by Nate Gotlieb
Contributing Writer
The Elk River Area School District staff is recommending the School Board reassign about 140 Twin Lakes Elementary School students who live in the southwest corner of the school’s attendance zone to Parker and Lincoln elementary schools for next fall.
The committee is also recommending the School Board reassign about 85 open-enrolled and in-district transfer students from Twin Lakes to Parker and Lincoln.
The proposed Twin Lakes Elementary attendance zone has been shrunk with the help of Lincoln (green) and Parker (blue) elementary school zones. Families impacted by the changes will get a letter in the mail.
The recommendations would bring Twin Lakes under its official capacity of 775 students, after the building reached more than 900 students this school year. They would allow the district to eliminate the assistant principal and third secretarial positions at the school, cutting about $150,000 in expenses.
The recommendations, presented in detail at Monday’s School Board meeting, would reduce overcrowding at Twin Lakes. District policy 4004 requires that a committee develop an action plan for the next year if a building exceeds its capacity by 15 percent or more, as Twin Lakes does this year.
The attendance-zone changes would impact three areas of the current Twin Lakes zone:
•A section bordered by Highway 169 on the west, Twin Lakes Road on the east, 171st Avenue on the south and 181st Avenue on the north. This area, predominately a townhome development, would be rezoned to Parker.
•The Pullman Development, which is at the southern end of the current Twin Lakes attendance zone. This area would be rezoned to Lincoln.
•The Northfork Development, which is the southeast corner of the Twin Lakes attendance zone. This would be rezoned to Lincoln.
The plan also recommends the district allow upcoming fifth-graders to remain at Twin Lakes through open enrollment and in-district transfer if their parents provide their own transportation.
The 4004 committee included parents, teachers and administrators from Twin Lakes, Lincoln, Parker and Meadowvale elementary schools. It met twice in November and recommended that the district reduce Twin Lakes’ enrollment by redrawing school boundaries.
Boundary lines developed
The district last redrew its boundary lines before Twin Lakes opened in fall 2007. Enrollment at the school became an issue this year because of the addition of districtwide all-day kindergarten and a larger-than-expected increase in enrollment.
The number of students at Twin Lakes would increase to nearly 950 by 2019-20 if the district did nothing, according to Director of Research and Assessment Joe Stangler. In addition, the district is expecting developers to build more housing in the Twin Lakes attendance zone, leading to more potential crowding.
“This is not a one-year problem,” Stangler said. “The amount over capacity is only going to get worse in the future.”
Stangler presented the recommendations to the School Board on Monday, along with Director of Community Engagement Charlie Blesener and Twin Lakes teacher, parent and committee member Becky Herbert.
The recommendations would increase enrollment at Lincoln and Parker next school year, though both would remain under their official capacities. Lincoln has a capacity of 700 and about 500 students enrolled this year; the recommendations would bring its enrollment to 617 next school year.
Parker has a capacity of 600 and 488 students enrolled this school year. It would have an enrollment of 564 next school year.
Changes to last, but not forever
The 4004 policy requires that students not transfer schools more than once during their elementary-school careers. Stangler said he feels comfortable the proposed boundary changes would fulfill that requirement.
“(The developers) weren’t looking at building 120 homes in the first year,” he said. “They’re talking 30 to 40, and whether or not they achieve that remains to be seen.”
The recommendations would not change the number of full-time classroom teachers. Stangler said the need for specialists could increase because of the plan, leading to the worst-case scenario of an additional $20,000 in costs.
Attendance zone changes next year would apply only to elementary schools, not Salk and VandenBerge middle schools. The district will phase the changes into the middle schools.
The district is planning a first-class mailing to families who would be affected by boundary changes. It will hold a community input meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Twin Lakes.
The committee will present its final recommendations to the board on Feb. 8, and the board will take action on the final recommendation by March 14.
Visit http://www.elkriver.k12.mn.us/news.cfm?story=1872& school=0 for more information and a link to a presentation on the proposed changes.