting, Mahan said he consulted parents and staff at all four schools for ideas on the proposals.
Mahan shared data on enrollment numbers at all 18 elementary schools in Fort Smith. These are the following enrollment numbers for fall 2024 of each school involved in the latest approval:
- Ballman: 290
- Cook: 462
- Fairview: 575
- Orr: 236
After Mahan presented three different proposals to the board, the board selected Proposal B. This proposal, which was Mahan's recommended proposal, would distribute Orr students to all three schools.
Here are the anticipated figures with the approved proposal:
- Fairview
- Students: 614
- Building utilization: 70.3%
- Cook
- Students: 563
- Building utilization: 75.7%
- Ballman
- Students: 392
- Building utilization: 75.6%
Approved boundary
The proposal will not change the existing middle school attendance boundaries, according to Mahan.
"Option B, I think, does a lot," board member Dalton Person said. "It makes a lot of changes, but it's the best for not having too high of a [building] utilization across any of the three schools."
With this change, legacy students will be given the option to continue at their current school. Before the item went to a vote, the board consulted Ballman Elementary Principal Nancy Burris.
"Whatever you vote, we're going to go for it," Burris said. "We're excited about getting new kids. We're excited for however many we have. Of course, I'd like to keep the students that we have because I think we built a really strong community ... "If they can stay, then I'd say [proposal] B. If they couldn't stay, of course, I would like to have C."
Proposal C would have an enrollment of 436 students at Ballman, putting the school over 80% capacity. It would have also used nearly 84.2% of Ballman's building, so this was a concern.
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