Mapping school boundaries a puzzle | Tahoma School District

The third boundary review meeting for the Tahoma school district took place on Feb. 24 at the Tahoma high school library. The boundary review committee and board anticipated a larger public turn out than the previous two meetings.

Review Board wrestles with moving students and class sizes

While public comment was not taken at this meeting, the public could observe and see what the committee was considering. At this particular meeting, the committee was split up into four groups. They were provided with a map of where all of the elementary schools were located so they could start visualizing boundaries. The board had five potential boundary maps the groups could work off of and see if any of them could work.

The board members contracted with Molly Jackson of Cedar River GIS to create the maps. Jackson met with the transportation staff and used data from the transportation routing and mapping system to create the maps.

Some aspects members had to pay attention to included, but were not limited to were: how many students were being displaced because of the smaller class size initiative and if students could walk to particular schools and bus times.

Issues arose when discussing students walking to school. Even with crosswalks and sidewalks, most of the committee agreed that it was too dangerous for students to cross Maple Valley Highway 169.

Committee members voiced their confusion and concern as to why some students would have to pass by several schools to get to where they have to go. Why can’t everyone go to the school closest to their home? The board members explained again, that there are more families in one area and more schools in another. Some students will inevitably have to go to a school further away from where they live. This is where the committee has to figure out how many students are in certain neighborhoods and how many have to go to schools further away.

Parents in the audience discussed among themselves being very opposed to having their student go to a school further away just because one school has more students. Some of those parents would rather have larger class sizes than have to drive their student to a school further away form their home.

When the groups presented which of the five potential boundary maps could work, they all agreed none of them were good enough and would need to be fixed. Some of the options were better than others and could work if they were fixed a little. While the committee wants to keep neighborhoods together as much as possible, they think keeping bus routes shorter is more important than keeping neighborhoods together.