New School Could Be Answer To FWISD Overcrowding
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - During a board meeting on Tuesday night, the Fort Worth Independent School District superintendent is expected to recommend that a new elementary school be built to ease overcrowding. This comes as work is already being done to accommodate more students at Tanglewood Elementary School.
"The school was built for 500 kids," explained trustee Ann Sutherland about the current Tanglewood campus. "At the present time, we are at almost 800." The overcrowding is so severe that lunch was starting at 10:00 a.m. for some children. Crews are at the campus this summer, building more workspace, more classrooms and a larger cafeteria for next school year.
The expansion project is being funded through a 2013 bond package. But more help could be coming.
School board members on Tuesday night could vote to allow Superintendent Kent Scribner to negotiate and make an offer for property west of South Hulen Street, in a popular Fort Worth neighborhood. This could be the location for a new elementary school campus.
Scribner released a statement on Thursday which said, "The new school will reflect the same culture, climate and commitment that make Tanglewood Elementary an exemplary campus."
The attendance zone for the new campus would be created within the existing lines for Tanglewood Elementary School. "The kids will still be going to school with their current colleagues," Sutherland said. "It would include the southern portion of the Tanglewood attendance district."
Since the new school would be built through a new bond package, voters would have to approve it in the November elections. But school board members on Tuesday must first approve taking steps toward the new campus. They could also decline these actions or ask staff members to study the issue further.