Boundary Committee Mtg 2

BOUN DARY

Balancing priorities to create equitable, sustainable school communities

May 5, 2026

Meeting 2

PREVIOUSLYON OURBOUNDARY JOURNEY We engaged in an exercise that explored how geography and the built environment, neighborhood and community history, and enrollment work together to shape boundary decisions.

We reviewed a survey designed to bring community voice into the process early by identifying what matters most to our community.

We reviewed and priortized criteria to guide our work.

WHAT’S THE STORY Enrollment Trends by school Enrollment Projections

Student Location Scatter Plots

What patterns are emerging across all data?

What do you notice?

What concerns you?

What questions do you have?

Where do you see the biggest challenges?

Census/Neighborhood Data

ACTIVITY 1 For each school, graph the following: Historic Enrollment Trend Highlight Peak Enrollment Year Identify Current Enrollment Census tract level data is provided to help provide deeper insights into individual neighborhoods What trend(s) do you see?

When did things change?

Is this a steady increase or decrease? Volatile change?

Are changes uniform across all schools? Where do we have outliers?

What surprises you?

LOOKING BACK

ACTIVITY 2 For each school, graph the following: Projected Future Enrollment Trend Census tract level data is provided to help provide deeper insights into individual neighborhoods

Which schools are projected to grow?

Which schools are projected to decline?

Which schools are projected to remain stable?

How do these trends align with the school’s historic enrollment trend?

LOOKING FORWARD

ACTIVITY 3 For each school, review the current enrollment scatterplots Census tract level data is provided to help provide deeper insights into individual neighborhoods

Are students clustered around the school or spread out across the district?

Are there “pockets” of students far from the school?

Are students clustered around another school?

Does it appear a significant number of students come from other attendance areas?

LOOKING PRESENT

TENSION MAPPING A structured process to identify, compare, and make sense of competing perspectives or explanations around a problem or issue, so that both can be understood and leveraged rather than choosing one over the other.

Benefit: It reduces blame and defensiveness while revealing deeper root causes, helping groups move from disagreement to clearer thinking and more effective balanced solutions.

TENSION MAPPING

Imagine a scale where we’ve placed our most polarizing data/voices at each end. Look at the behaviors and pain points and think about how to move those voices toward consensus, the spectrum of opportunity.

It is our nature as humans to be drawn to the most extreme points of view or the loudest voices.

TENSION MAPPING System Perspective:

Community Perspective:

Our enrollment is declining due in large part to declining birth rates and affordability.

Our district is not what it used to be...schools are closing..the district blames birth rates...parents are leaving due to the quality of schools and leadership.

What feels true in each statement?

What feels incomplete or missing?

What emotions might be underneath each perspective?

System View

Community View

TENSION MAPPING

What’s True

Birth Rates are declining (data backed)

Families are choosing alternatives (observable behavior)

What’s Missing

Perception of quality, trust, identity loss

Demographic trends beyond district control.

Underlying Fears

We are blamed.

being

unfairly

The schools I trusted are disappearing.

Assumptions

This is mostly (birth rates).

external

This is mostly internal (leadership quality).

Name the Core Tension Is enrollment decline primarily driven by external demographic shifts or internal loss of trust and perceived quality?

Reframe the Problem Shift from either/or to both/and From: It’s birth rates vs. It’s leadership failure To: Birth rates reduce the number of students available, AND trust/quality determines whether families choose us.

TENSION MAPPING

External (Can’t Control, Must Adapt To)

Internal (Can Influence)

Declining Birth Rates Housing Trends Population shifts

School Identity and Pride Communication and Transparency Program Quality and Differentiation Family Trust and Belonging

If fewer students exist overall, what would make families choose us anyway?

Tension Mapping helps us: Validate both data and emotion Reduced defensiveness Surfaces hidden narratives Moves the converstation toward agency and strategy

TENSION MAPPING

From the data reviewed earlier (enrollment trends/projections, scatterplots, census data), identify possible tensions. For example: Overcrowded schools vs. underutilized schools Neighborhood proximity vs. program access Stable communities vs. shifting demographics Transportation effiency vs. equity

From Observation to Tension From your notes in Activity 1-3 create a chart and identify potential tensions: Data Source Historic Trends Projected Enrollment Student Location

What we Noticed (Ah-hahs)

Concerns

What might be in Tension?

TENSION MAPPING

In reviewing your identified tensions reflect on: What are the competing priorities?

What makes this hard to solve?

Who is impacted by each side?

Both/And Builder Name the Tension We are trying to balance:_______________and_________________ What’s true on each side What feels true? What data supports this?

What’s driving each side Reframe Instead of choosing between the sides, how might we think about both?

Example: Tension: We are trying to balance: Neighborhood proximity AND program access Reframe: Students should attend nearby schools AND have access to high-quality programs.

TENSION MAPPING Reflection

Of the tensions identified and discussed today: Which of these tensions will boundary changes actually help solve?

Which of these tensions will not be addressed by boundary changes?

BOUN DARY

Final Thoughts: If we do nothing, where are we in 5 years?

Where are inequities being amplified by current school boundaries?

Meeting 2

THANK YOU. Next meeting:

Types of School Boundaries

Identifying and Managing Tradeoffs

Decision-Making Under Constraints

Boundary Committee