By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Sherwood is looking to grow some more. The city recently annexed the rural community of Gravel Ridge, and now it’s looking to bring Cato Elementary and Northwood Middle schools into Sherwood.
“The Pulaski County Special School District board signed off on the idea Tuesday night,” said Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman.
The move, the mayor said, is to protect the schools and Sherwood residents from a possible Jacksonville school district.
“It’s nothing against Jacksonville,” the mayor said, “but we don’t want another city having control over our residents and most of the students at those two schools are residents of our city.”
Unlike the Gravel Ridge annexation, where both Sherwood and Jacksonville went out and initiated the annexation, forcing three separate votes of the residents before Sherwood was picked over Jacksonville, Hillman is hoping the two schools will come into the city through a voluntary petition.
If at least half of the property owners controlling at least half of the land voluntarily ask to join a city, the annexation can occur with just a vote of the city council.
Hillman said Cato Elementary is 330 feet from the Sherwood city limits.
One property owner controls the land between the city limits and the school, and the mayor doesn’t know if that property owner would sign the petition.
“But, we’ve already had the property owner across the street say he wants to join the city. So along with the school district, that makes more than 50 percent of the owners and more than 50 percent of the property,” she said.
The city has already asked for a legal description of the area for the purposes of possible annexation.
Hillman said that the north end of Cato Elementary’s property abuts the Northwood Middle School property, so it can all be brought in to the city just on a petition of two property owners.
“Of course we’d love it if all three property owners sign the petition,” the mayor said.
Jacksonville has been working for years to break away from the county district, and that effort has increased lately.
City leaders brought a resolution to the PCSSD board last month calling for a stand-alone Jacksonville School District that would include Jacksonville and North Pulaski high schools and all schools that feed into them, including Cato Elementary and Northwood Middle School.
The county school board turned down, by a vote of four to two, the resolution endorsing the idea of a Jacksonville district and asking the state Education Department to move forward on the issue.
Pulaski County Special School District Board President Charlie Wood justified his “no” vote by saying that Gravel Ridge area patrons don’t seem to want to be part of a Jacksonville district.
Days earlier, Wood told attendees at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce luncheon that he didn’t think a standalone Jacksonville district was a good idea, but that he would vote to allow residents to decide for themselves.
Joining Wood in voting down the resolution were Pam Roberts, Mildred Tatum and Shana Chaplin.
Voting in favor of the resolution were Bill Vasquez and Danny Gilliland.
At that board meeting, Hillman said her city wanted their students attending PCSSD schools in Sherwood.
On the Gravel Ridge annexation, Hillman said Sherwood police started covering the area last week.
