Anonymous wrote:This makes sense, who knows when it would happen but think in the next 3-5 years. I’d imagine they may try to do them one region at a time.

I’d imagine priorities would be to reduce split articulations created by these two studies, reduce overcrowding at schools like Ashburton with shifts to schools that have capacity, and utilize underenrolled schools to absorb smaller very old schools (eg Coldspring would could be accommodated by several current Wootton ES, Wayside and/or Beverly Farms ES.

Also makes sense to tighten the boundaries of elementary schools which in some cases are quite large and could probably be improved.

The Ashburton overcrowding is out of control and I hope it will be addressed soon. Current situation = students sitting on the floor of classrooms due to lack of seats and 3-4 year waitlist for onsite aftercare. Meanwhile, Seven Locks ES is underutilized (80.3%) and many of the apartments/condo complexes near the mall which are currently zoned for Ashburton are actually closer to Seven Locks. Though I doubt such a rezone would happen because they feed into different high schools.

Before another boundary study can start, the board would need to vote on a resolution establishing the study itself as well as its scope and timeline.

At every one of the current boundary study meetings they've talked about a future ES boundary study. 22:25, it is coming, but they havent said when. I would guess they'll start once the ES one once the HS boundary study and program analysis have been completed.

See here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1296766.page

Not said explicitly, but it sounds like they want the elementary boundary study changes figured out and voted on by spring 2027 (to inform design decisions for the new elementary schools later that year.). So that probably means they kick off the process in spring or summer 2026, and the new ES boundaries would go into effect in fall 2028.

Anonymous wrote:How can we confirm whether an elementary boundary study will be happening, and when?

In the newly released CIP, they are proposing one, to start after the current studies have finished. There's no specific date yet.

How can we confirm whether an elementary boundary study will be happening, and when?

Anonymous wrote:Every option presented yesterday for MS and HS boundaries (Woodward) mentioned split articulations “that can be addressed in future boundary studies”. So I’m guessing ES boundaries would be soon.

Yeah, I think they realized all the split articulations were inevitable if you’re trying to balance other factors and that they should have included elementary schools. But it was too late to expand the scope so they’re doing this, presumably with the assumption that they’ll need to look at elementary school boundaries sooner rather than later.

This makes sense, who knows when it would happen but think in the next 3-5 years. I’d imagine they may try to do them one region at a time.

I’d imagine priorities would be to reduce split articulations created by these two studies, reduce overcrowding at schools like Ashburton with shifts to schools that have capacity, and utilize underenrolled schools to absorb smaller very old schools (eg Coldspring would could be accommodated by several current Wootton ES, Wayside and/or Beverly Farms ES.

Also makes sense to tighten the boundaries of elementary schools which in some cases are quite large and could probably be improved.

Anonymous wrote:I also have an ES that I've heard great things about, but kid hasn't yet started at. It splits into different MS/HS with the new boundaries, but ... and maybe I just don't get it yet because my kid is too young, is that really a big deal?

For me growing up, none of the friends I had in 5th grade were ones that I still had in high school, even without schools splitting. Things change so much over those years.

If my 4th grader was split from most of her EE friends in 6th it would make for a rough transition to middle school-- they are a really central part of her life, and she doesn't enjoy school for its own sake, so I could easily see her becoming really negative about school and not wanting to go. And for kids with mental health challenges or who might get bullied and really benefit from the social support of their existing friend group, I can see it being a pretty big deal. It's such a tough age and the transition to middle school is such a major one-- feeling friendless and having to make brand new friends in 6th grade is likely to be a.big setback for many kids (although I'm sure plenty of others will handle it just fine.). I suspect split article from MS to HS is less of a big deal but I'm not as familiar with that age group.

(Luckily in our case the splits keep my kid with most of her friends. But I feel really bad for the one kid in their friend group who would go to a different MS than all the rest of them...)

Anonymous wrote:I also have an ES that I've heard great things about, but kid hasn't yet started at. It splits into different MS/HS with the new boundaries, but ... and maybe I just don't get it yet because my kid is too young, is that really a big deal?

For me growing up, none of the friends I had in 5th grade were ones that I still had in high school, even without schools splitting. Things change so much over those years.

My kid is in first grade. As far as split articulation goes, I don't think it's horrible, but I do think during the transitions to middle and high school kids do benefit from having familiar faces there. In one of the proposed split articulations from the first set of options, my child would have been split from her (current) best friend for middle school. Of course, it's way too early to tell if that would be an actual issue when she starts sixth grade, but I can definitely see how keeping ES kids together would be more desirable. Not all friend groups stay the same but having some consistency can be nice (can also be bad for some kids if they need a fresh start socially so that's the flip side). The other issue which is probably very specific to our ES is that our ES has a dual language immersion program that they just started extending to middle school. If they did split articulation to middle school it would be disruptive to this program - I doubt they could or would continue the immersion at both middle schools or even one of them.

As far as ES boundary changes, I do hope my child's class isn't affected. It's very much a walking school and doesn't have any islands so hopefully that wouldn't happen. But I do understand that boundary changes are sometimes necessary and that my child would ultimately be fine, it just wouldn't be ideal. More broadly, it would be quite difficult to move kids in later grades into the school because of the immersion program. Not sure how ES boundary changes are phased in.

I also have an ES that I've heard great things about, but kid hasn't yet started at. It splits into different MS/HS with the new boundaries, but ... and maybe I just don't get it yet because my kid is too young, is that really a big deal?

For me growing up, none of the friends I had in 5th grade were ones that I still had in high school, even without schools splitting. Things change so much over those years.

Anonymous wrote:Every option presented yesterday for MS and HS boundaries (Woodward) mentioned split articulations “that can be addressed in future boundary studies”. So I’m guessing ES boundaries would be soon.

That stinks-- we love our ES and in most of the options our neighborhood is split from the ones physically closer to it so presumably that would mean they'll send us somewhere else?

Every option presented yesterday for MS and HS boundaries (Woodward) mentioned split articulations “that can be addressed in future boundary studies”. So I’m guessing ES boundaries would be soon.

There are none currently planned. But there is a Facilities and Boundaries Preliminary Presentation and Work Session on Oct 14th, so if they have any new studies in mind for the upcoming year they will probably say so then.

With all the chatter about the HS boundary study, I’m now wondering whether our ES could be rezoned soon, too.