Redistricting Feedback

For transportation purposes this makes the most sense for us.

Stonegate kids should go to Walden, not Lakeview for Middle School

I'm not in favor of this scenario because our kids will go to Union Chapel and Park Hill South, only to be separated from their Union Chapel friends for 3 years at Lakeview, then returned to the same group of peers from elementary school for their high school years. Our neighborhood of Stonegate currently only has 6 kids at Union Chapel, 1 kid at Plaza, 2 kids at Lakeview, and 2 kids at Park Hill South. We do not have enough children in this neighborhood to warrant separating them from elementary peers for the middle school years.

Overall comments

Some general comments about the process and proposed scenarios. • Balancing enrollment between schools was identified by the Board as the highest priority criteria. However, the scenarios presented do not appear to take into account effective capacity (as reported by the district). In seeking the goal of balanced enrollment, several larger schools are significantly under capacity, while smaller schools are over capacity. For example, Southeast Elementary has an effective capacity of 454 students. Scenario A1 has the lowest enrollment for Southeast, but is is 18 students above the effective capacity. • If freehand drawings were the primary source of boundary lines, the overall process needs to be evaluated. Software can analyze redistricting scenarios and compute real-time data for analysis. • If “as the crow flies” distances were the source for distance calculations, they are very inaccurate metrics for decision making. Software can easily create routes and road mileage distance. For example, we live in Montebella subdivision. Based on “as the crow flies”, we are 3 miles from Lakeview. However, based on road routes, we are 6 miles away. The more distance from the school, the more these differences are amplified. • Socio-economic goals are not met. Each of the scenarios increase the spread between schools, and cause greater concentration of high Free/Reduced lunch participants. When looking at change in Free/Reduced lunch for 10 existing elementary schools (40 scenario points), there are 14 instances where the percentages of Free/Reduced lunch participants grow, and 26 instances were the number of participants decreases. Park Hill should be proud of the relative socio-economic balance (as compared to other districts) it has. Accepting scenarios that increase the spread should not be considered. In the 2012 redistricting, the committee proposed a goal of 21.8-percent range in participants. The current spread is 20.2. This demonstrates a narrow spread is achievable, and should a goal for this round of redistricting. • During the last redistricting process, the Board took six months (November 2011 – April 2012) just to look at elementary school redistricting when Tiffany Ridge was built. This process is being crammed into a shorter time frame, and the scope includes all district schools. • This process has taken a top-down approach, with considerations for high schools first, then middle schools, then elementary schools. Redistricting should also be looked at with a bottom-up approach, starting with elementary schools to see if results are aligned. • The process of redistricting should heavily use available data to start with optimized results. The process could be conducted through a linear programming exercise with a number of constraints on the criteria noted by the Board (enrollment, SES, distance). After optimized results are computed, they can be reviewed to see if they work for other social factors (neighborhood continuity, traffic flow). The data for this is available, and rather small in scope. For elementary schools, there are 5,200 students. Students can be aggregated into neighborhood points (to anonymize individual data) with the GPS coordinates of the location, number of students and number of Free/Reduced lunch participants. An optimized model could be developed and run with a few hours of work.

SES discrepancy that goes against Park Hill's creed

Southeast parent here. When we moved from another state three years ago, we intentionally chose SE for its diversity. When SES skews so far to one elementary, however, it affects the education of every student. As referenced several times in the comment thread, anything above 40% f/r lunch may start to impact our children who attend. Also, will our kids not be at a disadvantage academically when they merge with other elementary students in middle and high schools? Finally, as a substitute teacher for the district, I think it's doing a disservice to our students to not have more equitable boundary lines. Unless there will be significantly more resources given to those schools with much higher f/r lunch numbers, we will face staff burnout and fatigue from some fabulous educators.

Plaza refresh

If kids will be required to stay at Plaza for more than one year, the district must invest in improvements. It is very dated, depressing interior, has little daylight. My daughter is dreading having to go back there.

Update your measuring system!

When determining distance from subdivision to school the committee has chosen a form of measurement that only works for birds. Buses and cars drive on roads. Sunpointe Village is located 5 miles from Line Creek Elementary by Bus/Car and 1 mile by bird. Our kids are not riding on the backs of birds to get to school. Please consider updating your data with actually distance. Google and Garmin are great at this. Our kids deserve a modern solution to a modern problem.

This is one of the better scenarios for keeping kids with their previous classmates.

This is one of the best scenarios. I think this A2 plan and B1 do a better job of keeping more kids going to school with their previous classmates (even if it means it might be at a different school). I'm personally not as concerned about distance to school, as I am about my kid hopefully knowing some of the kids he'll be moving schools with so it's not as big of a shock to the kids.

Blair Heights families should attend Graden not Prairie Point.

In the last redistricting our small neighborhood (approx. 25 kids) was sent to Hawthorn. This has meant that there are only a small numbers of kids going to middle school and high school that went to elementary together. Most HW students attend Congress not Lakeview. In this scenario will potentially go to Lakeview with only 1 other 5th grader from HW. Please do not put current and new elementary families in a situation where they will going to middle school with only a few friends. This is seems unfair to our neighborhood to have to be placed in this situation in back to back redistricting years. As additional information, Graden is only 1 mile from our neighborhood while HW and PP are 4 miles. Again, we've already had to drive further than most, so please don't ask our neighborhood to do this again.

Tolerable but Southeast a little too high on the S/E.

Southeast a little too high on the S/E.

Why would you put Blair Height kids again, further away from Graden? First we get moved to Hawthorn 3 mi away and then to PP 5mi?

Please put Blair Heights at Graden not PP

We attend Lakeview and South in every possible scenario. Putting us at PP gives our address a third school in seven years, continues to put our kids where they won't know anyone they will go to MS and HS with. If we can't stay at hawthorn, and have to change again, please put us at Graden, it makes the most sense for our families, is closer, is where we've been in the past. Our kids deserve some consistency.

Scenario B distribution

I don't see this scenario as balancing elementary school boundaries as children should go to the school within closest proximity to where they live. I know that the board has to review options based on different stats but please consider the combination of population and distance relative for children to their schools to avoid unnecessary risk.

A2 is the only scenario that does not separate middle school students from their elementary peers in the western part of the district.

Taking the kids out too far. It does not make sense to exclude Hickory Hollow neighborhood! Hickory Hollow should stay in English Landing!

Does not meet redistricting criteria. Hickory Hollow should be included within the EL/Lakeview boundary line because the students live within walking distance of the school.

B1 has the best balance SES score. Redistricting is a difficult process and I would like to thank the committee for all their hard work.

B2 is a Good Idea!!!

The distance from the neighborhood to the school is short, this reduce the expensive s from transportation increase savings with insurance time and keep the kids from mayor changes

B2 is not a good option. Too many kids changing classmates and too high SES imbalance.

A1 and B2 options are both bad because they don't do as good of a job of keeping the students going to school with their previous classmates. Plus SES imbalance on these two plans is horrible. I personally think it's more important to keep students with more kids they know (even if it means changing schools), so it's not as big of a shock to them to have to change schools if they're still seeing a lot of their same friends. I don't mind driving a little farther to a school if my son will get to keep more of his old classmates. A2 and B1 both do a much better job keeping kids with more kids that they know and not letting 2 schools SES number skyrocket.

Another scenario is needed before the final vote

Will there be any opportunity for the committee to draft another scenario or revisit one of the previous ones before the Board votes? I understand that these are the final 4, but there are so many parents objecting to these options. I realize there is a deadline, but I do not believe the committee had all of the information they needed to create these maps. I hope the feedback from the website and the two meetings will actually be incorporated into the final plan.

Agree w Pruitt best scenario for our small neighborhood w ses and distances considered as well as keeping our kids w their elementary friend

40% f/r wasn't high enough, let's push 50%. Let's put all the poor kids together says NO REASEARCH ever!!

Our Park Hill community has always seemed like family. Where you take care of each other, support one another, boost each other up. Creating 1-2 elementary schools that will be well over 50% f/r if/when everyone eligible identifies (because we know not everyone who qualifies has the means to ask, read the form, fill out the form, return it, etc) is NOT family. It's targeting and discriminating families based on economic factors. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. We can do better! How about a proposal that adheres to the only Medium Priority Goal of "Having a socio-economic balance for all school attendance areas at each level (elementary, middle and high) that is representative of the entire community". Currently none of the proposals fit that criteria.

The criteria puts some neighborhoods at a disadvantage.

Some neighborhoods are being pushed around like a punching bag! Blairs heights was shifted in the last redistricting to Hawthorn. Now it's being shifted again. Not one scenario allows for this small group of kids to stay at Hawthorn. WHY?

Ok for Monticello family.

Monticello should stay at English Landing.

Drakes crossing neighborhood

Stay at Southeast? With only about 10 kids at southeast and it being a closer drive can we keep the kids at SE instead of being the far north corner of the Line creek map? We are at the dead end of 64th street. It no longer goes thru to waukomis.

Blair Heights to Graden

I just do not understand how in 4/6 scenarios and current locations, Blair Heights does not go to Graden when we live closer than the many, many of the people that go to Graden. My house is 1.9 to Graden. I have friends/family that goes to Graden in every scenario and they are 3.1 miles. Please explain.....

If Blair Heights can't stay at Hawthorn, it should go to Graden, not PP

A4 does not work for Blair Heights. It is illogical and unfair to take this small group of kids (20 or fewer) and move them to PP, much farther away than Graden and force them to go to a different MS and HS than their classmates. Plus these same families were split from the rest of the neighborhood and moved from Graden to Hawthorn in the last redistricting effort. I know it's not one of the criteria to consider which areas were moved last time, but it is still an important factor, and it disenfranchises these families and kids, as we feel helpless and unheard. We'd far rather stay at Hawthorn, as we are very active volunteers there, but since NONE of the scenarios keep us at Hawthorn, Graden is the better of the two alternatives.

Sunpointe

This is a better scenario than the new A scenario for Sunpointe. This keeps Sunpointe kids from driving all the way around to get to Line Creek and allows them to go the shortest distance to Southeast, like they currently do.

Why are the Hampton Woods kids going to PP? Already go to Graden, our house is at least a half mile closer, bus times are longer; senseless

Not good for Monticello!

This really causes transportation issues for Monticello. There are 2 schools closer and with only being able to get in and out of Monticello from 45HWY it is hard to get to Prairie Point. English Landing better fit as it is walking distance to Monticello.

B1 or any B plan is preferred

B Plans work best for the west side of the district and is our preference. Could also consider small tweaks to best overall plan to improve. (By the numbers this would be B1). All A scenarios completely disrupt lives 10 kids families and have a fractional percentage effect on the big picture numbers. Please consider any B options or make minor tweaks to make more sense to A plans,for example in the Green Acres and Forest Lake subdivisions. Area just north of 76th street and just east of I-435 on the far middle, west of the district. Large land mass area, not densely populated, primarily older empty nest families. No sense to make changes where benefit doesn't outweigh cost. We would like to leave this small amount of kids in their existing schools!

No perfect solution but B1 &B5 are the best

There's no perfect solution but I think B1 & B5 are the best for the school district as a whole. We recently moved in to the school district. We looked only for houses in this district but we didn't look at what specific elementary we would be at. We found a house and neighborhood and knew that any school would be GREAT. As it turns out we currently drive "past" other schools to get our kindergartner to Line Creek. Which we love. I hope the Board makes a decision based on the good of the whole district for the long term. SES equality is a big part of that. For us the inconvenience of driving (which we will continue to do in B1 or B5) is a small price to ensure equity for all kids in the District. It's why we picked this District.