A process that will move hundreds of Franklin students to new elementary schools may soon be underway.
Franklin schools is redrawing its boundaries to counter growth in the district that stems from hundreds of new houses being built. The district needs to reduce the number of students at Creekside Elementary School, which was at 91% capacity during the 2020-21 school year.
After months of meetings among school staff and presentations to the community at the district’s elementary schools, school officials narrowed down several new boundary possibilities to a final proposal, though there could still be minor tweaks between now and when it is presented to the school board for approval Oct. 18, said David Clendening, superintendent.
While the district may have to build a new elementary school in the coming years, the goal is to put off the need for a new school until at least 2027, when the district finishes paying off construction of Franklin Community High School.
Franklin schools’ student body has remained stagnant during the past five years, averaging about 5,000 to 5,200 students a year. But administrators anticipate student growth with the addition of more than 450 houses in the Bluffs at Youngs Creek development that is going in next to the Windstar subdivision, southwest of downtown Franklin. Another 125 houses are expected to be built northeast of downtown Franklin.
School officials also want to balance out the free and reduced-price meal populations at each school. If the proposal passes as is, free and reduced-price meal populations would range between 30% and 53% at the five elementary schools. In previous proposals, the free and reduced-price meal population at Union Elementary School hovered around 24%.
The proposal would also likely leave some leeway for students who are in third grade. Those students will most likely be able to finish their elementary school careers in the same buildings they started in, Clendening said.
The final proposal would also reduce travel times for children using the school bus as their primary mode of transportation. School officials wanted to cap travel time to and from school at an hour. To accomplish that, they reduced the amount of land area within the boundaries of Creekside and Northwood Elementary School.
“I think it allows us to balance equity as far as free and reduced (meals) and capacity for the buildings,” Clendening said. “Those were the things that spoke to us and really created the best option for us.”
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A more detailed look at the redistricting proposal can be found here: https://5share.com/5maps/public/kmlMap.html?a=i12
Source: Franklin Community School Corporation.
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