Last fall, when District enrollment projections predicted that South would surpass its 3,100-student capacity by the 2016-17 school year, parents started talking about the possibility of redrawing boundaries before the District did, Karen Geddeis, director of district public relations, said.
Four months later at the March 17 Board of Education meeting, the parents sitting in the uncharacteristically large audience were abuzz with whispers of the same rumor, and several South parents who attended spoke publicly to the Board about their concern that their middle schoolers would be sent to North for high school.
It seems as if the District and its parents are on two different pages. Despite rumors about boundary changes, the Board has neither formally nor informally discussed the option, Superintendent Michael Riggle said at the meeting.
Although the Oracle Editorial Board believes that community input is essential in the process of accommodating uneven enrollment changes between South and North, it’s important to focus those comments in the most productive and timely way possible.
Last November, the District released their projections that slated the South student population to surpass capacity by 17 students in the 2016-17 school year and by 138 students in the 2017-18 school year. However, the Board still isn’t sure whether South’s rising enrollment will impact students negatively. The rising enrollment at South has been like the forecast of a hurricane: the District has taken multiple preliminary precautions- namely repurposing classrooms and making plans for a new parking lot- but they have yet to call for partial evacuation, and for good reason.
Demographers hired by the District predicted that South’s enrollment will significantly exceed capacity starting in the 2017-18 school year, plateau, then decline. The question becomes: does the District move students to a new high school when the high enrollment numbers aren’t predicted to stick? For such a nuanced decision, there shouldn’t be pressure to form a hasty solution before the District has a chance to confirm next year’s enrollment this fall.
There will undoubtedly come a time where the Board will need parent input on whether redrawing boundaries is the best move for students, but the Board isn’t there yet. It’s important for parents to make their voices heard through avenues such as Board meetings and the online form on the District website. However, there is a greater potential benefit in focusing on what the Board is discussing in the now.
The District’s next move is to start analyzing the equality of opportunity at South compared to North by collecting data on clubs, sports and specific class enrollments and capacities. The Oracle Editorial Board agrees that the Board of Education shouldn’t start uprooting students from South before confirming that students would experience decreased opportunity with a higher enrollment.
That’s where parents come in. Instead of telling the Board why your child should or should not be redistricted into North territory for fear of unconfirmed disparities, refocus your efforts on informing them of your current student’s experience. If you feel that your student is already having a difficult time at South getting involved in activities, making an athletic team or enrolling in a class that they wish to take, that’s something the Board should know.
As the Board analyzes an issue that could potentially change the setting for hundreds of students’ high school experiences, members of the community must focus on giving input on issues that are relevant. Although there will be a time to delve into the myriad consequences and complications associated with rezoning, the demographers that the district hired confirmed that there is no rush to get to that stage. Right now, it seems like the public can sleep soundly knowing that the storm won’t come before they have a chance to get to safety.
