Hundreds of Franklin students will be moved to new schools this summer.
The Franklin school board on Monday approved a plan that would redraw residential boundaries for its elementary schools.
The unanimously approved plan won’t affect third graders, who will get to complete fourth grade at their current schools. There will be a process for students in kindergarten through second grade to apply to stay at their current schools. Students who are heading into kindergarten next year will be required to go to the school the new boundaries assign them to, said David Clendening, superintendent.
The approved boundaries follow almost a year of planning. The district had its first community meeting regarding redistricting in January. Unlike redistricting efforts at Center Grove and Clark-Pleasant schools, the process at Franklin schools does not involve a new elementary school, but instead is meant to buy time as student population increases and the district looks to build a new school several years down the road, Clendening said.
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.
The goal is to ease crowding at certain schools, such as Creekside Elementary School, which is at 91% capacity, he said.
“Community collaboration drove this final plan to the forefront,” Clendening said. “The biggest change is Creekside Elementary will be down over 100 students, and then Webb Elementary will grow the largest amount (percentage-wise) in the next iteration.”
Based on current estimates, Creekside Elementary School’s student population would decrease, while Needham Elementary School’s would increase. Northwood Elementary School’s student population would also decrease, while Webb Elementary School’s would increase. Union Elementary School, which has a 200-student capacity, would change the least.
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.
Specific numbers are likely to be available by the end of the week, said Robin Betts, spokesperson for the district.
