By Larry Lannan
The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Corporation has endured some pain lately. School administrators had to cut over $2.8 million from the current school year budget. It is looking for a permanent new superintendent after Brian Smith left to lead the Indiana School Boards Association.
Now the school system is faced with another painful process – redistricting. All schools, grades Kindergarten through 8th Grade, will be subjected to this process of changing the boundaries that determine where your child will attend school. There will be no changes in high school boundaries in this redistricting.
This is a painful but necessary process. The western part of Fishers is not growing at the speed we are seeing student populations swell in the eastern end of the HSE school district.
This is not a new process for HSE Schools. The last redistricting was done five years ago.
The first step is forming a committee to review all the current and projected enrollment information.
There will be meetings for public input where anyone may speak their mind. Officials are hoping to have the redistricting plan in place by the end of 2014, with the changes effective for the school year starting in August, 2015.
The school board is being advised to use three priorities in making redistricting decisions…
-Assign students to attend schools closest to their homes
-Design a “feeder” system for the high schools
-Maintain neighborhoods and subdivisions.
School officials emphasized they would follow these three precepts “to the greatest degree possible.” This redistricting process is an effort by HSE Schools to allow each school building to reach a student population close to its capacity, while at the same time allowing space for some growth.
When my daughters were in HSE Schools, we were watching that process closely. Where your children will attend school is a very big piece of information any parent wants to know.
By beginning the process now, and completing the work by the end of the year, parents will know many months in advance where their children will be attending school in August, 2015. This also allows time for the high schools to complete their required planning for the next school year.
HSE parents should pay attention to the process, plan to attend information meetings and speak at public hearings if you have specific ideas on the redistricting plans.
