Criteria and Guiding Principles

Board of Education Criteria and Guiding Principals

Criteria #1 – Provide the best possible learning opportunities for all students

·         Seek to ensure all schools have comprehensive offerings in both academic and elective areas so that all schools provide equitable opportunities to students of all ability and interest levels.

·         Seek to ensure that high education quality is maintained in all schools during transitions caused by boundary changes.

·         Seek to maintain or reduce class sizes when possible. 

·         Strive to balance the socio-economic makeup of the buildings when possible.

Criteria #2 – Make the best possible use of existing facilities

·         Anticipate reality of future growth potential at each building in the district.

·         Ensure that all schools will be utilized to capacity but not become severely overcrowded during the years before another school is built to serve the area.

·         Ensure that each school will have enrollment within the district recommended range.

 Criteria #3 – Minimize added expenses

·         Set up boundaries which would impose a minimum of additional expenses for transportation, modification to the facilities or program changes.

·         Improve transportation routes where possible.

·         Ensure that each school will have enrollment within the district recommended range.

Criteria #4 – Minimize disruption of the education programs for each student and school

·         Complete boundaries at least six months in advance of implementation so students will be able to plan for any school boundary changes.

·         Do not require families to send siblings to different schools in a given school year due to district boundary changes.

·         Do not move families consecutive years due to district boundary changes.

·         Special consideration may be given to students at the fifth grade level.

·         Develop boundaries which will last for longest possible time period without subsequent changes.

·         Consider likely subsequent boundary changes with the future construction of a new high school and middle and junior high buildings.

·         Consider feeder school boundaries

·         Consider the impact of boundary changes on school programs.

Criteria #5 – Minimize the movement of students from schools in close proximity to their neighborhoods

Criteria #6 – Achieve wide community support for proposal

·         Boundary changes are by their very nature an emotional issue.  Any recommended plan will fail to satisfy all members of the community as fair and appropriate, nevertheless, the committee will seek wide approval and understanding of plans prior to recommending one or more to the Board of Education for consideration.

·         Schools and the District benefit from the widest possible community support.

·         Consider correspondence and comment at public hearing in refining and revising plans.

·         Seek to achieve a plan which most community members can accept as fair to the students of the entire district.

·         Understanding that no plan will be without opposition, strive for a plan with features that reflect community concerns and generate minimal opposition.

·         Consider the balance of comments from the public hearing and all other communications to the Boundary Advisory Committee in making final recommendations to the Board.