The 2007-2008 school year marks the twenty-seventh (27th) year that citizens are involved in the Attendance Boundary Committee (ABC) process. This committee was established by the School Board (see School Board Rule 6Gx13- 5A-1.10, Attendance Areas) and the Superintendent after numerous citizens expressed concerns about the lack of community involvement in attendance boundary recommendations. Subsequently, each year community members from various civic and educational advocacy organizations have diligently served on this committee, reviewing recommendations of proposed attendance boundaries for new schools and changes to the boundaries of existing schools.
The challenge this year is to comply with the state mandate of Class Size Reduction while providing specific direction to communities as attendance boundaries are changed or established. In order to be compliant with constitutional requirements related to Class Size Reduction, additional student stations are being built to bring relief to specific schools for a specific number of students. To ensure that relief is provided to the intended schools, revised boundary procedures allow the Superintendent of Schools, with the assistance of School Operations, Regional Centers and the Office of School Facilities, to develop proposed boundary recommendations. The proposed recommendations will be presented at regional meetings to the affected school communities. The boundary recommendations will then be reviewed by the 17 Attendance Boundary Committee members.
The development of attendance zone recommendations with community involvement continues to be a primary goal of this School Board, the Superintendent of Schools, and the Attendance Boundary Committee. Attendance boundary changes have been determined after a number of factors were considered. The factors are: compliance with the Class Size Reduction mandate, impact on Special Education programs, use of available student stations within contiguous areas, degree and extent of transportation, programmatic impact due to lack of student housing, reduction of the number of schools students must attend, integrity of feeder systems, assignment of students from new residential developments to specific schools prior to completion of developments, construction of new schools, promotion and maintenance of diverse school enrollments, and reduction or elimination of racial isolation to the extent practical.
Attendance zone recommendations are long-range solutions designed to stabilize affected schools and bring schools within the mandates of Class Size Reduction. Determining attendance boundaries through ABC is a yearlong process with all meetings open to the public.
It is recommended that community members who are interested in a future boundary change discuss their ideas with their Regional Superintendent prior to the fall ABC meetings. The Regional Superintendent can provide information on school demographics, proposed construction at an existing school, construction timelines for new schools in the area, boundary information and other details about the school.
Should you have any additional questions, please contact Dr. Consuelo V. Domínguez, Administrative Director, School Operations, or Ms. Connie Kostyra, Supervisor, School Operations, at 305 995-7626.
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