Attendance Boundary Committees Address Leveling in Lamar CISD
During the latter half of February, Lamar CISD held several Attendance Boundary Committee (ABC) meetings to address leveling and rezoning. The Central Lamar CISD ABC met on February 19 and 21, while the Southeast Lamar CISD ABC met on February 26 and 27.
Leveling is important in a fast-growing district and necessary when there are schools that have a lot of students and others that do not have as many. When this happens, the District holds ABC meetings to determine how to best move some students to balance enrollment across campuses.
“I value how Lamar CISD involves parents in the rezoning process and gives them a voice,” Christina Garcia, Carter Elementary parent and Southeast Lamar CISD ABC co-spokesperson, said. “Lamar CISD is a hypergrowth district, and it is important to fully utilize current facilities to balance the growth.”
The recent ABC meetings about leveling differ from the rezoning meetings held in early February. The rezoning meetings were held specifically to determine attendance zone maps for newly constructed campuses.
In both cases, the ABC groups were comprised of parent representatives from different schools throughout the District as well as campus administrators, however, only parent representatives were permitted to vote. In addition to the formation of these committees, the District gathered feedback from a survey emailed directly to parents of potentially impacted campuses.
"We prioritize representing the entire district by ensuring we represent the support of the community as demonstrated in the survey results," Vanessa Marsters, Austin Elementary parent and Central Lamar CISD ABC spokesperson said.
Out of the 37 people invited to be a part of the Central Lamar CISD ABC, 22 were present on February 21 to vote. The group decided not to create an additional map option.
“The option we selected provides the least amount of disruption for Central Lamar CISD students and allows for safer commutes for our children,” Marsters said.
Out of the 26 people invited to be a part of the Southeast Lamar CISD ABC, 23 were present on February 27 to vote. After much discussion and consideration, the group decided not to create an additional map option.
“Change is hard, especially for kids— it’s really important to keep that in mind,” Krantz said. “The option we chose breaks up the fewest neighborhoods and makes it so students don’t have to cross 59 to get to school.”
As the spokespersons, Marsters, Garcia and Krantz will present the findings of their respective committees and recommend a leveling map option at the Lamar CISD monthly Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, March 19. The Board will use this information to vote on the final leveling maps.
For more information on the Leveling Process including map options and additional meeting information, please click HERE.
Source: Lamar CISD
