Post by gatormom on Feb 12, 2008 5:29:57 GMT -6
'Geography' guides Dist. 204 boundaries
Justin Kmitch
Daily Herald Staff
2/12/2008 12:12 AM
When Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials unveil the new boundary proposal today, board members said the community could expect to see a plan, for all three high schools, based on "logic" and "geography."
During the last two weeks, Deputy Superintendent Kathryn Birkett has fielded as many as 100 boundary proposals and recommendations from the community in an attempt to draft the proposal being released to the public today.
During that time, district officials said the new district boundaries would aim to ensure all three schools have balanced enrollment, the ability to have equally strong academic student bodies and to avoid splitting students from a majority of their current middle schools more than once.
District President Mark Metzger said Monday that not everyone will like the proposal, but he believes the draft he saw, which essentially dissects the district into thirds, would work well.
"Your overall clusters in the north would attend Metea (Valley,) the majority of clusters in the center would go to Waubonsie (Valley) and a majority in the southern end would attend Neuqua (Valley)," Metzger said. "Obviously that won't work in every single scenario because some clusters overlap, but that's how a majority of the students will decide which school they will attend."
Board member Christine Vickers said she only had seen a "draft map and some numbers" depicting the geographical groupings.
"Grouping the students and drawing the boundaries based on the geography would seem to be the most logical way to do it," she said. "After I see a formal presentation, I'll be able to better decide if that makes it the best option for the district as a whole."
Two years ago, when the boundaries were last drawn, the process took more than six weeks and has been described by many district officials as a "mess," "disaster" and a "long, drawn-out process."
This time around, however, they said they are more focused and using a streamlined process that could have the new boundaries decided in less than three weeks, beginning to end.
Metzger said he thinks the community will have had enough time to digest the new information, even in the abbreviated format.
"We learned with the Metea land selection process that we saw an immediate spike in comments for a day or two and then we hit a lull for two or three days. Then we saw another spike and it dropped off," he said. "I imagine it will be pretty similar once the newest proposal is distributed,"
Administrators will distribute the boundary recommendations today through 204 E-News, a post on the district's Web site and in elementary students' backpacks.
The community will then have until the end of Friday to submit written electronic feedback to board members. The board will meet at 6 p.m. Feb. 19, to hear more community feedback and likely vote on the recommendation.
Justin Kmitch
Daily Herald Staff
2/12/2008 12:12 AM
When Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials unveil the new boundary proposal today, board members said the community could expect to see a plan, for all three high schools, based on "logic" and "geography."
During the last two weeks, Deputy Superintendent Kathryn Birkett has fielded as many as 100 boundary proposals and recommendations from the community in an attempt to draft the proposal being released to the public today.
During that time, district officials said the new district boundaries would aim to ensure all three schools have balanced enrollment, the ability to have equally strong academic student bodies and to avoid splitting students from a majority of their current middle schools more than once.
District President Mark Metzger said Monday that not everyone will like the proposal, but he believes the draft he saw, which essentially dissects the district into thirds, would work well.
"Your overall clusters in the north would attend Metea (Valley,) the majority of clusters in the center would go to Waubonsie (Valley) and a majority in the southern end would attend Neuqua (Valley)," Metzger said. "Obviously that won't work in every single scenario because some clusters overlap, but that's how a majority of the students will decide which school they will attend."
Board member Christine Vickers said she only had seen a "draft map and some numbers" depicting the geographical groupings.
"Grouping the students and drawing the boundaries based on the geography would seem to be the most logical way to do it," she said. "After I see a formal presentation, I'll be able to better decide if that makes it the best option for the district as a whole."
Two years ago, when the boundaries were last drawn, the process took more than six weeks and has been described by many district officials as a "mess," "disaster" and a "long, drawn-out process."
This time around, however, they said they are more focused and using a streamlined process that could have the new boundaries decided in less than three weeks, beginning to end.
Metzger said he thinks the community will have had enough time to digest the new information, even in the abbreviated format.
"We learned with the Metea land selection process that we saw an immediate spike in comments for a day or two and then we hit a lull for two or three days. Then we saw another spike and it dropped off," he said. "I imagine it will be pretty similar once the newest proposal is distributed,"
Administrators will distribute the boundary recommendations today through 204 E-News, a post on the district's Web site and in elementary students' backpacks.
The community will then have until the end of Friday to submit written electronic feedback to board members. The board will meet at 6 p.m. Feb. 19, to hear more community feedback and likely vote on the recommendation.
