| Board may vote Tuesday on new enrollment zones 01/18/2001 Denton Record-Chronicle DENTON – The Denton school board may vote as early as Tuesday on new attendance zones to accommodate a growing student body.
The proposed zone changes include plans for 11 new elementary schools to be built by 2011. The first, Wayne Stuart Ryan Elementary, will open in August. The zone changes affect which schools students attend in certain regions of the district.
The district is readjusting its elementary school attendance zones in response to housing construction growth, primarily in the southern part of the district.
The 162-square-mile district includes all or parts of the following cities: Denton, Corinth, Bartonville, Oak Point, Cross Roads, Copper Canyon, Shady Shores and Double Oak.
Unprecedented growth will make it necessary to redraw school attendance zones each of the next eight years, said Gene Holloway, the district's director of planning. In October, the district reported a student body of 13,667. Officials have said that enrollment has been increasing on average 3 percent a year since 1961 but that projections call for increases of 7 percent through the next five years.
Board Vice President Rick Woolfolk said the district needs to "get ahead of the curve," adding that he would like to see two more elementary schools open this spring. The board met recently to discuss modifications to the proposal. About 100 residents attended.
Superintendent Ray Braswell said the district has the bond funds to open two new elementary schools but not enough to open three schools in one year.
Plans call for three new elementary schools to open by 2003 and two new middle schools by 2005.
Dean Anthony, the district's director of elementary education, said the redistricting plan is being driven by growth in the district's south side. Most of that growth will occur in McNair Elementary's zone, he said, adding he's heard that many of the housing developments going up in that area may be completed more quickly than originally thought.
Dr. Anthony said members of the district's Redistricting Project Team considered it necessary to reduce the number of students attending McNair so the school can accommodate growth during the next two years.
The original proposal placed 667 students in McNair, which has a maximum enrollment of 700 without portable buildings. The new plan calls for 577 students, which Dr. Anthony said would give the school about 200 spots to fill over the two years. That should prevent the district from having to cap enrollment at the school, as it did this year, he said.
The new proposal will put Ryan Elementary's student population at 616, up from the 594 in the original proposal. Dr. Anthony said the move also reduces the percentage of students at Ryan Elementary served through the free and reduced lunch program.
The distribution of poor students throughout the district has been a concern for board members and residents.
Board member Jean Schaake pointed out that 10.1 percent of McNair students would receive free or reduced lunches compared to 55.9 percent of Rivera Elementary students, 22.2 percent at Ryan and 24.4 percent at Houston.
Mr. Holloway proposed moving 64 students in the Pebblebrook apartment complex to McNair rather than to Houston, which would result in both schools having17.7 percent of their students participating in the lunch program.
Residents not only were concerned that their children might have to attend three different schools during their elementary years,but also said they didn't want to leave McNair.
"We have put our roots down solidly in McNair," Oakmont subdivision resident Michelle Smith told the board. "We are a family there."
Many children who live in the Oakmont subdivision currently attend McNair but would have to transfer to Ryan this fall.
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