District Holds Second Boundary Committee Meeting to Redefine Attendance Boundaries
On March 20, Waukee Community School District held the second Boundary Committee meeting at the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center (WILC). The goal of the meeting was to provide information that will help guide the Boundary Committee’s discussion to redefine the district’s elementary and secondary attendance center boundaries. Key topics included boundary process, scope, and criteria, neighborhood discussion and creating a baseline for scenarios.
The meeting, facilitated by Robert Schwarz and Jay Harris of RSP & Associates, started with an overview of feedback collected from the public forum held on February 13.
The demographic results indicated that the committee and attendees of the public forum were similar, with over 40% living in the district more than 10 years.
When asked about the boundary criteria, the biggest difference between the committee and public was around grade configuration. 51.8% of the public forum attendees were in favor of the current grade configuration K-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12 while 53.7% of committee members were in favor of a K-5, 6-8, 9-12 grade configuration. 42% of committee members felt that academic program opportunities should have the most influence in determining grade configuration. Committee members were asked to reach out to district administration to gain a better understanding of why the current system was chosen.
The meeting ended with three activities. The first activity asked each table to create one sentence that best captures what defines a neighborhood. The second activity asked members to draw lines on a map to create what they think attendance boundaries should look like, without detailed data. These draft sketches will be used by RSP to create scenarios for the next committee meeting. The third activity asked committee members to answer the following questions:
- How much time should a school with high residential growth potential be allowed to be underutilized?
- Should the City in which you reside be a factor in what school a student attends? Please provide details.
- Are there any special considerations that should be given to students that might have to change which feeder system they are in (Elementary, Middle, High School)?
RSP & Associates assigned committee members homework to be completed before the next meeting on April 17.
- Talk about what you have discussed with other members of the community, listen to their ideas and provide those responses at the next committee meeting
- Tour the district. Drive to areas you may have learned about in this committee meeting or places you are unfamiliar with.
- Reach out to the community to build consensus for grade configuration.
The Comprehensive Boundary Process will include one more public forum on October 9 and four more committee meetings over the next eight months. The committee is expected to present a recommendation to the board on November 26, 2018, with action to approve on December 10, 2018. While these meetings are open to observers, only committee members may participate in the meetings.
If you have questions about the boundary process, please visit our FAQ page on the website or submit a question.
