KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.
Confusion and concerns continue in the Northland as the Park Hill School District is drawing new boundary lines. The new maps will impact where elementary, middle and high school students could go in the 2025-2026 school year.
Park Hill has gone through 20 versions of who will attend the schools next year, and who will attend the district's newest addition of Angeline Washington Elementary School.
The district's chief communication officer explained there had been several rounds of feedback on the proposals before the most recent maps were submitted to the school board.
"We know that not everyone was going to receive what they wanted or receive what they thought was desirable for certain neighborhoods," Kelly Wachel said. "At the same time, we feel really good about receiving that feedback and then putting forth maps that benefit the whole community."
However, the final maps concern some middle school parents. Some say their neighborhood is being split up, and others say the maps are unevenly skewed toward wealthier neighborhood preferences.
"It's pockets of neighborhoods going to one school and pockets that are going to another," Shane Sachs said. "I don't believe that's fair."
Shane Sachs is a father to two elementary school students. One of his sons was supposed to attend Walden Middle School next year, but now he will be going to Lakeview Middle School if the new maps are approved. He's not as upset with where his sons will be attending middle school, as he is with how the district decided the lines.
"People on the high socioeconomic scale are influencing the board and are doing everything they can for it," Sachs said.
According to district data, the newest addition of Angeline Washington will have the lowest percentage of students on a free or reduced lunch out of all 12 elementary schools. 4% of students will have a reduced lunch at Angeline Washington. The district elementary school average is 24.8% of students.
Walden Middle School is also another newer addition to Park Hill, and the middle school Sachs explains is more preferred among some neighborhoods. The percentage of students who will have a free or reduced lunch is also the lowest out of all the middle schools at 20%, compared to an average of 25%.
"Since we have one of the lowest socioeconomic numbers, [they think] we should split middle schools," Sachs said. "Now we have to drive farther to a middle school and people that live on the other side are going to get to go to the new middle school now."
KSHB 41 News reporter Isabella Ledonne sat down with Park Hill's chief communication officer to review how the lines are drawn. The district selected an advisory committee from a pool of parent and staff applicants. That team helped decide the maps after receiving nearly 6,000 pieces of feedback.
"Every single piece of feedback got reviewed and evaluated," Wachel said. "Those feedback pieces contributed to our advisory team's recommendations and evaluations along the way."
Sachs believes the process allowed some neighborhoods to have a stronger say.
"One of the higher social economic neighborhoods typically crowd the board meeting and say they don't want their neighborhood split," Sachs said. "Then the committee votes and then they draw them a new map."
The end results of the maps show uneven middle school boundary lines and involve Sach's children going to school further away.
"I just think it should be fair," Sachs said.
Park Hill officials emphasized there is no difference in curriculum or resources among the schools.
"Every single school in our district is going to have equitable resources and access to resources [families] need," Wachel said. "That doesn't matter where you go to school, you're going to get the same resources that are equitably distributed for all of our schools."
The district is still receiving feedback on the proposed boundary maps and the plan could still change. The school board will have the final say on the redistricting proposal. Their next meeting is set for Dec. 12.
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