February 4, 2021 Vol. 21, No. 38
In This Issue FOUR SEASONS
Schools to redraw boundary lines Two new elementary schools opening in fall
Four Seasons, by Kevin Box, in real life is located in front of the Center for Transformative Learning on the UCO campus, but this week is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information, see page 4.
Elaine Warner looks at murals in Enid See page 13
IMAGES PROVIDED
FRIDAY, February 5 Mostly Sunny High 51° Low 33°
SATURDAY, February 6 Partly Cloudy High 46° Low 18°
SUNDAY, February 7 Mostly Sunny High 37° Low 23°
Edmond Public School elementary school boundaries will change next spring as the district prepares to open two new elementary schools in the next two academic school years. Edmond Public School elementary school boundaries will change in early 2021 as the district prepares to open two new elementary schools in the next two academic school years. Redbud Elementary, at the corner of Douglas and Coffee Creek, is scheduled to open in 2021. Scissortail Elementary, southwest of the intersection of NW 150th St and N. Pennsylvania Ave. is scheduled to open in 2022. “It’s an exciting time to open new schools and both are badly needed to help offset the sizable student population at some of our elementary schools, especially those in the far eastern and far western sections of our district,” said Superintendent Bret Towne. “However, anytime we open new schools, challenging decisions must be made to identify the attendance boundaries for the new schools.” To give families adequate time to plan future home purchases
or make enrollment decisions, the Edmond Board of Education approved hiring Templeton Demographics of Southlake, Texas to provide guidance on redrawing the elementary school boundaries. The district previously used Templeton when it changed the boundaries for middle schools in 2016. “Templeton assists the district by compiling data on current and future neighborhood demographics, enrollment projections, bus routes, and school capacities,” said Towne. “The data will help us to understand how and where the future growth will occur in our district and how boundaries should change accordingly.” A district realignment committee will begin meeting in February. The committee will include one administrator and one parent from every school in the district except Russell Dougherty and Clegern which are lottery schools with limited attendance zones. Representatives from middle schools and
high schools are being included to provide insight into school feeder patterns and student matriculation. Boundary recommendations developed by the committee and the rationale used to draw the boundaries will be presented to the community during a public forum on February 18. The district will announce at a later date if the public forum will be virtual or in-person. Following the public forum, the committee will meet again in March to consider the public input and make any changes to the boundary recommendations that are deemed appropriate. The Board of Education will vote on the proposed boundary recommendations at a board meeting tentatively scheduled for 10:00 a.m. March 11. More detailed information on the boundary changes can be found by going to www.edmondschools.net.