Champaign high school redistricting options presented
CHAMPAIGN – The best option for changing high school boundaries in Champaign would affect families south of Windsor Road and in two areas between Russell Street and Mattis Avenue, according to a demographer hired to develop redistricting options for the Champaign school district.
Jerome McKibben presented two options at a community forum Monday night, then the school board discussed them.
The plans attempt to equalize the enrollments of the two high schools, as well as the number of low-income and minority students at each school.
The two options have the Central High School district wrapping around the city to the south in Option One, and to the north in Option Two. Option Two would move students south of Windsor and east of Duncan to Central, and students in Garden Hills to Centennial.
McKibben said his No. 1 goal was to develop a plan that will keep student numbers, as well as racial and economic makeups, even for the next 10 years.
"We want to have the boundaries hold for at least 10 years, because nobody wants to go through this five years in the future," he said.
McKibben said Option One would do that better than Option Two.
The redistricting plan will include a sibling preference transfer policy, which would allow some younger siblings to go to the same high school as their older brothers or sisters, even if their homes are in a location that would ordinarily go to a different high school under the redistricting plan. Whether the younger siblings will be grandfathered into the same high school depends on their grade level next year, and the grade level of the sibling in high school next year.
The sibling transfer policy affects younger siblings in grades sixth through eighth next year.
Community members and board members questioned how to ensure families with even younger children would get into the same high school as their older ones. Under some scenarios, a sixth-grader next year could eventually be in a different high school than a younger sibling.
"There's no way we can have a perfect plan where no one gets hurt," McKibben said, adding the transfer policy means the full effect of either redistricting plan won't be seen until 2016-17.
The key, said board President Dave Tomlinson, is communicating to parents when the transfer policy would end for their families.
Some board and community members asked whether a new high school in the future was considered in developing the redistricting options. They noted a new high school will likely be built in the north part of the district and asked whether Option One could be adjusted to put more land in the north in Central's district, because a new high school would eventually replace Central.
McKibben said a new high school was not considered, and "unless you're really convinced you're going to bring a high school online in five or six or seven years, I wouldn't bother because you're going to have to redraw the boundary lines anyway" in 10 years.
District administrators will recommend one of the two options at the board's November meeting, and the board will vote on the recommended option.
For information or to see maps of the redistricting options, see the school district's Web site at www.champaignschools.org and click on "Redistricting" on the right side of the page.
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