The Denton school district will conduct two public hearings Tuesday and Thursday in the Aubrey area to discuss proposed attendance zones for the district’s eastern region. The school district is planning to open its 21st elementary school for the 2010-11 school year.

Gene Holloway, the district’s director of transportation, who has assisted with redistricting since 1993, said the meetings will allow ample time for residents to learn about and prepare for the development and transition into a new neighborhood campus.

The new elementary campus — which will be named by the land donor — will be placed in the Cross Oaks Ranch development along the U.S. 380 Corridor. One campus, Providence Elementary School, will be impacted by the proposed boundary change, Holloway said.

Current enrollment at Providence is 745 students, Holloway said. Without a new campus, district officials estimate enrollment at Providence would grow to more than 870 students by fall 2010.

“[That] would far exceed the capacity of Providence,” he said.

Generally, elementary schools are built to accommodate 650 to 700 students, he said. Opening the new campus, Holloway said, would leave Providence with 454 students and the new campus with an estimated 417 students, which would allow each campus to increase enrollment by more than 200 students if additional students move into the boundary area.

Residential property surrounding the new elementary campus is not yet “halfway through build-out,” Holloway said, but once complete, the development will include more than 2,400 homes.

“Elementary 21 will be the fastest-growing [campus] because of the residential growth,” he said.

Holloway said fourth-graders impacted by the changes could remain at Providence to complete fifth grade. All other transfer requests will be handled according to district policy. In both situations, parents are responsible for transportation.

Additional details of the proposal and a virtual rendering of the new elementary campus will be discussed at both public hearings. A question-and-answer session will begin after an intermission.

All concerns and comments collected from the meetings will be documented and presented to the Denton school board in a workshop presentation at its next regular meeting, May 26, district spokeswoman Sharon Cox said.

Both meetings on the proposed boundaries will start at 7 p.m. at Providence Elementary School, at 1000 FM2931 in Aubrey.

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com .