Committees recommend new attendance zones to take students out of Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary

BRADENTON -- Three committees, assigned to change attendance zones to move students out of Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary School into nearby schools, didn't come up with vastly different mockups.

"The maps were all pretty similar when we sat down," said Danny Lundeen, Manatee County School District director of student assignment.

The committee meetings, with administrators, teachers and parents from all affected schools, are required by Manatee County School Board policy whenever the district wants to redistrict. It hasn't been used in the last 10 years or so.

Under a current proposal, Rogers Garden Elementary School will pick up most Orange Ridge students, but Ballard, Daughtrey, Oneco and Samoset elementary schools will also be affected.

Last week, the school board approved a public hearing date and board vote in April to approve the redrawn attendance zones.

With the preliminary map, the district has already done a lot of the legwork, but needs community help to make sure the zones don't break up neighborhoods in strange ways.

A group of about 40 people, split into three smaller committees, met over the last week to pore over the district proposal and suggest changes.

All three groups moved a similar geographic group of students out of original Samoset zone and into the new Rogers Garden zone, taking a different geographic subsection into Samoset.

"Everybody kind of has this part for Samoset," Superintendent Diana Greene said looking over the maps Thursday.

One committee also recommended moving a small subsection of students near the DeSoto Mall from a proposed Rogers Garden zone into Oneco.

"We wanted to ship that to Oneco so we wouldn't have to worry about students now or in the future crossing that thoroughfare," said Melanie Newhall, a committee member and teacher at Orange Ridge.

The same presentations will be made to the school board during a yet to be scheduled workshop. Greene said she would likely set up the workshop for the first week of April.

Between now and then, the district would firm up some numbers the committee used by inputting more current data, Lundeen said.

"Some of the numbers may fluctuate to get it up to date and be a little more accurate," he said.

After the board looks at the proposals, Greene will gather its input and make a final recommendation at the April 12 meeting, she said.

"I'll look at the three options. ... On April 12, I will give the board a recommendation of which plan they need to adopt," she said.

Greene said she has been meeting with staff and parents at Orange Ridge and Rogers Garden to discuss the process.

Until a final redistricting decision is made, a lot of school decisions such as student attendance and teacher placement hang in the balance. After a final redistricting decision is made, parents will be notified of their new zoned school with a letter from the school.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Committees recommend new attendance zones to take students out of Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary ."