Revised December 15th, 2022
Q: What is Redistricting?
A: School attendance zones define school enrollment based on residential address. Simplified, Redistricting is the action of altering school attendance zones.
Q: What is a Redistricting Analysis?
A: A Redistricting Analysis, involves the examination of projected enrollment, facility usage to support instructional capacity, geographical proximity for families and transportation related logistics across the district and town, ensuring an equitable and diverse distribution of students. The Redistricting Analysis process champions community input by soliciting feedback based on data driven scenarios facilitated by the redistricting analysis consultant (Applied Geographics) and presented to the Franklin Public Schools Redistricting Advisory Committee and Franklin Community.
Q: Why are we doing a Redistricting Analysis?
A: The decision to pursue a redistricting analysis was a result of the following findings…
- Franklin’s last redistricting effort was in 2002 with the opening of the Helen Keller/ Annie Sullivan complex, 20 years ago. The needs of the district have altered over time
- Usage of space has evolved to prepare students with the essential skills outlined in the Franklin Public School’s Portrait of a Graduate, promote student engagement and support student learning with a variety of specialized programs designed to meet evolving student needs
- The Davis Thayer School was closed in 2021, Davis Thayer students were then transferred to Helen Keller Elementary school
- Total enrollment is forecasted to decline until 2026 - 2027 and it is anticipated there will be an gradual increase anticipated in 2029 - 2030*
*Referencing the Franklin Public Schools Population and Enrollment McKibben Study (2019)*
Redistricting is a necessary process that allows public school districts to evaluate the distribution of students and optimize facility utilization to best support educational programming within the district for the foreseeable future.
Q: What is the Redistricting Advisory Committee?
A: The Redistricting Advisory Committee will participate in a redistricting analysis of Franklin Public Schools in collaboration with AppGeo Redistricting Analysis Consultant by providing input, feedback, and local context on proposed scenarios to potential updates to attendance boundaries within Franklin. The committee is composed of parents/ guardians, educators, District and building based administration and school committee members.
Q: I’m not on the Redistricting Advisory Committee, how do I provide input?
A: Once scenarios have been workshopped through the Redistricting Advisory Committee, we will present opportunities for public input as part of the Community Feedback phase.
Q: Who makes the decision on Redistricting?
A: The final decision regarding redistricting rests with the Franklin School Committee.
Q: When will a decision be made on Redistricting?
A: After facilitating community input and working with the redistricting advisory committee, the Space Needs Subcommittee will present findings and possible recommendations for the School Committee late Spring 2023. The School Committee will make any related decisions thereafter.
Q: Will Schools be closed?
A: There is no predetermined plan for redistricting. The purpose of the redistricting analysis is to provide a thorough examination of district needs. A data driven and community informed process will result in a recommendation(s) that will be presented to the school committee, who will make the final decision regarding redistricting that best serves distinct needs.
Q: Weren’t scenarios for projected enrollment proposed in the 2020 Facilities Assessment Report? Why aren’t we just presenting those scenarios?
A: The 2020 Facilities Assessment Report was completed by our consultant (Kaestle Boos Associates). Some scenarios proposed in the 2020 Facilities Assessment Report may be explored by our redistricting consultant to inform/guide proposed scenarios. The 2020 Facilities Assessment Report did not account for the space required by in-district specialized programming to meet the special education needs of the district which can vary from year to year. The District has done research on the use of each facility to then account for our specialized programs along with our redistricting analysis consultant, to ensure we are completing a comprehensive analysis that considers the impact of our specialized programs.
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| Franklin Public School Redistricting Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) |
