Changing student enrollment population and the availability of public school funding led school districts to reevaluate the use of school facilities and the boundaries that determine where resident children will attend school. The redrawing of boundary lines, though, is a highly sensitive issue that confronts school administrators and their boards since it involves the relocation of significant numbers of children. Recognizing this reality, school districts have sought to maximize community participation in the redistricting process in order to reach consensus on new boundary lines.

When residents in the Vista Unified School District (VUSD) in northern San Diego County, California, approved a local elementary school facilities bond in the autumn of 2001, the problem of school overcrowding that had existed for many years could now be addressed: The acquisition and construction of four school sites were to be completed over the next two years. The new schools would enable the district to transition from a multitrack school calendar to a conventional single-track calendar that would result in substantial savings in operational cost. The increased classroom capacity would necessitate redrawing school boundaries in order to evenly distribute school enrollment throughout the district and allow for efficient use of facilities.

While passage of the bond measure showed that parents supported school construction, it did not mean they supported unilateral boundary changes by the district. As Gail Ryan, assistant superintendent, explains, "We have approximately 12,000 children in the district whose parents were willing to voice their opinions about how proposed changes would impact them personally."

Therefore, VUSD knew that parent representatives from the different schools throughout the district needed to be directly involved in the redistricting process. Consequently, the district authorized the formation of a school boundary committee to determine how to best change the boundaries. With the help of district administrators, the committee was composed mostly of parents representing each of the district's elementary schools and the meetings were open to the public. Parents were notified through school newsletters about the work of the committee and contacted their school's committee representative to express specific concerns or ask questions. The committee met 10 times between July and December of 2002.

Community Involvement

Community involvement in the redistricting process at the beginning stages provided parents the opportunity to play an integral part in the creation of new boundaries. The difficulty was that parents, via their representatives, took on a task that is inherently complex even for the professional school facilities planner given that it requires the balancing of a range of objectives. Along with improving the quality of education for all the children, these objectives include devising boundaries that promote the creation of neighborhood schools, increase transportation efficiency, capture walk zones, relieve overcrowding, reflect ethnic balance, accommodate future growth, and address specific community concerns. If the boundary committee was to be truly effective, it needed technical support in order to be proficient in dealing with these objectives at a sophisticated level and in light of the fact that parents on the committee did not have planning background.

The committee found that help from Esri Business Partner The Omega Group, Inc., a San Diego, California, based GIS consultant with more than 10 years' experience in school redistricting and facilities planning. VUSD had worked with The Omega Group on previous redistricting projects and was a long-time user of Omega's School Planner software application for enrollment analysis and facility planning. School Planner is a custom interface for ArcView that VUSD knew had the analytical tools needed by the committee and could produce reports and color-coded maps that would be readily understood by the parents on the committee.

Based on the discussions at each committee meeting, the scenarios of different boundary configurations would be created using School Planner and then presented to the committee at the next meeting through a slide presentation. According to Ryan, "These presentations were indispensable, and we would not have been able to operate as a committee without them."

The Omega Group initiated the analysis of boundary redrawing by providing two sample scenarios to demonstrate the capability of its software. The committee then began to request new scenarios for each meeting as it grappled with trying to reach a compromise among the objectives. With each new scenario, the committee saw that trade-offs were inevitable and not all of the objectives were simultaneously attainable. For instance, when trying to focus on creating neighborhood schools through uniform boundaries, the members discovered from the software that the percentage of students moved was very high. Again, when trying to adjust for ethnicity, they saw this resulted in transportation difficulties. As Assistant Superintendent Ryan explains, "The maps, reports, and charts shown by slide presentation allowed the members to make the connection between what they imagined or perceived could be done and what was realistic."

The scenarios kept the committee focused on the objectives. As Ryan recalls, "The scenarios caused the members to ask numerous 'what if' questions rather than propose solutions." The committee members had gained confidence in their work to test the scenarios against the various objectives and proceeded to develop consensus by narrowing the scenarios down to one or two for recommendation to the board. The committee created a rating survey consisting of assigning points to each scenario based on how well it satisfied each of the objectives. From there, the members agreed to eliminate scenarios from further consideration. This consensus was the natural outcome of members coming to understand together through GIS technology what could be achieved and what was not feasible.

The last slide presentation The Omega Group made was shown before the school board with all the representatives of the school boundary committee in attendance. In fact, Ryan noted this was the first time a parent planning or advisory committee had appeared before the board along with district staff to explain its recommendation. However, the committee members had developed such expertise that they were prepared to be held fully accountable. Indeed, prior to the board meeting, one parent committee member had even conducted her own presentation to the parents from the school she represented about the work of the committee. Her ability to do this illustrated the rapid learning process the members had undergone in acquiring their planning abilities.

Not surprisingly, the board made its decision without any objections from the community. The VUSD boundary committee had navigated a difficult path using GIS to improve the use of school facilities and the quality of education for all of the children.

For more information, contact Gail Ryan, assistant superintendent, Vista Unified School District (e-mail: GailRyan@vusd.k12.ca.us, tel.: 760-726-2170, ext. 2214) or contact The Omega Group, Inc. (tel.: 858-481-3119, Web: www.theomegagroup.com).