Jefferson City Public Schools starts district-wide boundary study
Jefferson City Public Schools is starting a district-wide study of its boundary lines with a new high school on the way and overcrowding issues at elementary schools.
The district has not done a district-wide boundary study in about 25 years, according to JCPS Chief Financial Officer Jason Hoffman.
“If you just look at the lines, I can’t tell you how some of them were developed,” Hoffman said. “Some of them just don’t make sense, but hopefully we’ll be able to correct most of those, if not all of them.”
This summer, a demographer is looking at the district’s student enrollment and population characteristics.
Then this fall, a committee will work through various scenarios with the consultant.
JCPS entered into a six-year agreement with the demographer years ago and will only have to pay about $8,700 for the study. Other districts, like Columbia Public Schools, have paid the same consultant $40,000 to $50,000 for similar projects.
Hoffman said right now, elementary schools are “maxed out.”
ABC 17 News reported that the district is making a couple of boundary changes this coming school year by shifting some students to eliminate the use of a trailer at East Elementary.
“We’re making room moving students into Thorpe Gordon,” Hoffman said. “We had a room that was used as storage there, so this summer we are renovating that storage room, turning it into a classroom. And we’re turning a computer lab that they had into a classroom.”
However, Pioneer Trail, which is the elementary school with the largest capacity, will still need a trailer to accommodate some students.
In addition, a second public high school is set to open in the fall of 2019, and official boundary lines need to be drawn.
“It sets up nicely that we have two middle schools that then will feed into two high schools,” Hoffman said. “So that’s why this is a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate and make sure that everything is like we want it to be going forward when we open the new high school.”
The district will also hold open forums for public input.
Hoffman said the boundary changes will ideally take effect in the 2018-2019 school year.
