Published: June 20, 2008 10:40 am            

Elementary rezoning

• Stillwater school board redraws boundaries for elementary schools

Some elementary school students in Stillwater will attend a new school in August. To be decided is just how many students will move.

Thursday, the Stillwater Board of Education voted unanimously to redraw boundaries for the six elementary schools. Boundaries for Skyline Elementary were unchanged; for the other five schools, there were limited changes, as in the case of Richmond, to drastic changes, as in the case of Sangre Ridge.

With 578 students attending kindergarten through fifth grade at Sangre Ridge last year and continued residential growth in the area, board members decided the zone needed to be changed. The basic goal was to have each school with enrollment close to 400 in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Each school has a capacity of 600 students. While Sangre Ridge had close to 600 students last year, no other elementary had more than 385 (Skyline). Westwood had the least at 286.

Drs. Jon Comer and Allen Finchum and graduate student Chris Storm of Oklahoma State University conducted the demographic study for the district, locating nearly every district student in grades kindergarten through fifth and plotting their residences on maps. The demographers did not include prekindergarten students in their work because pre-k is not mandatory and the district sends those students to the schools that have space.

Starting with computer models than modifying them to take into account travel distances and existing roads, Comer, Finchum and Storm presented four proposed maps.

“These are what we thought were logical options from the hundreds of computer models,” Finchum told the board Thursday. “I tried to be as objective as possible.”

But board members decided to create their own map, slightly modifying one of the versions provided by the demographers.

Under the new boundaries, enrollments — based on students who lived in those zones last school year — would be:

• Highland Park, 319

• Richmond, 337

• Skyline, 385

• Will Rogers, 402

• Sangre Ridge, 408

• Westwood, 419

Those numbers reflect kindergarten through fifth grade. For several reasons, pre-k was not included in the demographic study. The new numbers also do not reflect students who transfer into Stillwater from neighboring districts, as they are normally assigned to schools that have space.

Looking ahead, district officials expect enrollment at Stillwater Middle School to increase. Currently, Sangre Ridge’s 80 pre-k students attend class at the middle school.

“The sixth and seventh grades are our smallest classes,” said board member Kevin Clark. In coming years “we will need the middle school class space.”

Superintendent Ann Caine said she wants to address school boundaries annually to avoid major changes similar to those approved Thursday.

“I’d rather just do tweaking every year to keep the schools equitable,” she said.

Caine also told the board “I will call every family who is affected” by the change in boundaries. Later Thursday, Annette Jones, board clerk, told the NewsPress that Caine said she would call each family within two weeks.

Caine also said she wants to “grandfather in” students who will be fifth graders next year so they can finish at their same school, though that was not formalized Thursday.

Also to be decided is how the district will handle students who previously have obtained transfers to attend a school other than the one they are zoned for, and students from outside the district who previously had obtained transfers to attend Stillwater schools. Caine said she wants all these matters settled this month.

        

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