Westerville City School District Board of Education members during their February 25, 2013, regular meeting heard a status report on the work that has been completed by the Elementary Attendance Boundary Realignment Committee (EABRC).
The EABRC met Monday morning, at which time its members reviewed a new option, Option F, and reduced other remaining options to Option A and Option D. Information about the three remaining options is available at www.wcsoh.org. Feedback on these options will be collected through 11:45 p.m. on March 6, 2013. Interested persons are encouraged to share their thoughts on these options even if they had provided feedback earlier in the process.
Option A and Option D have not been altered since their original introduction. Option F is the result of input gathered since February 19 and reflects a continued effort to develop boundaries with a same-school neighborhood focus. Additionally, Option F is estimated to impact 1,097 students, which is the fewest of all options developed to date.
Upon the recommendation of the EABRC, the Board last week announced that it would delay a first reading on proposed elementary attendance boundary revisions until its regular meeting on March 11, 2013. According to the original timeline, Board members were expected to hold their first reading yesterday. Should the Board wish to approve boundary revisions prior to spring break as originally planned, it would need to schedule a special meeting prior to March 22, 2013, at which a second and final reading would occur.
Elementary attendance boundary realignment is necessary due in part to the elimination of the district’s magnet program as part of budget reductions following a failed operating levy in November of 2011. Two of the magnet program’s locations, Hanby and Emerson elementary schools, would share an attendance boundary under each of the boundary options still being considered.