Shawnee Mission School District administrators have begun the process of reviewing school boundaries with the intent of making changes to as many as seven elementary feeder patterns for the 2017-2018 school year.
At the Board of Education meeting Monday, Assistant Superintendent Michelle Hubbard presented the board with a timeline for reviewing the current boundaries and making recommendations for changes. She anticipates the administration will bring a boundary change plan to the board for approval March 27.
The majority of the schools that could be affected by the changes are west of I-35. They are: Benninghoven, Christa McAuliffe, Mill Creek, Shawanoe and Rising Star Elementaries. Just two elementaries east of I-35, East Antioch and Overland Park Elementary, will be part of the review process.
Portions of the East Antioch area ultimately feed into two high schools, SM North and SM West. Overland Park Elementary feeds entirely into SM West.
Superintendent Jim Hinson has warned for more than a year that changing demographic patterns in the district, particularly in its high-growth western reaches, would necessitate a round of boundary changes to balance out school enrollment numbers at the elementary level. The changes likely to come out of this round of revisions, however, will be limited in scope. A much more significant round of changes to elementary school feeder patterns could be necessary in coming years if the school board moves to keep sixth grade at the elementary school level instead of moving it to middle school, a question that is being explored in depth by a commission expected to make its report to the district this spring.
On Monday, Hubbard noted that elementary schools affected by feeder boundary changes for the 2017-2018 school year would not be open to transfer students that year. Fifth grade students who are affected by a boundary change will be allowed to attend their current school for the sixth grade year, but the district will not assume responsibility for providing transportation.
While the changes for the schools west of I-35 should impact elementary schools only, the East Antioch and Overland Park Elementary changes will likely affect middle school attendance boundaries as well.