When Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s new elementary school opens at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, an estimated 850 students will be attending. But where exactly those students will come from is still under consideration.
It’s not as simple as drawing a boundary around the campus and slating all the kids in that neighborhood for the new school. The district also has to take into consideration the effect those changes will have on nearby schools—Adam, Liberty, and Battles elementary schools—as well as the other schools in the district.
“To the greatest extent possible, give each campus an equal opportunity to maintain [or reduce] class size, rather than just those schools around the new school site,” said district Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Matt Beecher. “Make efficient use of the facilities available to us.”
The district wants to draw the boundaries around the new school in a way that has a ripple effect on the schools around it, reducing enrollment or realigning enrollment to best match up with each campus’ size and capability to handle students. Beecher said the district also has to keep in mind that there will be a new influx of students for the next school year. This year, the district enrolled approximately 16,000 students—as of the October 2014 count—and is anticipating having about 16,520 enrolled by October 2015.
At the Jan. 21 Santa Maria-Bonita School Board meeting, trustees heard a presentation on potential boundary changes but didn’t make a decision. The district will be meeting with individual school sites to discuss future changes, and getting input from school site councils and advisory committees before the item comes back before the board in February or March.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2015.