Published: November 20, 2009 03:32 pm      

Committee presents redistrict options to board

AVON — With the recent growth of the school district and the upcoming addition of River Birch Elementary, the school corporation here is forced to do its second redistricting for K-4 students in three years.

River Birch is set to open in the fall of 2010, adding to Avon’s six elementary schools. With the opening, Avon will have the capacity for 3,900 elementary students. The projected enrollment of K-4 students in 2010-11 is 3,340.

A redistricting committee was formed and members presented three options to the school board earlier this week.

“I think that (the presentation) went fine,” Associate Superintendent Maggie Hoernemann, who is a member of the committee, said. “We loved the opportunity to let the board have a first look. They ask the same questions that the public will have.”

All three of the models put the buildings below capacity, which allows for growth. In each of the models, the committee viewed the number of students, the number moved, demographics, and transportation.

With each of the options, there will be about 650 students moved to meet the target enrollment for River Birch. It is assumed that there will be 90 incoming kindergarten students at each school with the exception of White Oak where 70 are expected. The plans also respect natural boundaries and have all students in neighborhood subdivisions attending the same elementary school.

According to the committee report, each of the plans makes the schools more balanced demographically. They also said that because River Birch is a “geographic outlier” to the north, northern neighborhoods will be the most affected.

In order to ease the process of the redistricting, each of the six elementary school principals appointed a parent representative to sit on the committee.

“It was absolutely critical (to have the parents on the committee),” Hoernemann said. “We get the perspective that no one else in the district can share. It is also educational to the parents to know the complexities of a school system. We think that the more people that understand these complexities, the better school system that we have. We would love if everyone could be part of it. It is helpful knowing that the models were not just Maggie Hoernemann’s, that the parents helped develop them.”

In addition to members of the school corporation and the parents, the school also enlisted the assistance of Purdue professors Drs. Jim Auter and Bill McInerney.

Hoernemann said information from the report will be placed on the school corporation’s website. She expects it to be up around the week after Thanksgiving after the board is able to digest the information and make recommendations.

A school board meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 14 in the auditorium at Avon Middle School North. Public feedback will be accepted at that meeting.



ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com