South Bend schools hosting community meetings on boundary alignment

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) is in the process of changing attendance boundaries to align with the recently approved Facilities Master Plan.

HPM presented a preliminary recommendation during a school board meeting Monday night.

The corporation and HPM are hosting community meetings to talk about boundary alignment.

“The boundaries are one thing and how it is implemented is something else. We would hate to see some of the good things in the boundaries get thrown out just because people don’t like how it may be implemented so that’s why we are asking for that feedback on the boundaries and the implementation kind of separately,” said Scott Leopold, who is the Director of Planning for HPM.

The corporation plans to implement a new plan starting next school year.

The Clay program, for example, will move to Riley High School.

Rising freshmen will be assigned to schools based on the newly-established attendance boundaries or may choose another school through the choice process.

Clay High School students in grades 10-12, residing within the former Clay High School, regardless of attendance boundary, will have a guaranteed seat in the Clay program at Riley High School.

There was also talk about the impact this would have on transportation.

“... The whole intent of this is to streamline transportation so that we can reduce costs and reduce the amount of time that kids spend on the bus...As part of this, any student can elect to finish at their current school, they may not just have a bus provided to them if they are outside of the proposed attendance zone,” said Leopold.

One school board member said, “Transportation should have been in place” and “My concern will always be about these kids.”

“I think we are going to get a lot of feedback around what the transportation piece looks like because we’ve got the ability to finish at their current school, I think the big question for a lot of people is, ‘Well, am I going to get a bus or am I not going to get a bus?’” said Leopold.

If you are interested in completing the corporation’s online survey, click here.

A final recommendation will be made in mid-October.

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