Growing pains for the Broken Arrow School District

Broken Arrow Schools is once again carving up its district to deal with population growth. <br><br>Parents are being invited to talk with school leaders about the changes. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson

Tuesday, November 4th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Broken Arrow Schools is once again carving up its district to deal with population growth.

Parents are being invited to talk with school leaders about the changes. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson has the details on why the district says it has to change the boundaries.

Broken Arrow is home to some of the fastest growing areas in Tulsa County. And the rapid growth and population shift is starting to overload parts of the school district. The area around 61st and County Line Road is really booming. New housing developments are going up every day, and it's starting to take its toll on the school district.

Several Broken Arrow schools in the northern part of the district are overcrowded. Classes are large and space is limited. While northern Broken Arrow schools are packed, school populations in the southern part of the district is slipping. That's why school officials want to funnel more kids into under-utilized schools in the south.

More than 1,000 students will be affected by the changes. There's a new school in the works, but school officials say that's only part of the problem. Dr Gary Gerber, Assistant Superintendent, "So its not just a matter of building a school to take care of population you have to staff it too and that's where we run into difficulties and so the only way to handle it is to adjust boundaries."

The boundary debate has dozens of parents upset.