Perrysburg board OKs elementary redistricting plan
This is an issue a growing school district will face, Superintendent Michael Cline said.
The board approved the plan unanimously after about 90 minutes of discussion and comments from some of the about 40 people at the meeting, beginning with a student.
Third-grader Macie Downs, granddaughter of board member Gretchen Downs, gave the board a petition signed by her classmates and said even though she wouldn t change schools, her friends would.
I don t want my friends to leave Toth school, she said.
The changes to the boundaries include moving the boundary for Woodland Elementary westward, from State Rt. 199 to State Rt. 25.
Students in a section west of Route 25, bounded by Fort Meigs Road, Five Point Road, and Roachton Road, will go to Woodland Elementary instead of Frank Elementary as proposed originally. That area includes the Horseshoe Bend subdivision.
The boundary between the Toth and Frank attendance areas will move from Indiana Avenue to Seventh Street.
The board amended the superintendent s original proposal to take into account input the district received from residents during a series of community meetings this month.
People were concerned that Frank Elementary would be too crowded, especially if significant growth occurred in the southwest part of the district.
The board also agreed unanimously to allow students who will be in fifth grade next year to stay in their current schools, although the district will not provide transportation for them.
The plan is designed to help balance the enrollment among the district s four elementary schools and to reduce the spread in class sizes.
Fort Meigs and Toth elementaries tend to be more crowded than Frank and Woodland elementaries.
District officials estimated, based on February enrollment data, that Fort Meigs Elementary will lose 25 students and Toth Elementary will lose 46. Frank Elementary will gain 11 and Woodland Elementary will gain 60 students.
Some residents told the board they thought redistricting would not prevent future overcrowding. You re moving the problem from Toth to Woodland, Tom Brown, who lives in the Saddlebrook subdivision, said.
The number of classes with student-teacher ratios over the target level will decrease, although some ratios are expected to still be over the target, especially in second grade.
The plan also reduces the number of island subdivisions. Students who live in those newer developments are assigned to a different school than students in surrounding neighborhoods because the schools were full.
The district plans to review its boundaries every two years, but would redistrict again only if there is a need, Mr. Cline said. The longer you wait, the more dramatic the changes, he said.
The last time Perrysburg schools were redistricted was in the early 1990s.
Mr. Cline and board members also addressed concerns that Frank Elementary has lower test scores than the other elementaries. Board member Mark Schoenlein pointed out that several district students who recently won awards are Frank students, including his daughter.