Newsletters 2018-19 Focus newsletter, [2] Fall | Page 3

PAGE 3 New school attendance boundaries approved for 2019-20 Superintendent column cont. from page 1 Champlin Park and Coon Rapids high schools. The good news is that projects at these schools are replacing portable classrooms with permanent space, allowing our schools to improve security and have capacity to address class size issues. The challenges are temporary, working around construction and ensuring all students are receiving the quality education they expect. The School Board approved new attendance boundaries for the 2019-20 school year at their Sept. 24 meeting, a decision that capped extensive community feedback and evaluation of multiple proposals to balance student enrollment and ensure class size guidelines can be met across the district. Attendance boundary maps are available online at ahschools.us/boundaries. Residents can type in an address and determine their school of attendance for next year. Families of students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade will also receive written notice in early November via mail regarding their school attendance boundary. High school boundaries will remain the same as part of this decision. Changes can understandably be tough. “This is never an easy task,” said Tom Heidemann, School Board Chair. Understanding this, board members shared throughout the seven-month atten- dance boundary process that educational programs and services are similar throughout the district. “We have great schools every- where in Anoka-Hennepin – you can count on that," said Chair Heidemann. The attendance boundary outcome evaluated thousands of pieces of feedback from the community against decision making parameters set in School Board policy to arrive at final decisions. Special activities will be held next spring, summer and fall to welcome and support students and families relocating schools. Families that would like to stay at their former schools may apply for various enrollment options. In-district transfer is the most common – current Anoka-Hennepin families wanting to go to a school other than their assigned school. In this case, trans- portation is the responsibility of the family. The application process for this enrollment option and others, including open enrollment and specialty schools, begins Dec. 1, 2018 for the BOUNDARY CHANGES 2019-20 school year. All applications must then be submitted by Jan. 15, 2019. Families interested in Northwest Suburban Integration School District specialty schools (Monroe and University Avenue elementary schools; Anoka Middle School for the Arts; and Blaine and Coon Rapids high schools) may start their application a little earlier. Oct. 15, 2018 is when the application window begins for those schools. Please go to ahschools.us/boundaries for more information or contact the district’s Information Services department with questions at [email protected] or 763-506-1030. n Parameters for attendance boundary decisions • State and federal guidelines. • Efficient use of district resources. • The teacher/student ratio, established by the School Board through the budget process, determines adequate space. • Lower teacher/student ratios have priority at elementary schools, most notably kindergarten and first grade. • Educational support and programming based on the student demographics of the attendance boundary. • Bus rides are reasonable lengths. • Students living within a mile of their school walk (if there aren’t hazards present on their walk to school). • Adjoining attendance boundaries with as minimal disruption as possible. • High school attendance boundaries remain the same. • Growth from current and future residential development. • Attendance boundaries that change, will remain in effect for at least five years at elementary schools and ten years at middle schools. Expectations for receiving a quality edu- cation in Anoka-Hennepin continue to increase. In our annual community survey, nearly one in three residents rate the quality of education received in our schools as “excellent.” What’s more, that rating has increased by eight percentage points over the past five years, from 24 percent to 32 percent. For comparison, the average “excellent” rating for Minnesota school districts is 22 percent according to the Morris Leatherman Company, the firm that conducts the annual survey. As school begins this year, 60 teachers will be added in our district to address class size issues. Over the next four years, additional classroom space and two new elementary schools will be added to our district, addi- tions at all five traditional high schools will be completed and facility upgrades will improve conditions at all schools. Conditions in the classrooms and around Anoka-Hennepin schools are moving in a positive direction and our district is con- stantly seeking ways to build on what we have and improve outcomes for students. “The show must go on,” and it will in Anoka-Hennepin schools. n Make Anoka-Hennepin part of your social media facebook.com/ahschools twitter.com/ahschools youtube.com/anokahennepin 60 teachers added to address class sizes schools are overcrowded and class size is a problem,” said Superintendent David Law. “The community has been telling us for years that we need to address class sizes.” Those new teachers will be distributed across the district based on student enrollment, with the high schools getting 25 teaching positions, the middle schools getting 12 teaching positions, and the elementary schools getting 18. When Anoka-Hennepin voters approved the Fit for the Future referen- dum in November 2017, the resources were made available for the School Board to address class sizes across the district through a $4 million investment used to hire 60 new teachers for the 2018-19 school year. At the high school-level, new teachers will be directed to address class size in core subject areas. Generally speaking, at the five high schools, core English and math classes will each be reduced by two to four students, and core science and social studies classes reduced by about three students. The overall reductions in class size depend on the site and the number of enrolled students at the time school starts in September. The action is consistent with concerns monitored by the School Board in the annual community survey. At the middle school-level, reductions in the sizes of core English, math and science classes will be reduced by two to five students, again depending on the site and the number of enrolled students at the time school starts. In middle school, the School Board guidelines for class size is a maximum of 29 students. “The biggest thing we’re hearing from our community members is that our At the elementary school-level, priority in distribution of the new teachers will address class sizes in grades three, four and five, and once implemented, the goal is to have zero classes anywhere in the district that have more than one student beyond the range outlined by the School Board, which are 19-22 in kinder- garten, 20-23 in first grade, 24-27 in second grade, 26-29 in third grade, 27-30 in fourth grade, and 27-32 in fifth grade. During the 2017-18 school year, there were 15 classes that had sizes of at least one student higher than the guidelines in place. n