Boundary Committee Continues Secondary Feeder System Discussion


The Comprehensive Boundary Committee continued the secondary feeder system discussion on October 2. This meeting was added to the boundary process after a lengthy conversation on September 11 lead committee members to request additional time to analyze data.

Robert Schwarz and Jay Harris of RSP & Associates provided the committee with additional information about building capacity, feeder options and socio-economic data from the most recent census. The information was intended to help the committee establish a feeder system consistent with the secondary prioritized boundary criteria the Board of Education (BOE) set on January 23, 2018.

The committee was reminded the BOE identified the following top three criteria for secondary boundaries:

  1. Feeder System (Complete – all students in an elementary school to one middle school and one middle school to one high school)
  2. Demographic Considerations (Balance demographics for general similarity between schools)
  3. Projected Enrollment and Building Utilization (Balance enrollment with given building capacity constraints)

The committee used Draft Concept 2 as a visual aid for two activities designed to help the committee reach consensus on a secondary feeder system. No new draft concepts were shared at the meeting.

The first activity asked committee members to determine which 6-7 and 8-9 schools should be in each feeder system, based primarily on general building geographics. Next, RSP & Associates provided the committee with three feeder options to help guide discussion for the second activity. The committee was asked to analyze enrollment and socio-economic data to help determine which elementary schools should feed into a secondary feeder system. The committee used the elementary school median household income data and percent of multi-family units in an elementary boundary as key data points when discussing options to balance demographics between feeder systems.

At the end of the meeting, committee member opinions about feeder systems varied. No decisions about boundaries or feeder systems were made at this meeting. The committee agreed it would be best to share multiple options at the Public Forum on October 9 and use feedback from the forum to help guide their recommendation to the BOE.

Next Steps

It is important to remember no decisions about boundaries were made at this committee meeting. Stakeholders are invited to attend the second Comprehensive Boundary Process Public Forum on Tuesday, October 9, at 6 p.m. at the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center (WILC) to learn more about the process, provide feedback and view draft concepts. The WILC is located at 285 SE Ashworth Road, Waukee Iowa.

The Comprehensive Boundary Process will include two more committee meetings. The committee is scheduled to present a recommendation to the members of the Waukee Community School District Board of Education on Nov. 26, 2018. The Board is scheduled to take action on the recommendation at the meeting scheduled for Dec. 10, 2018. While the final two meetings are open to observers, only committee members may participate in the meetings.

If you have questions about the boundary process, please visit our FAQ page on the website or submit a question.

RSP Presentation October 2, 2018