The Green Bay School District is changing school attendance boundaries. Here's what to know
GREEN BAY — The Green Bay School District is in the middle of a large plan to reconfigure its district and consolidate schools, all in hopes of reducing its budget deficit.
Part of that process includes closing schools. The Green Bay School Board has voted to close three schools, with another seven recommended to shutter.
But even if your child's school does not close, it's likely they will attend a different school as the district changes attendance boundaries to fill buildings that are below capacity.
With the help of an architecture firm hired by the district, a community task force recommended in May that students populations shift at over 15 schools across the district. For example, it's recommended that about 350 students from Preble High School switch to East High while 350 East students move to West High.
About 300 students would move from Franklin Middle to Lombardi Middle, and about 80 students from Lombardi would move to Langlade, which is proposed to become a K-8, according to the May recommendations.
To decide which students would move where, the district convened a Boundary Adjustment Committee that will work with outside consultants to draw new school boundaries. The boundaries dictate which households attend which schools in the district.
Based on the district's preliminary timeline from last spring, boundary changes wouldn't take effect until the 2024-2025 school year for buildings where no construction is needed with some boundary changes taking effect in the 2026-2027 school year.
What will the boundary committee do?
This group of 15 community members, including two students, will meet over the next six months, narrowing down different options. The committee is scheduled to present its final recommendations to the school board in June.
Over the summer, the Green Bay School Board passed a resolution that requires changes to create equally or more diverse schools, ensure investments are equitable across the district, maintain educational pathways and prevent negative effects on transportation.
The district and its outside consultants will help create different boundary scenarios, which the committee will review and give feedback on. The boundary committee will provide local perspectives on boundary proposals such as the effects of walking to school and maintaining cohesive neighborhoods.
Members of the committee will also give feedback on community surveys that will be issued to families and take part in community engagement sessions to get resident feedback.
Who is on the boundary committee?
When the initial recommendations for school closures were presented last spring, community members organized to voice concerns on how the closures would affect students of color. It prompted the creation of the Northeast Wisconsin Latino Education Task Force, or NEWLET, a grassroots group of Latino community members and leaders from across Green Bay.
The group, along with others, said the plan to close schools was not clearly communicated to families of color, and the community task force that created the recommendations did not have enough diverse representation.
In response, the board passed a new policy on how community task forces, committees and advisory groups are created.
The previous committee that was criticized for its lack of diversity was selected by the school district without the ability for community members to express interest. Under the new policy, community members can apply to be on a committee, and the board president and superintendent review applications and select members. The final committee roster must be approved by a majority board vote.
The Boundary Advisory Committee was the board's first test of this new policy.
Here is who's on the committee:
Michael Bruesch
Marisol Evans
Sandra Gomez
Stephanie Guzman
David Harswick
Bridget Van Laanen
Kelly Marciniak
Samantha Meister
Stephen Schilz
Robin Scott
Vicky Shier
Tarron Talbot
Genevieve Winkler (Green Bay student)
Mary Yang
Q Yang (Green Bay student)
Can the public attend the meetings?
The meetings all start at 6 p.m. and are open to the public for observation. They will be held both in person at the district's downtown office in Room 138, 200 S. Broadway, as well as online via the district's YouTube page @gbapsstream5809.
The tentative meeting schedule is:
Jan. 23 in person
Feb. 20 virtual
March 12-14 in person community engagement meetings
April 2 in person
April 30-May 1 in person community engagement meetings
May 14 in person
May 21 virtual
June 10 in person final presentation of recommendations to the board
Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay School District is changing school boundaries. What to know
