Second round of attendance boundary feedback accepted by School Board
Feedback from hundreds of families regarding proposals for new school attendance boundaries in Anoka-Hennepin were presented to the School Board at a June 11 meeting. The report included input gathered from community meetings, online surveys and emails since the process began in February.
The School Board reviewed initial community feedback at a March 26 meeting and directed new proposals be prepared in response to community input. The June 11 report showed that the three themes from earlier in the spring are still present:
- Proposed changes to Roosevelt Middle School (RMS) in the Blaine cluster. This is by far the most prevalent feedback item generating nearly 70 percent of interactions.
- Proposed changes to Monroe and Evergreen Park elementary schools in the Champlin Park cluster with 17.8 percent of total responses.
- Proposed changes to Andover Elementary School in the Andover cluster generated 5.6 percent of interactions.
Since late February, 35 school and community meetings were held with about 953 community members in attendance. There were also 1,780 survey responses and 181 email conversations to the boundaries@ahschools.us email address. A phone hotline was also utilized.
The School Board created a series of planning parameters to guide decision making regarding the attendance boundary proposals. An established policy ensures community feedback is considered prior to any final decisions. Because attendance boundary adjustments are difficult for those impacted, the policy also aims to keep new boundaries in place for a minimum of five years at the elementary school level and 10 years at the middle school level.
“We understand the majority of community members are picking proposals that don’t impact them” said Tom Heidemann, School Board chair. “Our hope with this feedback, is to find the true reasonings why, and whether or not they are known or in conjunction with our parameters.”
A variety of factors are causing a need to balance student enrollment all across the district at the elementary and middle school levels, including the addition of two new elementary schools, the removal of portable classrooms, and an addressment of class size. Check out a video for a closer look, ahschools.us/BoundaryVideo.
The School Board is expected to hear a first reading on the proposed attendance boundaries at their Aug. 27 meeting. Final approval is planned for the Sept. 24 meeting. The new boundaries will go into effect fall 2019.
Additional information, including the feedback form and a frequently asked questions page, can be found at ahschools.us/boundaries.