BAPS says a redistricting that raises concerns among parents is necessary

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Broken Arrow Public Schools is changing the districts of its middle schools, which has some parents concerned.

2 News takes a detailed look at what the district says is the reason for the boundary shift.

On October 24, we attended a parents’ forum organized by the district. BAPS Executive Director of Registration Services Bridget Powell explained why one aspect of the change was decided at the state level.

“In July of this year, this summer, Governor Stitt signed a bill into law that changes the way interdistrict transfers are handled, essentially taking local control away from districts,” Powell said.

After talking to parents, it became clear that the main problem of the proposed changes was the transfer of schools.

This all stems from the district not allowing students to transfer to their original school if they are within the new boundaries.

Some students may have changed schools every year until they graduated from high school, depending on where they lived.

“Now with redistricting, you’re going to go to multiple schools in a short period of time,” said Jonathan McCullough, parent of a sixth-grader.

His daughter recently moved into sixth grade and will be moving again next year.

His daughter will also have to change schools more often in BAPS over the next few years. He will go to the freshman academy and then to high school. McCullough is concerned about this transfer.
“They only attend a ninth-grade center for a few years and then go to a new school, so three school changes in four years is a lot,” McCullough said.

2 Viewed messages New law in Oklahoma suspension of transfers between schools.

The law allows transfers, but only if the schools accepting the student have available places. It also contains detailed guidelines for siblings and students whose parents work at the school.

For BAPS families, the rapid growth of Broken Arrows has meant that the schools are already full.

“We simply don’t have enough seats in our middle schools, even with redistricting. We won’t have those vacancies, so our hands are really tied,” Powell said.

The district released a series maps presenting the new proposed boundaries.

The new 8 is included^t-class academy and target to balance the number of admissions among middle schools.

“We are growing a lot here at Broken Arrow and have a lot of new developments,” said Ashley Bowser, deputy superintendent of information and technology.

Broken Arrow is also growing rapidly, forcing the district to think about rezoning every 2-3 years. This is something that still worries some in the BA community.

“I’m not very sympathetic to it because I see families being separated because of things like this. I see neighborhoods being torn apart. I see this idea of connecting districts and communities becoming more and more disconnected,” said former BAPS substitute teacher Miriam Flanagan.

After the meeting of the parent council, the redistricting commission may make changes to the proposed boundaries.

If the committee changes any boundaries before the next school board meeting, it will be required to represent the school board at that Nov. 11 meeting or its current application will be subject to final approval.

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