Lakeland district makes attendance zone change
More than 150 students will be moved from Garwood and Twin Lakes elementary schools to John Brown Elementary in the coming school year.
The Lakeland Joint School District board of trustees approved an attendance zone change Monday that would move 74 students who live around Hauser Lake or Hollister Hills from Twin Lakes to John Brown. An additional 94 students in the Majestic neighborhood and Lancaster apartments would move from Garwood to John Brown.
Students in the affected zones would be kindergartners through third graders from the 2022-23 school year.
“No matter what decision we make with regard to zone changes we’re going to have parents who are not going to be happy,” Superintendent Lisa Arnold said. “But the kids are resilient, and they quickly make friends. But if we don’t do this, we will have issues at Garwood with too many kids. And it’d be hard to justify having overcrowded classrooms there when we have a school where we could fill classrooms.”
The shift would leave Garwood with roughly 380 students at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Twin Lakes would have 260 students and John Brown would have 400.
“Moving a few students from Twin Lakes gives flexibility in Spirit Lake, Athol and Garwood,” Arnold said.
John Brown can hold 500 students easily, and that would leave space for any students that could move into apartments being developed near the Majestic neighborhood. School officials estimate that one third of the units will likely have children in them.
“This gives us a little bit of room to grow,” Arnold said.
And the district expects to continue to grow. Shifting students is a temporary solution to a projected long-term crowding problem that will inevitably require building another school.
“At some point we’re going to have to ask for a bond, but we’re not at that point right now,” Arnold said. “This community is not ready for that. And so we have to fully use the buildings that we do have before we can ask for more. And this allows us to more fully use John Brown.”
The plan to change the attendance zones came at the recommendation of the Long Term Planning Committee, and transportation.
Some students were being bussed along Highway 53 from Hauser Lake to Twin Lakes Elementary. Now instead of driving past John Brown on their bus routes, those students will go to the closer school.
“It’s never made a lot of sense to bus kids from Hauser or Hollister Hills all the way to Twin Lakes,” Trustee Bob Jones said.
A comprehensive map of the zone change has not been released yet, and should be completed in the near future, Arnold said. The affected parents will also be notified of the change.
“I will schedule a meeting with the parents of the students who are impacted by this decision so I can explain how we got there and what that will look like,” Arnold said.
