Central Valley School District shifts attendance boundaries, removing over 100 kids from Opportunity Elementary
More than 100 Opportunity Elementary students will be directed to attend neighboring schools in Central Valley after an adjustment to the district's internal boundaries.
The Central Valley School Board on Monday unanimously approved recommendations to shift school attendance zones in the Northwest part of the district, affecting kids attending elementary schools Opportunity, Broadway, McDonald, Progress and University.
The changes were spurred in part to boost enrollment at smaller elementary schools and make class sizes consistent across the district, Jennifer Kindle, executive academic officer at Central Valley, told the board Monday.
"This really allows us to create equitable class sizes across all of our elementaries," Kindle said.
Opportunity Elementary will be the most affected. Its boundaries shrank and will be absorbed by neighboring schools. An estimated 109 Opportunity pupils will attend either Broadway, Progress or McDonald elementaries, depending on where they live.
The attendance boundary for Progress Elementary is shifted west, from Best Road to McDonald Street, adding an estimated 58 kids to Progress from Opportunity's bounds.
The boundary for Broadway Elementary is moved south, from Wellesley Avenue to Sprague Avenue, looping an estimated 25 kids into Broadway who previously lived in Opportunity's zone.
The boundary for McDonald Elementary is moved north, from Fourth to Sprague Avenue, bringing another estimated 26 kids from Opportunity to McDonald.
Kindle said the changes bring these students to their "neighborhood schools."
"All of the changes in the boundaries brought these students closer to their new school than they ever were to Opportunity," Kindle said.
Affected families will have the option to keep their kids at their original school until they age up to middle school, though the district won't provide busing for them.
Kindle said she expects about half of the families to keep their kids enrolled at their current school.
Around 90% of the 109 students who will move from Opportunity now live within the 1-mile walk radius of their new elementary school, meaning the district will no longer bus them.
The boundary change is also meant to brace for an expected population boost from a new, 240-unit low income apartment complex on the west side of the district. The Orchard Vista Apartment Complex, 9910 E. Appleway Blvd., is expected to begin filling units in May.
Children living in this complex will attend University Elementary, despite living within Opportunity's boundaries. Kindle said the district doesn't yet know how many extra pupils the new development will bring, but University still has capacity for another 40-some students.
Kindle said the transition could result in savings to the district in the coming years, though she is not sure by how much.
"In some of our smaller schools, we've committed to having two teachers per grade level, but yet sometimes our class sizes are smaller than we are wishing that they would be," she said.
Board member Cindy McMullen thanked the work of district staff in adjusting boundaries, noting they are not sure exactly how many kids will shift schools.
"The outcome is as good as you could ask for," she said. "We don't have a crystal ball so we're not quite sure how everything is going to fit, but it is thoughtful and I think it is going to meet the needs of as many of our families as we possibly can."
After Monday night's approval, the district in May will host meetings at each school to welcome new students and share information about how families can keep their kids at their original school.
Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
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