By Sadie Hunter
Announced Dec. 15, Noblesville Schools has narrowed down rebalancing of school boundaries to just three schools of the initial potential nine elementary and middle schools.
Convening a committee to study the issue, the committee has finished its proposal, identifying Promise Road Elementary, Stony Creek Elementary and North Elementary for boundary changes.
The district said boundary changes for the three elementary schools will result in current students moving to a different school. No boundary changes are being proposed at any other schools in the district.
The district announced in September its plans to study potential rebalancing as a result of the district growing by approximately 200 students each year, with the greatest impact of growth affecting Noble Crossing and Promise Road elementary schools, along the southern border of the Noblesville Schools district, while North and Stony Creek Elementary have experience slowed growth.
The committee also looked at its two middle schools to determine if any changes would need to be made.
The district says there is currently an imbalance between both East and West middle schools, as West Middle School is attended by approximately 300 more students than East.
The specifics of the proposal, including neighborhoods impacted, specific school boundary changes, and proposal rationale, will be shared at public meetings where the committee will answer questions and seek input from parents.
The meeting dates, times and locations are: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at Promise Road Elementary, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at Stony Creek Elementary, and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at North Elementary.
All three meetings are open to the public and community members from any school are welcome to attend any of the meetings.
Following the meetings, the committee will finalize their recommendation for March or April school board approval, and any proposed boundary changes will go into effect for the 2017-2018 school year.
The district said it anticipates due to growth trends that school boundary issues will be explored approximately every two to three years.
In the current 2016-17 school year, the district teaches more than 10,200 students.
“Increasing class sizes accounts for some of this growth, as graduating classes are smaller than incoming elementary classes,” a press release from the district stated. “For example, there are 633 students in the current senior class, and the current fourth-grade class across then district has 855 students.”
