Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Closures And Assignments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Polk board gives consensus to relocate Alta Vista to Scenic Terrace and add sixth grade next year
Summary
The Polk County School Board agreed by consensus in a May 6 work session to relocate Alta Vista to the vacant Scenic Terrace campus and open sixth grade next year, with a rolling plan to add seventh and eighth in subsequent years and follow-up work on attendance zones and busing.
Polk County School Board members gave consensus May 6 for Superintendent Jacob Hyde to move forward with relocating Alta Vista to the Scenic Terrace campus and to add sixth grade in the 2025â26 school year.
Board Chair William Allen said staff held a community forum at Alta Vista and surveyed parents and staff; he told the board parents and staff were overwhelmingly receptive to the move. Hyde said he will begin communicating with families and staff immediately and has drafted letters and follow-up forms for rising fifth-grade families who intend to enroll as sixth graders.
Nut graf: The board asked for an orderly, phased expansion rather than an abrupt forced rezoning. Hyde said Scenic Terraceâs capacity â about 1,600 seats â allows a rolling opening that will start with sixth grade next year and add seventh and eighth grades in the following two years. He said the move is intended to relieve nearby Boone Middle School, which is over capacity, and to provide immediate staffing and counseling support at the receiving site.
Board members asked for details on projected enrollment and staffing. Hyde and staff estimated roughly 80â86 sixth graders could enroll next year at Scenic Terrace if response rates to the schoolâs outreach hold, and projected total first-year enrollment (Kâ6) of about 900 students once transfers and choice students are counted. Hyde said the district has prepared additional counselor and instructional staff positions, and that attendance boundaries for sixth grade will be brought back for formal action before next yearâs enrollment cycle.
The board directed staff to proceed with community communications, scheduling, and the draft attendance-zone language. Hyde said parents who live in the attendance zone for Scenic Terrace would attend there as incoming sixth graders but could still apply for school-choice options. He cautioned that comprehensive rezoning and program-alignment work remains and will be presented later for board direction.
Ending: Staff will return with finalized attendance-zone maps, busing impacts, and any program recommendations required to implement the move. The board indicated it will treat any formal boundary change and program alignment as future, separate action items.
