Rogers Garden Elementary School parents concerned about moving to new schools

BRADENTON -- Wendy Westlund chose to send her three kids to G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School -- instead of Palmetto Elementary -- because of the small-school setting and the ease with which her day-care center could handle dropoff and pickup while she worked.

But after a meeting with Manatee County School District Superintendent Diana Greene on Thursday, Westlund feels her life is in flux.

The district is preparing to potentially rezone the central corridor area, move students out of Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary School and have the bulk of them attend Rogers Garden instead. Right now, students who attend Rogers Garden chose to be there, and the rezoning of the area would send those children back to their home schools to help accommodate the Orange Ridge students. Although it's still a proposal, Greene has been meeting with staff and parents from both schools to discuss how the proposal may change their school plans for the 2016-17 year. Formal plans will be presented to the school board on April 12.

For Westlund, it would be a big change. "This affects my entire life," she said. As a single mom who works 12 hour days, she said she likes to always plan and be prepared.

During an hour-long session, Greene fielded a number of similar questions and concerns from parents, who like the small class sizes at Rogers Garden. Based on the proposal, only a small number of the current Rogers Garden students would be zoned to attend the school next year.

The district is planning to hold a special school-choice session. After the students who are zoned to Rogers Garden are taken care of, if there's extra space, some families would be able to opt back to Rogers Garden.

"It'll depend on what capacity looks like," said Danny Lundeen, the district's supervisor of student assignment. "If they were here and they want to finish up here, that would be a priority."

Single mom Nicola Oakley also was concerned about whether her day care would be able to drop her children off at their new school next year. In the mornings, she drops her children off at the day care, and the day care makes sure they are at Rogers Garden on time, but the day-care provider wouldn't travel to every school, she said.

"I have to be at work at 7 a.m.," she said. "That's my biggest concern."

Orange Ridge would be the first but not the only school to close under a long-range plan to help balance enrollment across the Manatee County School District. Greene made a series of recommendations to the board in February after the district worked with DeJong-Richter, an Ohio-based company that helped bring all the pertinent data together.

Redrawn attendance zones will go before the board April 12. If the new zones are approved, the change will go into effect the next school year.

Under the current proposal, Rogers Garden Elementary School would absorb most of the Orange Ridge students, but Ballard, Daughtrey, Oneco and Samoset elementary schools also would be affected.

Once plans are finalized, the district will send individual letters out affected families, Greene said, letting them know their options.

"It will give you your new school, your new zone and your options," Greene said.

Before the April 12 meeting, the board will hear an update to the plans during an April 5 workshop.

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

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Rogers Garden Elementary School parents concerned about moving to new schools ."