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Trustee wants attendance lines redrawn to relieve overcrowding
School trustee Lindley Auton has asked the district over the past year to consider redrawing attendance lines for Northwest Elementary, Goucher, Limestone-Central and B.D. Lee elementaries. Auton became concerned after a limited enrollment policy produced a 50-student increase at B.D. Lee Elementary and a 4-classroom addition was built in 2003 to relieve overcrowding at the 470-student Northwest Elementary. Auton said the district could reduce overcrowding by changing attendance lines to balance student populations in schools along the Highway 29 corridor. In particular, the school trustee would like more students to attend Goucher Elementary where a 6-classroom addition is expected to be built within the next two years. "There are students being bused 15 miles past Goucher Elementary to attend Northwest Elementary. In some cases, these students live within five miles of Goucher Elementary," Auton said. "We could save money on transportation costs and balance the numbers in our schools by making a few adjustments in our attendance lines." Any attempt to change attendance lines must first win the approval of the OCR. The OCR has monitored the school district annually since settling a complaint in 1998, claiming student minority populations were not distributed equally within the district. The complaint followed a school attendance line proposal from Ohio consultant DeJong and Associates. The consultant was paid $42,600 by the district to redraw attendance lines for the 1998 opening of Limestone-Central, Grassy Pond and Northwest Elementaries. Ultimately, the school board made only minor changes in attendance lines after spending several months discussing the issue. School trustee Ola Copeland co-chaired the 1998 attendance line committee. "I get a call every year from an attorney from the OCR asking if we've made any changes. We will need to get their approval before we can do anything with our attendance lines," Copeland said. "We have to be very careful that we keep our student ratios intact, particularly with regards to minority students." The attendance line issue comes with the district still facing overcrowding in some areas of the county. Grassy Pond is the fastestgrowing area of the county, according to recent U.S. Census data. Northwest Elementary Principal Cathy Curry has asked for three new teachers in next year's school budget. Curry said the teachers are needed because some grades will have average class sizes of 26 to 27 students next school year. If the request is approved, Curry said the district would need to move a couple mobile units to Northwest Elementary to provide the school with enough classroom space. For her part, Auton said she can't see spending more money on short-term school building solutions before the district looks more closely at changing attendance lines. "We have the technology in place so attendance lines could be redrawn much easier than in the past," she said. |
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