District 196 Proposing Attendance-Area Adjustments To Ease Crowding At Rosemount High, Middle School

Press release from Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools, ISD 196:

October 11, 2021

District 196 is proposing to adjust middle school and high school attendance areas to begin to ease current and projected overcrowding at Rosemount High School and Rosemount Middle School by more fully utilizing existing space at other district schools. If approved, the changes would begin next year with a phased implementation giving families the option to attend their new attendance-area school or finish the level at the school they are currently attending.

The district sent a letter Oct. 7 to families with children currently enrolled in District 196 living in the areas identified for adjustments. The letter and maps explain the preliminary recommendations and invite them to attend one of three same informational meetings scheduled for:

Families are invited to complete an online form to provide written input on the preliminary recommendations. The form is available at www.District196.org/AttendanceInput and will remain open through October 22.

The administration will review input to develop final recommendations planned for presentation as new business at the Nov. 8 School Board meeting and action as old business at the Dec. 13 regular board meeting. Both board meetings will begin at 6 p.m. at Dakota Ridge School in Apple Valley. There are four proposed high school changes and four proposed middle school changes. If approved as currently proposed, all students living in the City of Rosemount would continue to be in the Rosemount High School attendance area.

The four proposed high school changes would move the outermost parts of the Rosemount High attendance area to three other high schools – Apple Valley, Eagan and Eastview. There are 600 District 196 high school students currently living in these four areas combined, most attending Rosemount High.

The four proposed middle school changes would move parts of the Rosemount Middle attendance area to Dakota Hills and Scott Highlands, and parts of the Scott Highlands attendance area to Falcon Ridge and Valley middle schools. There are 380 District 196 middle school students currently living in these four areas combined.

View the high school attendance-area adjustments map.

View the middle school attendance-area adjustments map.

The preliminary recommendations for middle school and high school attendance-area adjustments include the following areas:

The attendance-area adjustments would take effect starting with the 2022-23 school year next fall. Because of tradition and strong connections with school communities, the administration is recommending a phased implementation where families would have the choice to enroll at their new attendance-area school or remain enrolled at their current attendance-area school through completion of that level. Transportation would be provided to either middle over the next two years, through the 2023-24 school year, and to either high school over the next four years, through the 2025-26 school year.

Families would be asked to make their enrollment choice for the 2022-23 school year in January. With this choice option:

The sibling preference would also apply to students in other grades. For example, a current 7th-grade student with a sibling in 9th grade could attend their current attendance-area high school when they reach 9th grade and their sibling is in 11th grade at that same school. However, transportation would be provided only through the 2025-26 school year, their junior year.

District leaders first started talking about possible attendance-area adjustments in spring 2020, but delayed the process until now in order to focus efforts on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this fall, the district announced plans to restart the review of middle school and high school attendance areas. The attendance-area recommendations are part of a larger process to address the district’s facilities and equipment needs for the next 10-plus years. A committee of district and school leaders have been meeting on that since last spring.

Early in 2020, prior to the start of the pandemic in Minnesota, former state demographer Hazel Reinhardt conducted an enrollment study for the district. Looking 10 years into the future, Reinhardt’s high-end projections show total district enrollment growing by as many as 2,500 students by the 2029-30 school year. This would exceed current building capacity by as many as 2,300 students, including 1,300 of them at the high school level. This year’s enrollment has rebounded to near pre-pandemic numbers and is projected to continue to grow, with almost all of the new growth taking place in the southeastern part of the district, within the current Rosemount High School attendance area.

Visit the attendance-area adjustments page for more information >

This press release was produced by Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools, ISD 196. The views expressed here are the author’s own.