Presentation slides prepared by co-leaders of the E-8 Capacity Task Force and High School Task Force for June 19, 2014 School Board meeting

1. E-8 AND HIGH SCHOOL
CAPACITY TASK FORCE
RECOMMENDATION
June 19th, 2014

2. RESPONSIBILITIES
 Report to the school board on an on-going basis
 Review all pertinent data
 Seek public, staff, and student input prior to making
a recommendation to the school board
 Provide communication updates for district dispersal
 Evaluate options
 Prepare a final recommendation to the school board

3. GUIDELINES
 Optimize building space
 Ensure program equity
 Sustainable student attendance boundaries for the next five
to ten years unless there is a significant enrollment loss or
gain versus current projections
 Boundary changes would be considered in light of pre-
school, elementary, middle and high school capacity
discussions and potential recommendations
 Balance demographics
 Optimize learning by balancing enrollment to prevent
overcrowding and large class sizes
 Consider safety, transportation, and costs when developing
recommendations for consideration

4. BOARD REPORT SPRING 2013
 Discussed work to date
 Agreed that we need a new
demographic study
 Believed we should wait to
proceed until we have more data
 Teams agreed to resume when
new information available

5. DATA COLLECTED AND
CONSIDERED

6. HOUSING AND ENROLLMENT STUDY FROM
OCTOBER 2011
 2011 projection showed flat
enrollment
 Over course of 2012-13 school year,
communities experienced an
increase in housing permits

7. RICKABAUGH COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
REPORT FROM APRIL 2012
 50 students at each school, 46 Chaska community members, 28
Chanhassen community members
 Chan. HS students (pg. 4): Absence of the diversity at Chaska HS
results in educational disadvantage for students (at Chan).
 Chaska HS parents (page 11) “Create better demographic balance
between the high schools, possibly through boundary changes.”
 Chan. HS parents (page 12) “Consider strategies to better balance
diversity present in both student bodies.”
 Chan. HS staff (page 13) “Absence of diversity is an important
missing element.”
 Question from Community Engagement meetings: “Are the
differences between the high schools of the magnitude that the
School Board should consider options to address the differences?”
 Chanhassen HS: Yes 19% No 81%
 Chaska HS: Yes 80% No 20%

8. FACILITIES STUDY FROM SEPTEMBER 2012
 Determined facility needs and uses
 Meetings/interviews were held with
school leadership teams
 Determined construction and
program capacities for each building

9. DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY ANALYSIS DECEMBER
2013
 Hazel Reinhardt reported the following:
 Cohort Survival Method projects K-12 decline
ranging from 86 to 329 students by 2018-19
 Housing Starts Method projects K-5 increase of 782
students by 2018-19
 Housing Starts Method projects additional 205
students 6-8, and 205 students 9-12
 District developed hybrid model
 Combined high estimate of Cohort Survival Method
and moderate housing starts
 Conservative estimate of 400 K-5 students by 2018-
19

10. CITY PLANNERS MEETING – JANUARY 2014
 City officials from all four communities
were invited to Jan. 8 task force meeting
to share city housing development and
growth projections.
 All four communities have housing
projects underway.
 Task force members were able to see
where new housing development is
occurring.

11. MORRIS LEATHERMAN ATTENDANCE
BOUNDARY SURVEY FROM JANUARY 2014
 Scientific, random sampling of
community
 Results indicated significant community
support to equalize:
 Enrollment
 Demographics
 Balance diversity and socio-economics
 Programming

12. ESTIMATED SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS
THROUGH 2018-2019 FOR EACH LEVEL
2013-14 Proj.
Elementary: 4,087 4,621
Middle: 2,128 2,133
High: 3,031 3,027
Total: 9,246 9,781

13. THREE CONCEPTS
WERE DEVELOPED AND
COMMUNICATED TO
GATHER FEEDBACK

14. CRAM
 The cram option tries to fit elementary growth
into any and all elementary school space.
 This option would require extensive boundary
changes.
 Neighborhood schools would be ignored in
order to bus students to wherever there is
space.
 It would require increases in class sizes. Once a
building reaches capacity, the only way to fit in
more students is to make each class larger.
 It is the least expensive option. It relies on
existing busing and buildings without additional
leases or construction.

15. SHUFFLE
 Another option is to shuffle grade levels.
 Moving all 5th grade into middle school buildings or moving 8th
grade into the high schools would end up overcrowding the middle
and high schools.
 In order to affect the least number of families, the recommendation
would be to move 5th grade out of schools that are most crowded
and into middle schools.
 This option is a short-term fix. Eventually, schools will be at or over
capacity again.
 This option allows for better management of class sizes.
 This also is less expensive, however some renovations or
equipment purchases may be necessary to accommodate students
who move.

16. BUILD
 Build elementary school and 12 elementary
classrooms
 The additional classrooms are needed because
with 400 to 700 new elementary students, a
new school may be near capacity when it opens
 There would be a process to set boundaries for
the all schools including elementary, middle and
high schools.

17. COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
 May 19, Chanhassen HS: 24 community
members
 May 28, Chaska HS: 27 community
members
 May 29, Virtual Meeting: 22 Listeners,
1 email
feedback@district112.org

18. FEEDBACK SUMMARIZED AND CONSIDERED
 Most Common Themes
 Support for a new elementary school
 Most favor a long term solution
 Limit transitions for students
 Prefer Cram option over Shuffle
 District needs to be clear about its
commitment to La Academia
 La Academia wants to stay together as a
program and needs its own space

19. TASK FORCE
RECOMMENDATION

20. RECOMMEND BUILD OPTION
 Add a 650+ student elementary school
 Add up to 12 elementary classrooms to
existing sites to be determined based on
need
 Provides long-term solutions
 Reduces frequency of student transitions

21. RECOMMEND BUILD OPTION
 Need a clear plan for La Academia
 Without additional space, short-term and long-term
recommendation is to cram
 Increase class sizes
 Change boundaries
 Do not change grade configurations – community
feedback preferred cram over shuffle

22. CONSIDERATIONS FOR
THE SCHOOL BOARD
AND THE SCHOOL
BOARD FACILITIES
COMMITTEE

23. 2014-2015
 Keep existing boundaries and monitor new
construction in overcrowded elementary school
boundaries to determine if students are too many
 Cram as much as possible
 If not possible to cram, direct new construction / new
families to lower enrollment schools
 Clover Ridge K stays at K Center
 La Academia stays at K Center
 Family Learning Center stays at Chaska HS

24. 2015-2016
 Keep existing boundaries and monitor new
construction in overcrowded elementary school
boundaries to determine if students are too many
 Cram as much as possible
 If not possible to cram, direct new construction /
new families to lower enrollment schools
 Referendum – ask question
 Communicate clear picture of referendum success
and alternative if referendum is not approved
 Family Learning Center moves to K Center
 Clover Ridge K stays at K Center

25. 2015-2016CONTINUED
 Other decisions to be made
 Pioneer Ridge MS needs enrollment
 La Academia needs location
 Preference is to keep entire program together
 Kinder Academy location to be determined if space at K Center
is not available
 Initiate boundary planning if referendum passes
 When considering boundaries address questions
students and families will have including..
 Will siblings stay together?
 Would you grandfather students at current schools?
 Would open enrollment be available?

26. 2016-2017
 If referendum passes, classrooms will not be
available, maintain interim plans
 Keep existing boundaries and monitor new
construction in overcrowded elementary school
boundaries to determine if students are too many
 Cram as much as possible
 If not possible to cram, direct new construction to lower
enrollment schools
 Clover Ridge K stays at K Center

27. 2016-2017CONTINUED
 Kinder Academy stays at location determined in
15-16
 La Academia stays at location determined in 15-16
 Finalize boundaries for fall 17/18 with actual
student numbers
 Communicate to public anticipated practices for school
enrollments once new boundaries are established.

28. 2017-2018
 Open new elementary school
 Open new classrooms
 La Academia moves to permanent location
 Consider moving Clover Ridge K back to Clover Ridge
 Determine permanent location for Kinder Academy
 Implement new boundaries for all

29. QUESTIONS
&
COMMENTS