Center Grove has finalized its plan for which school students will attend after another elementary opens.
The school board voted 5-0 in favor of a recommendation that was originally presented during the board meeting in February.
In order to prepare for the opening of Walnut Grove, its sixth elementary school, the district will move 1,218 elementary students and 141 middle school students to different schools this fall. The move would allow the most room for growth at Sugar Grove, Maple Grove and Walnut Grove elementary schools where Center Grove anticipates the greatest population increase will occur, according to a district presentation.
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The final plan comes after numerous meetings involving the community, the redistricting committee and the school board since September. During that process, educational consulting firm Cooperative Strategies considered feedback and recently narrowed consideration of 10 scenarios to one picked by an internal committee, according to the firm’s February presentation.
Although a handful of parents voiced objection to the plan during last month’s school board meeting regarding deviations between previous recommendations and the final one, there were no comments from the public on Wednesday. Several board members showed support for the final proposal.
“No redistricting process is perfect,” board member Scott Alexander said. “No scenario will make everyone 100 percent happy. This is the third time around we’re going through this process.
“We’ve come a long way (with) how we approach the process and the committee being informed. I’m proud of the strides we’ve made in the process of doing this.”
The final recommendation moves fewer students than any of the previous scenarios. The two scenarios presented to Center Grove residents in January each would have moved more than 1,350 students. The final recommendation also moves 10 neighborhoods back to their original schools, according to the presentation.
Students entering fifth or eighth grade this fall will have to fill out an application in April to be grandfathered into their current school if they are no longer zoned for the same school. While all applications for grandfathering will be approved, students will have to provide their own transportation if they go to a school outside of the redrawn boundaries. Students who transferred last year will also have to fill out an application to stay in the schools they are currently in, spokesperson Stacy Conrad said.
“We’re a growing district,” board member Rob Daniels said. “We have a brand new school coming in. It’s an exciting time and we’re really blessed to be in this situation. It’s a committee effort, a community effort, your effort. I walked in thinking Scenario 1 was best, but now I understand why the changes are made. I truly believe this is what’s best for the corporation as a whole.”
The plans also better balance the percentage of students in each school receiving free and reduced lunch and keeps each school under 100 percent utilization, meaning schools won’t have to use portable classrooms in the fall if the presentation’s projections are correct.
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Parents and students who want to see which school they will assigned to can visit https://www.centergrove.k12.in.us/schoollocator
Parents who want to transfer their child to another school, be grandfathered in or keep their child at the same school they transferred to last year can visit https://www.centergrove.k12.in.us/transfers
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