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School district to reconsider boundaries

JANESVILLE — Rule No. 1 for local governments: If you don’t want to upset people, don’t mess with basic services, such as garbage collection.

Or snow plowing.

Or where kids go to school.

The Janesville School District is about to break that rule.

The district administration is proposing to revive its school boundary committee. The school board will consider the idea when it meets Tuesday night.

Each school has attendance boundaries that define the “home” schools of each family. The committee would consider shifting those boundaries.

Boundaries would have to be shifted if the district closed a school—something that some school board members already have suggested—in the event of plummeting enrollment.

The board is not calling for a school closing—yet. But if enrollments drop far enough, the district could save money on salaries, maintenance and utilities if it mothballed one of its elementary schools and moved students to surrounding schools.

That’s one possibility the committee will consider, said Superintendent Karen Schulte.

A key problem for the administration and the committee is to plan for enrollments that will be unknown until the students actually show up in the fall.

Some have suggested the decline could be several hundred students, in large part due to unemployed parents leaving town to find work.

Steve Salerno, the director of human and administrative resources, is researching how other districts have adjusted their boundaries to accommodate enrollment shifts, according to a memo from Salerno.

Salerno’s memo notes one key consideration when looking at closing a school: How such a closing would affect “the morale of the community.”

Another memo, by Business Services Director Doug Bunton, suggests that the committee needs time both to gather data and to receive community input, probably next fall.

Schulte said the committee could start work this summer.

A school board policy requires that the boundary committee comprise seven “citizens” and a district administrator, who would be the chairperson.

Any changes in boundaries must be preceded by a 30-day notice to allow public comment to the committee.

The committee probably would work throughout the coming school year and make recommendations for the 2010-11 school year, Schulte said.

Another money-saving option would be to move a charter school into a district-owned school building.

All but one of the charter schools now are in leased space. But one of the advantages of the charters is that they appeal to students precisely because they are not in a mainstream school, Schulte said.

The district now pays over $280,000 a year to lease charter-school space.

One charter school might relocate sooner.

Schulte said the CRES Academy, a very small school that helps kids who are returning to school after going through drug/alcohol treatment, might be moved from its present location at 514 S. Main St.

The district is talking to a church that might offer cheaper rent for CRES, Schulte said.

The last time the boundary committee met was in 2000. At that time, the issue was whether to shift the boundaries to deal with the fact that Marshall Middle School was bursting at the seams, while Franklin Middle School had excess capacity.

In the end, no boundary was shifted.