Redistricting task force seeking input from public
GEOFFREY M. HICKS Superintendent Sweet Home Schools
The Sweet Home Board of Education convened a Task Force last March to study the options for potentially redistricting the attendance zones established for the district's four elementary schools.

Elementary enrollment in the district has been declining, especially at Willow Ridge Elementary School and Heritage Heights Elementary School. Based on our analysis of census data, we anticipate this trend to continue.

The population patterns leave the school district in a dilemma because three of the four elementary schools draw students from the most densely populated portion of the district, the northern end.

The northern end of the Sweet Home district encompasses those neighborhoods that lie to the north of North French Road and to the east of Niagara Falls Boulevard.

The northern end of the district was the last area to be residentially developed, and consequently, it was the last area to be assigned attendance zones. Families who live on the streets that generally surround the elementary schools of Glendale, Willow Ridge, Heritage Heights and Maplemere are assigned to the elementary school in their neighborhood.

Families who live on the streets in the northern end of the district are divided into three elementary schools, Glendale, Willow Ridge and Heritage Heights.

The street divisions were created many years ago, and it is possible for a family who lives on one block to be assigned to one elementary school while a family who lives on a neighboring block would be assigned to a different elementary school. Over the past 10 years, the northern end of the district has continued to be densely populated with school-age children, whereas many other neighborhoods have experienced a decline in school-age children.

The Task Force is made up of parents, administrators and teachers. Members have spent the past 10 months studying the issues associated with redistricting attendance zones and considering a variety of potential actions.

We enlisted the help of researchers at the University at Buffalo, who plotted individual student addresses with GIS software and ran sets of redistricting simulations using custom optimization software.

UB has been a great help to the process, and the computerized geocoding of data has allowed the Task Force to quickly visualize the impact of various scenarios.

After much deliberation, the Task Force has decided upon recommending

a plan that maintains the neighborhood attendance zones surrounding the four elementary

schools and that redistricts pieces of the northern end to more equitably balance school sizes.

The final meeting of the Task Force will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, in the Norman Vergils Community Center at the high school, 1901 Sweet Home Road.

A formal recommendation will be made to the Board of Education at the Feb. 13 public meeting. I encourage community members to attend either of the meetings in order to provide input.