Close to 150 parents of Bethlehem students carefully reviewed five new redistricting boundary scenarios presented by the firm hired by the school district to draw up new lines to include a new elementary school next year.
We have a lot of information to present tonight, said Doug Hamlin, VersaTrans president, who presided over the meeting with school board and redistricting committee members looking on.
Three large screens were used in the high school cafeteria on Tuesday, Nov. 6, to present the new maps and track work that has been done by the committee since September. When the presentation ended, parents spilled out into the hall, where each of the five new maps along with the current district school boundaries was set up for display.
Each scenario was based on established criteria agreed upon by the committee and the school board that includes establishment of the appropriate school enrollment, and achievement of more rational boundaries. Parents also wanted VersaTrans to look for ways to lessen the walking distance to school for students.
`The current average walking distance from home to school is 2.25 miles,` said Hamlin. `With the five new scenarios, that average walking distance is down to 1.83 miles.`
If one of the five boundary scenarios is ultimately approved by the school board, anywhere between 418 to 519 total students currently in grades one through four would be affected by the change.
New district boundary lines are being developed to accommodate students in the new Eagle Elementary School, which is expected to open in the fall of 2008. The new redistricting boundaries also take into account the implementation of full-day kindergarten at each of the six elementary schools.
`Hundreds of students will be in a new school next year no matter what we do so there will be a lot of change,` said school board president James Lytle. `I hope we keep in mind it’s important for students to feel good about the decisions we will be making together,` Lytle added.
As parents reviewed the maps outside in the hall, redistricting committee members continued their work inside the cafeteria expressing the advantages and disadvantages of each scenario.
`You really feel that everything we said, VersaTrans tried to incorporate in these maps,` said committee member Angie Randles.
Randles said committee members feel scenario one boundaries were the most natural but scenario two split neighborhoods like Wemple Avenue. Scenario three appeared to be the committee’s least favorite but in scenario four Randles said only 29 percent of students would have to change schools. Scenario five according to the committee showed the least amount of students having to move from one school to another.
Hamlin said Clarkesville School boundary lines are the same in each scenario and that boundary lines for Slingerlands School changes very little from one scenario to another. All of Haswell Farms students have been moved to Eagle Elementary School with the new scenarios according to Hamlin.
The next two meetings of the redistricting committee will be held Nov. 13 and Nov. 27. The committee is expected to narrow the five choices down to two or three scenarios by December. The Bethlehem school board will make the final decision by the end of this year. More information on the five new redistricting boundary lines for Bethlehem can be found on the school districts website at bcsd.k12.ny.us.
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