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Lessons from the Front Line. Working with Boundary Committees and the Community. Elements of Success in Establishing New Attendance Areas. Decide on the Process. Know your Board and community: Internal staff process?, or, Committee with public input?. Political Considerations.
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Lessons from the Front Line Working with Boundary Committees and the Community
Decide on the Process Know your Board and community: • Internal staff process?, or, • Committee with public input?
Political Considerations • Broad representation on the Boundary Study Committee • Use an application • Make it a Superintendent’s Committee to avoid Brown Act Issues (open meeting laws) • Use principals as staff representatives • The Board of Trustees and Superintendent must be willing to let others arrive at a recommendation without interference
Committee Composition • 15-20 persons max • District Staff • Curriculum • Business • Transportation • Facilities • School site personnel • Parents from affected schools • City staff?
Organizational and Process Issues • Engage a neutral, trained facilitator to lead the committee through the process • Make decisions by consensus • Establish criteria for evaluating potential maps/options before the maps are drawn Important!
Examples of Criteria • Students should live as close to their school as possible • Middle school students should stay together when they go to high school • Student enrollment should be matched with the design capacity of each school
Information Needs • Good demographic information and enrollment forecasts are critical in the development of various plans • The ability to create “what if” scenarios allows for meaningful participation of committee members and the public • SchoolSite is ideal for this process
Use a Building Block Approach • Here is where Study Areas come into play…
Why Use Study Areas? • If designed properly and the process is understood, avoids the pitfalls of dealing with designing boundaries around individual streets • Allows for the preparation of enrollment projections for small areas • Study Areas should be developed based upon the committee criteria for boundariesi.e. current attendance zones, major roads, city boundaries, new development, etc.
Additional Criteria Including Transportation Issues • Use ArcGIS Network Analyst extension…
Various Maps Illustrating a Single Boundary Plan versus the Criteria
Provide for Public Input • Use an “accordion” process of going out to the community and back to the committee several times • Each time you talk to the public, designate one person to speak. It may be the facilitator or a staff member • Much of the public input will be in the form of unrelated questions that need to be answered
Get Good Media Coverage • Bring your local reporters in early and often • Ask the committee to decide if any of them will be allowed to communicate with media (Best answer = no) • The facilitator is in best position to provide accurate information and keep the heat off of staff • Provide complex information/maps in advance of public meetings so they have time to get comfortable with it
Pulling the Trigger • Make the recommendation to the Board in the form of a management report, not to be acted on at that meeting • Make any critical revisions or compromises before the final vote • Make a decision and move on
Additional Benefits of Proper Planning • Projections and boundary planning will identify areas of future site needs in a timely manner, which will: • Save $ in site acquisition and incremental building costs by accurately pin-pointing future facility needs • Minimize the need to re-visit the boundary process in the future.
When You Accurately Plan and Your Boundaries are Set, You Could be Here!