Maple, Twin Beach students to be siphoned to five schools

An article by Angela Niemi    No Comments

The Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Board of Education voted Thursday, Feb. 16 to implement Redistricting Plan B-C for the 2012-13 school year.

The plan calls for the 700 students now attending Maple and Twin Beach elementary schools, which will close at the end of this academic year, to be placed at five different schools.

Maple students will go to Guest, Meadowbrook, and Pleasant Lake elementary schools, while Twin Beach students will be split between Oakley Park and Keith elementary schools.

The change means some students also had to be shifted out of their current home schools. However, only three schools will be moving students out to accommodate the shifting of Maple and Twin Beach students — Commerce, Guest, and Oakley Park elementary schools.

In total, aside from the Twin Beach and Maple students, 229 students will be impacted by Plan B-C.

To see which attendance zones are affected, go to www.wlcsd.org.

“With the decision to adopt Plan B-C, we recognize there is no perfect solution; however, we will work together to embrace this change,” said district Superintendent Kenneth Gutman.

An advisory committee considered a variety of factors in their various redistricting plans, including enrollment data; transportation considerations; facility configurations; budgetary implications; feeder patterns; continuity of neighborhoods and municipalities; and the phasing-in of boundaries.

The main goal of the redistricting plans was to establish a balance at each of the remaining elementary schools.

Last month, the Board of Education was presented with the three plans to redistrict students after months of thought and preparation by various advisory subcommittees.

Both Gutman and the Middle School Subcommittee endorsed Plan B-C because of the equitable distribution of students over the next several years.

“The board thoroughly analyzed the three plans presented by the Redistricting Committee; listened to feedback; reviewed all correspondence relative to redistricting; talked with stakeholders about the plans; reviewed the detailed information involving neighborhoods, zones, student population trends, special student needs, preschool, transportation, transfer and Schools of Choice concerns; and, examined other intricacies of the plans,” Gutman said.

In addition to adopting Plan B-C, the school board concluded that transfer and Schools of Choice students will remain in their current schools.

Currently, the district has 238 transfer students, those students who live in the attendance area of one of the district’s elementary schools but were granted permission to attend another one.

The district also hosts 118 Schools of Choice students, those who live outside of the school district.

Meanwhile, Walnut Creek will become the middle school for all Glengary students.

The district will be accepting transfer requests from families who wish to request a placement other than the school they were assigned. Forms can be found at the district’s website at www.wlcsd.org and will be accepted from Monday, March 5 until March 30.

The district will not accept any elementary Schools of Choice students for the 2012-13 school year unless the student already has a sibling who is a current Walled Lake student. Schools of Choice applications for sixth-grade through 10th-grade openings will be accepted from March 5 to March 30, only, with a limited number of seats available.

“As a district, we now focus on ensuring a smooth transition for Maple and Twin Beach elementary school communities, as well as for all students, families, and staff members who will attend new schools in the 2012-2013 school year,” Gutman said. “I assure you that as students are resilient, our staff well-trained, and our parents supportive, each of our schools will make this a success on behalf of every child we serve. I am grateful for the leadership and dedication of both Mr. Chris Delgado, deputy superintendent, and the entire Redistricting Committee for their countless hours of work attending the Redistricting Committee meetings, three community input sessions, and many hours of reviewing and analyzing data.”