With the early opening of Olive Stephens Elementary School, Denton school district officials are proposing new attendance zones a little earlier than usual.

Public hearings on the 2009-10 elementary attendance zones are scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.

DRC/Gary Payne

Fernando Garcia works on taping drywall at Olive Stephens Elementary School in Shady Shores on Friday. The school, named for the town's longtime mayor, will open in the fall.

District leaders plan to propose changes at the meeting and then take a break so that parents can write down questions about the zones, which officials will answer that evening, said Gene Holloway, director of transportation.

The proposed changes would affect L.A. Nelson, Hawk, Pecan Creek, Rivera, Lee and Hodge elementary schools.

School officials are dealing with crowding concerns in the southern part of the district and were considering buying portable buildings when it became apparent that Stephens Elementary could be ready to open this fall. The school is located at 133 Garza Road in Shady Shores.

Instead of purchasing portable buildings, educators and school board members opted to open Stephens and allow students within its attendance zone to transfer to the school early and alleviate overcrowding.

Since the boundaries for Stephens must be drawn in order to complete this plan, school officials decided to map out attendance zones for all schools for the 2009-10 school year.

This gives parents earlier notice of upcoming attendance zone changes, said Roger Rutherford, assistant superintendent of elementary programs.

Students assigned to the new Stephens Elementary from Pecan Creek and to Nelson Elementary from Hawk for 2009-10 will be given the option to either go ahead and attend those schools or remain where they are for the 2008-09 school year.

Students who wish to remain at Pecan Creek or Hawk next school year need to pre-enroll by May 1.

This option is only given to students at Hawk and Pecan Creek for 2008-09 because of overcrowding, Rutherford said.

“What were trying to do is establish continuous boundaries for all our schools so that it [zone changes] won’t be so frequent in that area,” said Rutherford.

He added that the southern portion of the district will continue to grow but the proposed boundaries for 2009-10 give those schools the capability to handle that growth for the next few years.

“Even though the housing market has slowed down, it’s not slowing down in the Denton area,” said district spokeswoman Sharon Cox.

All students will be bused in Stephens Elementary’s attendance zone, Holloway said, because there is no pedestrian access to the school yet.

He said the school district will work with city and county officials to meet those and future needs. A future site for a middle school is in that area, Holloway said.

Two meetings are scheduled next week to discuss proposed changes to the 2009-10 high school attendance zones.

All three of the district’s main high schools will be affected.

A new high school is not planned to open for at least a few years, but school officials say those proposed changes would help alleviate overcrowding at Guyer High School.

AMY DODD THOMPSON can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is athompson@dentonrc.com.

With: Public hearings on 2009-10 elementary attendance zones

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

Where: Crownover Middle School, 1901 Creekside Drive in Corinth

To Hodge Elementary School from Lee Elementary School:

- Area inclusive of  307 N. Loop 288 and 517 N. Loop 288

To Pecan Creek Elementary School from Rivera Elementary School and Hodge:

- Area inclusive of Southeast Denton from Brinker Road and Interstate 35E, northeast on Brinker to Loop 288

- North on Loop 288 to Spencer Road

- East on Spencer to the Denton Recycling Complex to the Hodge boundary

- South from the recycling complex to the current Pecan Creek and Rivera boundaries to Mayhill Road

- South on South Mayhill Road to I-35E

- Northwest from I-35E and South Mayhill on I-35E frontage road to Brinker

To Rivera from Pecan Creek:

- Area inclusive of 191 Duchess Drive 

To Stephens Elementary School from Rivera:

East of  I-35E

- Area inclusive of Shady Shores from the I-35E and North Old U.S. Highway 77 intersection, north on a line to Denton Rails & Trails

- East on Rails & Trails to Lakeview Boulevard

- Northeast following a line south of Lakeview to Lewisville Lake

- South following the Lewisville Lake shore line to the school district’s southern boundary

- West following the school district’s southern boundary to I-35E

- North following I-35E to the northern intersection of I-35E and Old Highway 77

West of I-35E

- Area inclusive of the Oakmont subdivision in Corinth from State School Road and Robinson Road on a line northeast following the Oakmont Golf Course to I-35E

- South on the I-35E frontage road to Corinth Parkway

- South on Corinth Parkway to the Denton and Lake Dallas school district boundaries

- West on the Denton school district boundary to Post Oak Road

- North on Post Oak to Robinson

- West on Robinson to State School Road

To Nelson Elementary School from Hawk Elementary School:

- Area inclusive of the residential area Braewood, west of the Oakmont Golf Course, north of Teasley Harbor, west of Wheeler Ridge Drive and south of the Robinson and State School roads intersection