Wednesday, February 09, 2000
Redistricting plan upsets some
Public hearings are planned
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HEBRON — A plan to redistrict about 650 Boone County elementary students will reduce crowding and level out the socioeconomic makeup of the district's 11 schools, administrators said.
The process also creates a base of 451 students for North Pointe Elementary, now under construction off Ky. 237.
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IF YOU GO
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What: Public hearing on elementary school redistricting.
When: 7 p.m. today.
Where: Stephens Elementary, 5687 Ky. 237.
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PROPOSED REDISTRICTING
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From Goodridge Elementary to Northpointe Elementary:
• Cardinal Cove, Constance, Conway Hills, Country Place, Deer Creek, Elijah Creek, Garrison Creek, Horizon West, North Bend, Park West, Parlor Grove, River Road, Rivershore Farms, Second Creek, Stahl Road, Tanner Road, Taylorsport, Thornwilde, Tree Tops, Williams Road, Windemere, Woodland Estates.
From Stephens Elementary to Goodridge Elementary:
• Boone Creek, Cox and Taylor, Crestview Lands, Dartmouth Woods, Deerfield, Derby Farms, Hebron Industrial, Limaburg Creek, Regal Ridge, Timber Ridge, Val Court.
From Burlington Elementary to Stephens Elementary:
• Burl Park, Darlington Farms.
From Burlington Elementary to Kelly Elementary:
• East Bend area (Greene, Wolfe and Howe roads.)
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The plans mean a longer bus ride for some children. Other students will be separated from friends. Families on the two ends of Graves Road will attend different schools.
Some parents, like Don Poore of Derby Farms, are unhappy.
“We bought houses in that area for that school,” Mr. Poore said. “Those were the conditions.”
The plans are tentative, pending input from several public hearings, Superintendent Bryan Blavatt said.
A committee of school officials, parents and county planners spent months on the redistricting plan. Mr. Blavatt said the goal was to keep neighborhoods intact, put students into schools close to their homes and increase the diversity of students.
“What's best for the 13,000 students in Boone County may not articulate to what's best for your family,” Mr. Blavatt said.
Many parents said they bought their homes with the understanding from Realtors that their children would attend a certain school.
Mr. Blavatt and the Northern Kentucky Association of Realtors said no one can make guarantees when the district is growing between 3 percent and 6 percent a year.
Colleen Berger, Realtors association president, said the challenge is making buyers understand there are no absolutes to school districting.
“If someone's decision-making factor is school placement, we have to disclose to them what the present school is,” Ms. Berger said.
“We are in no way in control of districting and how school boundaries might change in the future.”
Mr. Poore said he is unhappy because his two sons now at Stephens Elementary will have to travel farther to get to Goodridge.
He said he can see Stephens and Burlington schools from his home.
Debbie Graves, who lives on Graves Road, wants her children to be moved.
“I'm wondering if we have the option to go where the rest of the street is going,” she said.
The redistricting plan would keep Ms. Graves' property in the Burlington Elementary district, while the rest of the street goes to North Pointe.
The plans also would mean an end to portable classrooms at Stephens Elementary. The school is now 117 students over capacity.
Stephens, as well the 10 other elementary schools, will each be left with room to grow.
North Pointe will start with 451 students but is being built for 759.
Mr. Blavatt said all of the plans will be reviewed before they are being presented to the board at its March meeting.
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