With the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Sylvan Hills schools have made a big change. They made the decision to change the buildings of grades 6th-9th. Originally the grades and buildings were 6th-8th in the middle school building on Johnson Street, and 9th grade in the Junior high on Bamboo Lane.  Now students in 6th and 7th grade have been moved to the building on Bamboo Lane, where they will be going to Middle School. Students in 8th and 9th grade are now in the school on Johnson Street where they are now in Junior High.

This decision was made by the Pulaski County Special School District due to the overcrowding issues that were starting to rise. The Middle School Principal Mike Hudgeons has said that the number of students in the school is between 1,100 and 1,200 kids. Yvone West, Principal at the Junior High said “Sherwood has grown exponentially in a short amount of time.”

The High School and Junior High share many teachers, they have teachers that teach at both schools. Hudgeons says that having the High School and the Junior High closer together will just make more sense. He also mentions that the age difference from 11 to 14 years old may not be a lot, but the development in maturity is a major difference. West said “This being a smaller environment where you can contain them better, that transition from elementary to middle school will be a lot easier.”

A publication from KATV was consulted for this article.