BROOKINGS – The Brookings School Board has tabled changes to the district’s elementary school attendance boundaries.
Although not tabled permanently, the Monday night action does mean that elementary school attendance boundaries, which determine which elementary school a child would attend based on his or her address, will remain as they are for the 2018-2019 school year.
In the current boundaries, the line separating Medary and Dakota Prairie attendance areas mainly follows 12th Street South east of Main Avenue South. Under the proposed boundary changes, however, this boundary was pushed south to follow 15th Street South.
Also, Western Estates and Hillside Trailer Court, now within Medary’s boundaries, would instead be in Hillcrest’s boundaries under the proposed plan. Significantly, the city of Aurora would fall within Hillcrest’s boundaries, instead of its current Dakota Prairie boundaries.
The board tabled the proposed changes following the recommendation of Brookings School District Superintendent Klint Willert, who said too many questions remained.
“I think there is still – and rightfully so – some questions about parity and the level that we’re able to provide equity of service among our schools, particularly the Title I service,” Willert explained.
He added that people worry about the changes creating “a have and have-not school environment in our district, and that’s a very fair concern.”
Other lingering questions included the assigning of Aurora and potential impacts it would have on a school building.
Willert said tabling the implementation of the boundary changes allows the district to look deeper into alternative options, meaning the work already done won’t be wasted and work on boundary changes will continue.
And then there were questions about grandfathering; although there was a grandfathering policy when the attendance boundaries were last changed, it wasn’t written down.
Members of the school board had wanted it written into the text of the policy this time, however, so that it would be more easily found by district staff and families as well as being clearly defined.
“We never did even have an opportunity at the board level to have a conversation about grandfathering and what that means and how we apply any principle of grandfathering going forward,” he concluded.
The first reading on the proposed boundary changes happened during the Jan. 8 school board meeting, and a public informational meeting was held Jan. 16.
Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.
Photo: These proposed elementary school attendance boundary changes have been tabled by the Brookings School Board.
