Perry Township school board ends choice program, approves new elementary boundaries

Perry Township school board voted to end its elementary school choice program and create new boundaries for its 11 elementary schools Monday night. Officials said the goal is to reduce bus routes amid a bus driver shortage facing the district.

Perry Township superintendent Patrick Mapes presented the recommendation to the seven-member board, which voted unanimously to approve the new boundaries.

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Board member Hannah Dale said at Monday night’s meeting that she is confident that the board and new board members joining in January will continue to listen to the community’s concerns as the new boundaries are implemented.

“Nothing's going to be perfect,” Dale said. “We are a massive, massive district and decisions are often difficult and complicated, but I know how much we've all listened and will continue to listen, and how much we do want to work together as a whole community.”

Under the new elementary boundaries, the district would still allow intra-district transferring, or allowing students to apply to another school that isn’t within their boundary, but that family would have to provide their own transportation. The only exception to this would be for students who qualify for special education programs.

Students who want to attend school outside their zoned neighborhood school would have to apply and would depend on the availability of open seats at the school.

Some Perry Township students will get first priority in choice of school. Others won't.

Mapes later said that students who live within the school's boundary would get the first priority for a seat and then students who want to apply for an intra-district transfer would get the next priority. Students who live outside of the district but apply for an elementary school would get last priority.

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For the students who want to go to a school outside of their boundary school, they will have to re-apply each year for that school and provide their own transportation, Mapes also said.

The district estimates that around 31% of students would have to change schools. The district serves around 7,700 pre-k through fifth-grade students, according to state data for the 2022-2023 school year.

Officials said the goal in creating the new boundaries is to eliminate bus routes to create a more efficient system that reduces long wait times for students in getting to and from school and reduces work loads for bus drivers.

Perry Township ending choice program could eliminate dozens of school bus routes.

The district estimates that the new plan could eliminate around 15-36 bus routes.

Currently, the district says it has 102 bus drivers but needs 117 to be fully staffed and has zero substitute drivers. The district has resorted to using other transportation staff to fill in when needed or has asked drivers to take on additional routes, causing students sometimes to be up to an hour late to school.

The 2023-2024 school year is when the new elementary boundaries will go into effect.

For Perry Township elementary students, the district is currently split into two attendance areas, the east side (Southport) and the west side (Perry). Students are zoned for a specific school but can choose to attend any of the schools within their east or west side boundary and are guaranteed transportation.

Jeremiah Gray Elementary school serves as the choice school for the Southport side and Rosa Parks Elementary school for the Perry side.

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The district has tried various methods to fix its transportation problem, including asking voters to renew an operating referendum during the May primaries. The district said about $1.5 million of the referendum dollars go towards transportation costs which include covering fuel and driver pay.

Perry Township associate superintendent Chris Sampson told IndyStar that the problem hasn’t been being able to pay drivers properly, but the lack of available workforce.

“We have the funds to pay them, we just don’t have the bodies to pay,” Sampson said.

Parents push back on ending choice program

This major change for Perry hasn’t come without pushback from district parents.

At Monday night’s meeting the board heard from around 10 parents, community members and students who attend Rosa Parks or Jeremiah Grey, asking the board not to end the choice program and force them to attend a new school next year.

Dulce Ramirez has two children that attend Jeremiah Grey elementary and worries about their well-being if they are forced to attend a new school after creating friendships and relationships with their teachers at Grey.

“This isn’t just school for them," Ramirez said. "It’s like another family."

Jeremiah Gray Elementary PTA President Samantha Kirk said after the meeting Monday night that she felt defeated and may be considering taking her kids to a private school in the district due to the change.

"Because even if they are still allowing intra-district transfers to happen in the district, we still won't know year to year if that school is going to have the capacity," Kirk told Indystar. "That is just too much uncertainty for me and my kids."

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Perry Township school district boundary changes coming for elementaries