Waukee School Board to Vote on Boundary Changes Tonight

Boundary changes affecting hundreds of students in the Waukee Community School District could be finalized at tonight's meeting of the Waukee Board of Education. 

At the Oct. 22 meeting of the Board, the Elementary Boundary Committee shared its attendance recommendation for the 2013-14 school year. Among them, the suggestion that more than 300 current students be moved to the new Woodland Hills Elementary in West Des Moines. The school is expected to open in the fall of 2013.

The Board will take action on the committee’s recommendation tonight at 7 p.m. at the  

Below are a list of answers supplied to Waukee Patch by the Waukee Community Schools in response to several readers' concerns and comments. If you have additonal concerns, please leave them in the comments section below.

Q. Are the changes reported a “done deal?”
A. The changes reported are actually recommendations from the boundary committee. The committee consisted of a group of parent volunteers who were tasked with looking at growth, demographics and facility capacities and bringing a recommendation to the school board for consideration. The board is the final decision maker and they will act on the recommendation at the November 26 school board meeting.

Q. Will there be any exceptions made?
A. Once boundary lines have been approved by the board students must attend the elementary school they are assigned to.

Q. Will there be a before-and-after school care program at Woodland Hills?
A. Yes, the district will run a Beyond the Bell program just like we do at Shuler, Walnut Hills and Maple Grove Elementary Schools.  The YMCA runs the programs at Eason, Brookview and Waukee Elementary.

Q. Can a student be grandfathered in and remain at their old school if they are in their last year there?
A. No, students will need to attend the elementary they are assigned. Allowing students to remain would not help alleviate the crowding conditions.

Q. Will any of the current teachers from Maple Grove and/or Brookview make the move to Woodland Hills?
A. Yes, and there will likely be teachers from other elementary buildings in the district that will go to Woodland Hills as well.  Those will be determined through our transfer processes and will be completed shorty after Christmas break.

Q. Will there be a preschool program at Woodland Hills?
A. Yes, it will be very similar to the programs we run at Walnut Hills and Maple Grove now.

Q. When will Woodland Hills be open to parents and students to see? Will that be before the start of the school year?
A. We will have an open house for parents and students prior to the start of the school year.  When that exact date will be we don’t know yet, as it will depend on construction and when the contractor turns the building over to the district.  It will be sometime in August prior to the start of the school year.

Q. My child used to be able to walk to school but will no longer be within walking distance of the new school (though I don’t think we’re within the distance to bus.) Will we still be charged if she wants to take the bus?
A. Students living close to the Woodland Hills building, in the Woodland Hills development, would be expected to walk to school. All other students would be eligible for free transportation as there would not be walking routes available to the school.

Q. How did the boundary committee decide to move the students they did?
A. They took many things into consideration. Much of that is outlined in the presentation posted to the school website. It was not easy and they spent a great deal of time exploring many different options before settling on the recommendation.

Q. Can we open enroll at our current school if we don’t want our kids to move?
A. No, students must attend school within their assigned attendance center boundaries. There is no open enrollment “inside” the school district.  Students who open enroll into the district from outside the Waukee School District are assigned to elementary buildings by the district, based on available space.

Q. When will the decision be made about Eason fifth grade?
A. No later than April 15.

Q. How many kids are you moving total?
A. Under the current recommendation there are a total of 342 students being moved to the new Woodland Hills Elementary School.  That is out of a total of 4,034 elementary students, or only around 8.5%.