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Boundaries Task Force offers second high school boundary proposalAfter listening to feedback at the March 31 public meeting and reviewing numerous e-mails, the Boundaries Task Force has developed an alternative proposal for attendance areas serving Chaska High School and Chanhassen High School. The new map responds to the request to balance diversity between the two schools.Proposal 1 - Attendance areas keeping cities together The proposals reflect competing priorities:
The Task Force reviewed several possible high school scenarios with the School Board's criteria in mind including: North/South line using Highway 41 as the natural boundaryIn all, the Task Force looked at 8-9 different plans over 12 weeks; most could not meet even a few of the Board's criteria. Why? Because the concentration of students in the east and middle section of the district contrasted with the wide open spaces with no development on the west side make it impossible in most cases to balance both current enrollment and future enrollment of students in grades 9-12 at both buildings. The other plans just don't work out numerically. The two remaining proposals currently being considered, on the other hand, will work for both the short term and the long term. They maximize the use of our facilities, allow for growth, balance enrollment between the two schools and allow cost-effective transportation. None of the proposals we developed was perfect. Neither of these two remaining proposals is perfect. Each reflects a one or the other of two competing values that no single plan has been able to mutually resolve. We now seek continued feedback on preferences between the two plans. Our ultimate goal is to create a proposal that best reflects the wishes of the community. Please indicate your preference by answering the brief survey below. We will compile the responses as one more indicator of public response for the School Board as it moves toward a decision. Please understand this is an unscientific survey and should not be seen as a binding "vote" to decide which plan will be adopted. It will be taken into account along with the letters, calls, e-mails, the recommendations from the Boundary Task Force, discussions at public forums and all the other input received by individual School Board members in recent weeks. As always, the final decision will be solely the responsibility of the Board. A word about diversity in schools One of the frequently asked questions we receive is about the goal to balance diversity and the extent to which that needs to be a priority. The question usually arises about Proposal 1 and whether we are comfortable with the level of discrepancy on the issue of diversity between the two high schools in Proposal 1. The short answer is "yes." We set out with a goal of achieving relative balance and would still see that as ideal. Having said that, we also know from experience in our own district, we can successfully manage deviations from "perfect balance" and still provide quality outcomes for kids. We have significant variation in demographic diversity in our various elementary schools today, and yet they still have all enjoyed similar success in academic outcomes for kids. The diversity measures are "numbers" to be considered, but they are not the only numbers that matter. 
We already have successful schools serving varying percentages of diverse students. It is a statistic to be aware of and informs the management and methods of instruction employed in a given school, but it does not determine outcome or create inequity in and of itself. Here are the statistics for other District 112 schools based on May 1, 2008 enrollment compared to the projected percentages for the fall of 2009:  | |||||||
