St. Charles School Board Approves New Boundaries for Elementary Schools

Parents hoping to transfer their children out of or into next year may find it difficult to get approval for the move, said Superintendent Randy Charles.

Those two schools were highlighted as places that the district intends to keep its eye on, as parents put in requests for transfers to new schools next year.

About 450 elementary school students will be will be re-assigned to a new district elementary school for the 2011-12 school year, as the boundary lines for each school will change.

 The Board of Education approved for the schools Feb. 10. The changes are needed because the district is re-opening .

Families that will be affected by the move will be notified by letter. The new boundary lines are also available on the district’s website.

Parents will have the chance to request a transfer to a different school, but those requests will be granted based on a number of variables, including whether the families have had to switch schools during previous re-organizations and whether the transfer will help maintain equal class sizes.

March 1 is the deadline to request a transfer to a new school.

The new boundaries do a pretty good job of balancing the schools, said Charles. The boundaries for Blackhurst Elementary School are similar to old boundaries before the school was closed.

But the boundaries aren’t perfect. Several schools are expected to have enrollment numbers that are either greater than or less than the target enrollment.

Coverdell Elementary School, for example, is expected to have about 258 students enrolled, 31 less than the target enrollment. About 28 students chose to transfer out of Coverdell in the past year.

Lincoln Elementary School will have about 190 students, which is about 19 more than ideal number. Principal Julie Williams said the school currently has 214 students. With 190 students, the school will have fewer elementary classrooms, but any extra space will be taken up by the .

“We’re going to have to be careful about transfers out of Coverdell and transfers into Lincoln,” said Charles.

Board members had little to say about the boundary proposal during the Feb. 10 meeting. But board member Wayne Oetting said he thinks that with a projected enrollment of 1,955 students, the district could have not opened Blackhurst and had enough room for students.

Charles said although the information was not presented that evening, elementary school enrollment would continue to go up.

“We wanted to make this change now because we expect we’ll have a lot of students and parents who are interested in an in-district transfer,” he said. “This gives us a little bit more flexibility.”

Board member Donna Towers said re-opening the school will allow the district to keep class sizes small and accommodate the new preschool classrooms.