Redistricting Feedback

Solutions for kids being affected

Hello. I am a current sophomore going into my junior year. I currently attend Park Hill High School. The new redistricting plans are wanting to send me to Park Hill South. I have my concerns following this new change that is being implemented. First, I have already purchased a Park Hill letterman jacket and class ring with the Parkhill logos on there. How will Park Hill South aid in this issue? Are you going to give the kids all new jackets, letters, and metals? Or will the parents have to provide that? My second issue is that I am apart of the AVID program and the Park Hill band program. AVID has coined itself as being a family that stays together until the end of their school year. You would be robbing me of my friends and newly made family members. For me, that transition into another AVID class will be extremely difficult considering I have been with the same class for 2 years in a row. Plus, I am apart of the band program. I would have to relearn how the band at Park Hill South functions. From learning how they teach marching band drill, how the conductor teaches the students in class, to being comfortable playing in front of 50+ new strangers every other day. Being a teenager and having to endure that type of change so quickly is very mentally and emotionally challenging. I have even stated, “I would rather walk in crowded halls with people I do know, rather than in halls with strangers.” Please, if you could, come up with solutions to help me avoid this struggle for the last two years of high school year. Thank you.

"As the Crow Flies"

We have 3 kids and all 4 presented scenarios would redistrict our neighborhood (Sunpointe Village) to Line Creek. While it is true that Line Creek is closer "as the crow flies," in order to ACTUALLY GET THERE we would have to either walk through a muddy, steep trail that dumps out near the community center and walk over to the school, or drive right by the new middle school...which is closer!! There is NO EASY ACCESS to Line Creek for those of us who live off of Roanridge and 56th Street. If one of the Board's main criteria for the redistricting scenarios is transportation distance and safety, then all four of the scenarios presented miss that mark completely for a large swath of residents and elementary students on the south central/east side of the district. I think the board has other objectives that suite certain "people" I call for the board to pay for an independent third party consulting firm to re-evaluate.

Both A scenarios work for our family. Live in Monticello.

A1 comments

A1 comments • A1 has several weak points. In comparison to B1, the spread in size is unattractive. It does have the shortest distance (simple average of elementary schools), but has the most elementary school students redistricted. A1 has the largest socio-economic spread of the four presented scenarios. Relative strength on distance should not outweigh weaknesses on socio-economic status and number of students redistricted. • Five of the elementary schools in A1 have enrollments above their effective capacity. At the other end, Tiffany Ridge (only 6 years old) is 25-percent under effective capacity in this scenario. • In the 2012 redistricting, it was noted that there was a mismatch between largest schools and largest enrollments. That redistricting made efforts to match between larger schools and larger enrollments. This process should not take us backwards to previously challenging combinations of over and under capacity schools. Balanced enrollment should be relative to capacity levels, and not balanced on absolute numbers. • A1 requires the most elementary students to change schools. • A1 should not be recommended based on five schools being over their effective enrollment, the largest SES spread, and the highest number of students moved to different schools.

I am concerned that the redistricting committee was rushed to develop the elementary boundaries and could use more time.

The redistricting committee began with the high schools and worked their way down, leaving little time for the elementary boundaries, which are the most difficult since there are so many schools. I think the committee would benefit with more time to consider driving distances that have been brought to light, as well as work to balance the SES numbers as much as possible.

Distance I29 and 56th Street

Being assigned to Line Creek doesn't make sense if you know the area. Just because we live on the same side of the highway, doesn't mean it's closer. Please reconsider as it is greatly affecting our lives.

Best option for Montebella

With the updated options, this looks to be the best for Montebella. We can help drive the SES down for SE and if we play the long game, eventually there will be growth here when additional construction begins that can further support lowering the SES for SE. This neighborhood is a strong supporter of SE and i do hope it is given consideration for appropriate needs based resourcing. I think its also a mistake for us not to go to Walden, which is SOOO close to where we live, actually closer than SE and keeps our kids with their core friends heading into middle school.

Please keep Platte Hills subdivision at Graden. It is across the street and within walking distance.

Why not keep the current northeast Graden boundary line the same including the Platte Hills neighborhood (NW Highridge Road to NW Valley View Street) since this northern boundary is kept for Lakeview and Parkhill South for all four new scenarios? As one of the few neighborhoods within walking distance to Graden, with all 4 scenarios our neighborhood is moved out of Graden to schools further away. There is a total of 5 kids on our street. For the 2019-2020 school year 1 5th grader, 2 4th graders, 1 3rd grader and 1 2nd grader. The remaining portion of our neighborhood, a few streets over, has 7 more kids. Moving a total of 12 kids out of Graden to another school shouldn’t affect the board’s criteria. These kids aren’t part of a large neighborhood that we are asking to keep together. These kids are part of their current school community. They want to stay at Graden with their friends are who live in the other neighborhoods who will remain at Graden. Graden 0.2 miles English Landing 1.5 miles Prairie Point 1.9 miles Multiple scenarios are moving kids into Graden with the new boundaries while moving the kids of Platte Hills subdivision out of Graden. From the comments some of these parents are making, they would rather stay at their current school than move to Graden as well. Why not keep those kids at their school where they want to stay and keep these 12 kids at Graden? My kids are asking me why new kids get to move into Graden while they have to move out of a school they love and moving them away from their friends. All four scenarios have the neighborhood across from Union Chapel being moved out of Union Chapel to Graden and the neighborhood across from Graden out of Graden to either English Landing or Prairie Point.

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?

This option is my favorite

Once again, Sunpointe Village assigned to a school 5 mi from the neighborhood. WHY???? Southeast is 1.5 mi away.

I'm dismayed to see all four scenarios cut Shelly Estates out of Union Chapel's boundaries by a matter of yards.

My home is the only one in the whole subdivision with a child under the age of 13; what good does it do to cut this tiny subdivision of 12 houses out of UC's boundaries? My son loves Union Chapel, and he'd be heartbroken to leave.

Blair Heights should go to Graden

The Blair Heights neighborhood kids in this scenario would be moved away from their peers Hawthorn to Prairie Point and then would go to Lakeview with very few of their Prairie Point peers. Putting our small group of kids (about 20) at Graden would make for a much more consistent experience for them.

This is the only B team scenario that I am in favor of.

B2 has a lot of issues related to unnecessary movement of small neighborhoods and this is the far lesser of 2 evils

SES % is better on this map and B5. However Sunpointe Village with only one way in and one way out needs to be moved to SE or Hopewell.

Sunpointe has no direct way to get to LC. Our elementary children should not be put on a bus to merge onto a highway at 8ish in the am this is a very dangerous transportation issue surrounding all scenarios except B5. The only other option is for our community to travel 5 miles past 2 schools to finally get to LC which is the 5th closest school to us. We should be moved to a better option for the safety of our communities children. Please reconsider moving Sunpointe. We vote B5.

B2 works for our family in Monticello.

Grandfathering

I would like to encourage grandfathering of students who are currently attending either high school giving them the option to continue at their current school. Understanding that transportation would be on the student/parents. While this could temporarily increase the anticipated enrollment of either high school under the plan, other opportunities would help ease the pressure including Leads and CAPS. Then within three years, these students are out of the system putting the schools fully into the scenario.

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

Distance

I can appreciate that this is a difficult process and not everyone is going to be "happy" with the outcome. With that said, driving distance should be taken into account, not "as the crow flys".

Please delay the decision.

The board needs more time to review elementary schools since none of these scenarios work for residents of I29 and 55th street with one way in one way out of the neighborhood.

Blair Heights should go to Graden not PP

Neither A4 or B5 work for our Blair Heights neighborhood. Both of these scenarios have our kids going to PP. We will once again be sending our kids to a elementary school where they will not be going to MS or HS with their friends (we currently go to HW, LW, and PHS). Please pick a scenario where Blair Heights goes to Grade so future kids in our neighborhood don't have only go to MW with only a few friends.

Please don’t separate small neighborhoods from Thousand Oaks.

Saddle Club Estates is a small neighborhood with only a few kids in it. Most of the friends the kids here have are in Thousand Oaks. This is the only scenario that breaks up the western part (Hidden Valley, Saddle Club Estates and Thousand Oaks) for middle school like this. Please don’t let them be separated from the friends they’ve had and made in elementary school.

This scenario is not as SES balanced as B1 and redistricts way more high schoolers! Please vote for B1!

A4 is a good scenario, balanced middle school numbers, better SES numbers, and keeps Montebella at closest schools (Southeast & Walden)

Questions about the demographer process

Can the district share information on the process the demographer used to develop A4 and B5? For balanced enrollment, were the previously targeted enrollments of 471 and 515 (for Graden and Union Chapel) still used, or was balanced enrollment weighted by building capacity? For distance, did the demographer utilize one of the many tools to calculate road miles, or are "as the crow flies" miles still used? I agree with the previous comment on SES, and unique that A4 matches A2 exactly.

B5 is another great option, works great for our community!

B5 is the best option

B5 makes the most sense for balanced SES and travel distance.

Los Ranchos on the East side of Hampton makes sense through all level of schools

I'm not sure why the west side of Los Ranchos wasn't changed but the east portion of Los Ranchos that meets up with the other neighborhood better matches the function of the neighborhood.

SES% DOES Matter - Link below to 1 piece in that puzzle....

Below is a very good article on the Shawnee Mission school district and the various amounts of money that PTAs bring in for their schools. The numbers thrown around in this article are jaw dropping..... https://www.kcur.org/post/shawnee-mission-schools-are-case-study-impact-rich-and-poor-ptas?fbclid=IwAR02RWyLeLgWa1VyuomJ7TSLD7ChSP4X6AkfGkC44gdhp7Cb-WaQfR1JNRg#stream/0

As a Countrywood resident I am in favor of this scenario.

I do agree with other posts that there should be a grandfather clause in any scenario