Board of Ed Hears Proposal Tonight

On Tuesday evening, the Board of Ed will hear a proposal for redistricting the attendance boundaries of Middletown's eight elementary schools, as recommended by the ad hoc committee which the Board established last December. The meeting is at 7 pm at City Hall, and a public hearing will precede the presentation.

Because this is such a big issue, the ad hoc committee has recommended that the Board schedule a special meeting before March 22nd, to hold an additional public session and vote on the proposal.

The proposal contains a town-wide redistricting, with a new elementary school for 438 of the town's roughly 2,600 Kindergarten through 5th grade students. The purpose of the plan was to create contiguous attendance boundaries for each school, while improving the racial balance of the school system and better distributing the students throughout the schools.

The proposal also advises that the administration provide support and guidance to the schools in welcoming new families, and it allows for current fourth graders to opt to stay at their current school for 5th grade, as long as they provide their own transportation and provide adequate notice to the system. In addition to the new attendance boundaries, the ad hoc also recommends that a new committee continue to review the JCJ study, with the goal of helping the Board understand and address any disparities between the schools in terms of facilities, programs, materials and other resources.

Although the list of streets affected is not yet available electronically, here's the map of the new attendance boundaries:


View Attendance Boundaries in a larger map


In case you are interested in my opinion on the subject, as a member of the ad hoc committee, you can read it here.