Elementary School Boundary Process - Kearney School District

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UPDATE

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, Kearney School District’s Board of Education approved the changes recommended by the Elementary School Boundary Team.

Kearney School District is in the process of evaluating the attendance boundaries for each elementary school this fall. We are nearing completion of our Prop B bond capital improvement projects, which will benefit all of our elementary schools and increase the enrollment capacity at Kearney Elementary and Hawthorne Elementary. Under our current attendance boundaries, Dogwood Elementary and Southview Elementary will be impacted immediately by the ending of the LENS program as those students return to their home schools. New residential developments on the west side of our district will also increase enrollment at Dogwood, which is already at its ideal capacity. This is the right time to balance enrollment and help ensure that we operate effectively and efficiently with our resources.

This process is likely to impact at least some of our stakeholders. Before we make any major boundary changes, we are first allowing our key stakeholders to ask questions, express concerns and provide their insights. Eventually, a final recommendation will be submitted to our Board of Education, most likely this November or December. Depending on the Board’s decision, the new elementary school attendance boundaries will go into effect starting with the 2025-2026 academic year.

Select the options below to learn more. Please use the form on the left or email boundary@ksdr1.net if you have any questions or comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to help with this process!

Elementary School Boundary Team

The Elementary School Boundary Team is comprised of parents/guardians and KSD employees. They have spent many hours over the last several weeks reviewing demographic factors like projected enrollment growth and new residential developments, establishing decision-making criteria and generating proposed boundary options. The team is comprised of 17 parents/guardians with children enrolled in Kearney School District. That group includes four KSD employees. They were selected by an administrative steering committee after completing an interest form. To learn more about how the team is conducting this process, please read the Elementary School Boundary Team Charter document.

Decision-Making Criteria

The Elementary School Boundary Team used the following criteria to assess the scenarios they developed and to narrow the choices to two options. These criteria are weighted equally:

Enrollment Capacity - Minimize disruption, balance the number of students assigned to each elementary school with building capacity, and consider immediate and projected enrollment.
Demographic Considerations - Consider demographic diversity. Include the composition and socioeconomic status of the students we serve in our analysis.
Reasonable Boundaries - Keep neighborhoods together to the greatest extent possible and maintain contiguous attendance areas.
Transportation Logistics - Consider arterial roads and barrier streets when developing boundaries; the goal is to maximize efficiency and safety and minimize ride times.
Financial Impact - Be good fiscal stewards and make decisions that maximize our capital and operational funds, including effectively utilizing staff, facilities, and resources.

Additional Factors

These additional factors also impacted the proposed elementary school attendance boundary scenarios:

School Capacity - When the Prop B projects are completed, Dogwood Elementary, Kearney Elementary and Southview Elementary will all have room for four classes per grade level (four-section schools); Hawthorne Elementary will be a three-section school. Best practice suggests that the ideal enrollment for an elementary school is 85% of the capacity. That equates to 470 students for the four-section schools and 352 for Hawthorne.
Enrollment Projections - In 2023, KSD hired a well-respected demographer to do an in-depth market study of our community and provide enrollment projections through 2032, which are included in the information about the proposed scenarios.
LINK: 2023 Enrollment Study Presentation
LINK: 2024 Updated Enrollment Study Presentation
Transferring - Any requests to allow current students (and possibly siblings) to remain at their current elementary schools for the 2025-2026 academic year will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Daycares - It is our intention to have daycare providers send our students to the school in the attendance boundary where the center is located. This will be a change of practice as several daycare providers currently send students to elementary schools that are not in the same boundary as the center. This situation has a major impact on our student transportation and enrollment at our elementary schools. A table showing where these providers will send their students starting in the 2025-2026 academic year is included below. Talented Tots currently does not have any school-age children; if that changes, under the Black scenario option, those students will attend Southview Elementary. Please note that we anticipate continuing to provide childcare for students in grades K-5 at our elementary schools through our Kids Club program.

DAYCARE	CURRENT IN-BOUNDARY SCHOOL	CURRENT SCHOOL WHERE STUDENTS ARE BUSSED BY KSD	PROPOSED SCHOOL
Little Dawg	Kearney Elementary	Southview Elementary	Kearney Elementary
Radiant Life	Dogwood Elementary	Southview Elementary	Dogwood Elementary
Guardian Angel	Hawthorne Elementary	Hawthorne Elementary	Hawthorne Elementary
Hand N Hand	Kearney Elementary	Hawthorne Elementary	Kearney Elementary
Talented Tots	Kearney Elementary	N/A	Southview Elementary

Elementary School Boundary Proposal

The Elementary Attendance Boundary Team came to a consensus on the following recommendation:

The video below includes a brief summary of the purpose of this elementary attendance boundary, the process used and the proposal:

The proposal will be presented to the Board of Education on Wednesday, Nov. 20; the Board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation on Wednesday, Dec. 11. In alignment with Board policy, up to five members of the public may be given the opportunity to speak for up to three minutes apiece during the public comment period during regular Board meetings. Patrons who wish to address the Board of Education on agenda items or other items of concern may do so by completing the Public Participation Request Form. Requests must be received no later than 1 p.m. on the date of the board meeting. Board meetings can also be viewed on the KSD YouTube channel.

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