Students should be able to attend the school that is closest to their home
An area needing improvement involves what I call "neighborhood schools." Simply put, students should be allowed to attend the high school that is closest to their home. All of the schools in the district are excellent. Anything a student wishes to achieve (and is willing to work towards) can be accomplished at any of the four comprehensive sites. Students should not be bussed past other campuses to one significantly further away. It does not make sense for a student to attend elementary and middle school with friends, but be required to attend a different high school because they are on the opposite side of some boundary line. At one time, the district had an expressed desire to "balance" the enrollment at the four comprehensive school sites. This was a doomed concept from the beginning. Considering the significantly higher population density moving west in the county, this could never be achieved. Nor would it necessarily be a desirable goal. The quality of a school is not determined by its size. There are outstanding large high schools, and there are equally outstanding small ones. As long as there is a reasonable number of students to support a variety of programs, there is no reason to seek "balance" among the four sites. A simple solution would be to align the high school attendance boundaries with the existing middle school boundaries. Students who attend a specific middle school would attend the same high school.
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