School Board Votes for Major Study of School Boundaries

An independent study of the Novato public schools was unanimously approved Tuesday by the board with the idea that all programs at all schools will be assessed to create new geographic boundaries and help balance the makeup of student populations.

That means the idea of changing from a lottery-entry school without boundaries to a neighborhood campus filled with kids who live near the school will be on the table for discussion.

There are staunch supporters of Rancho, the highest-achieving elementary school in the district and among the top in Marin County based on test scores. There are also critics who question the why the enrollment lottery system is necessary if the curriculum, by state law, is the same as any other public elementary school.

Tuesday’s discussion by the school board briefly broached the touchy subject of Rancho before swaying back to the need for a comprehensive study to redraw school boundaries.

“I think we should consider all programs, not just some programs, and I think we should have ample public input,” Trustee Cindi Clinton said.

Trustee Derek Knell added, “There is no reason we should not look into absolutely everything we do.”

Sensing discontent from some Rancho supporters in the room, Trustee Maria Aguila said, “This is why it took 20 years” to approve a comprehensive study of district boundaries.

The study is expected to cost about $40,000. The board voted to send out a request for proposals with the hope of starting the study soon and getting the results by December or January so that new changes can be made as early as the 2012-13 school year.

However, the trustees were not ready to make a promise to Novato residents that new boundaries would be drawn by 2012-13.

“I do not want to make a promise we can’t keep,” Trustee Debbie Butler said.

“The important piece of this is to not keep people hanging,” Clinton said.

The school district already paid for a boundary study to for the 2011-12 school year. The board voted in January to close in June and redistribute the students to the two remaining middle schools, and, plus classes at for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders for some residents of Hamilton. A study done by Total School Solutions led to the district in March to choose a new boundary that essentially runs diagonally — southwest to northeast — through the downtown area.

With their vote, the trustees agreed that it’s not just the middle schools that need new boundaries but a new system that makes it more clear for families which school a child will go to each year.

“We’ve got families with kids out there who need to know where kids will go to school,” Knell said. “We need to be urgent.”

Trustee President Tom Cooper noted that comes on board July 1 to replace the and preferred that the district “have the wheels rolling” on a new boundary plan by then.

“We committed to the community in March that we were going to do this, and I think we should shoot for 2012-13 implementation if possible.”