Schools

Parkway District Changing School Boundaries

Overcrowding is causing the change. A handful of schools, primarily north, are impacted.

The Parkway School District will redraw attendance boundaries for a handful of schools on the north side by August, impacting about 475 students.

Some 246 elementary age students would change schools. Another 230 middle- and high school students will move from Northeast and North to Central schools, but have the option to continue at northside schools through graduation.

These housing areas are impacted by the boundary changes:

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  • Old Farm Estates (and adjacent homes on northwest side of Amiot)
  • Woodland Point
  • Pheasant Run apartments
  • Royal Pines condos
  • Driftwood Place
  • Pavilion (west of Bennington)
  • West Pointe (west of Bennington)

In a unanimous vote, the Parkway Board of Education agreed to the mandatory reshuffling of primarily elementary school students, and the phase-in transition for middle- and high school students.

Officials said changes were necessary to spread around overcrowding in some schools when there was a dearth of students in another.

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"It had to happen," said Desi Kirchhofer, Parkway's secondary assistant superintendent who oversaw the re-districting process.

Most younger students would transfer to Riverbend Elementary, from Craig, McKelvey and Ross elementary schools. Riverbend will nearly double in size to about 412 students, but still have fewer students than the other three schools.

But officials said that was because some schools were larger, or had building additions in the past.

"It balances the enrollment with schools of comparable size," Kirchhofer said. The changes were made in keeping with the notion of "neighborhood schools," he said.

The district got buy-in from families early in the process with four public hearings on the plan since September.

Affected families ultimately provided little resistance after the district agreed to provide a minimum of three years of transportation for older students who don't want to transfer.

How it works:

  • 4th and 6th graders must attend new assigned school
  • 5th graders may opt for "special assignment" to avoid changing schools
  • no new enrollments will be accepted in schools at capacity
  • grades 7-12 students will be assigned to new schools, but may opt out with "special assignment" request to remain at northside schools.

The school district expects to notify those in the changing districts within the next few weeks.

"We all know that change is hard," said school board Director Dee Mogerman, who seconded the measure. Vice-President Beth Feldman made the motion to pass the plan.

Superintendent of Schools Keith Marty praised the 33-member committee that worked out the re-districting plan.

"I've been through this process before. This was the very, very best process," Marty said.


 


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