POTTSTOWN PA – Discussions of redistricting in the Pottsgrove School District were anticipated to have kept more than 30 volunteers – parents, teachers, administrators and school board members – busy again Tuesday night (Nov. 15, 2011), as they were scheduled to review proposals to either re-align attendance boundaries for its three elementary schools, or to significantly change how the buildings are used in a new educational model.

Information released by the district so far on its website, here, seems to indicate members have an abundance of questions about creating two kindergarten-through-second grade elementary centers at the West Pottsgrove and Ringing Rocks buildings, and a third-through-fifth grade elementary center at Lower Pottsgrove.

• Read a district-supplied summary of the committee’s Oct. 18 meeting here.
• Read a summary of the Nov. 1 meeting here.
• See district-supplied slides here that offered answers to some questions posed Oct. 18 by members.
• A summary of Tuesday’s meeting has not yet been released.

The last meeting of the Elementary Redistricting Committee, as the group is called, is planned for Nov. 29 (Tuesday) at the district offices on Kauffman Road, Pottstown PA. It is expected then to make a recommendation on either or both proposals, and send it along to the Board of School Directors for possible implementation during the 2012-2013 school year.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Discussions occur just as Pottsgrove completes and prepares to open its renovated and expanded building for Ringing Rocks on Kauffman Road. They also follow what Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis described as a somewhat tumultuous summer in which several West Pottsgrove classrooms were overflowing with student enrollments, while seats in Ringing Rocks looked like they would remain empty.

Those imbalances were eventually corrected. However, an abundance of unused space at Ringing, concerns over continued space limitations at West, the two-story layout of and available space at Lower (which formerly served as the district Middle School), and a desire to find more budget savings in increasingly tight economic times all play a part in examining redistricting options, Landis told directors.

District overall enrollment has been relatively stable during the past decade, committee members have been told, and is expected to remain constant for another 10 years. Whatever option is favored by the committee, or approved by the board, is likely to be in use through 2020 and beyond, according to the administration.

So far, because the committee is still at work and no recommendation issued, there has been no public outcry over how redrawing district boundaries or utilizing centers will affect families with elementary school children of varying ages. Also lacking is any reaction to the possible costs or savings of either.

Expect that to change once the committee presents its report, director Philip Keogh reminded his colleagues during an earlier school board meeting. “You haven’t seen wild yet,” Keogh, who has been through redistricting once before, said.

Related (to Pottsgrove School District redistricting):

• Pottsgrove Redistrict Discussions Quietly Move Ahead
• In Pottsgrove, Redistricting Study Work Gets Started
• Pottsgrove Sets Dates For Redistrict Committee Work
• As Expected, Interest A’Plenty In Pottsgrove Redistricting
• Landis Calls For Pottsgrove Redistricting Volunteers
• Touchy Pottsgrove Redistricting Now Being Considered