Dublin City School District officials have unveiled three different draft redistricting maps for new high school boundaries, the first update to the rapidly growing district’s enrollment maps since Jerome High School opened in 2006.
The number of students affected by the proposed new boundaries in the draft maps varies, but could range from about 800 to nearly 1,500, district officials say. About 5,300 high school students are enrolled in the district’s three high schools this year.
Superintendent John Marschhausen said at a press conference Sept. 29 that the maps will help the district balance enrollment and be fiscally responsible to district taxpayers.
“We know our community is already significantly carrying a high tax burden. By strategic long-term decisions now, and with the space we’ve added and are adding, we protect our taxpayers’ investment while ensuring every student has access to the best possible education,” Marschhausen said.
Hundreds of parents and community members came to public information sessions Sept. 29 at Coffman and Jerome high schools, where some draft maps brought loud “boos” and spirited comments from the audience.
The new maps come after years of uneven growth in the district, most rapidly in the northwestern section. An expansion is being built on Dublin Scioto High School, now the least populated high school in the system, to accommodate a total of about 600 more students.
The updated maps would be implemented for the start of the 2026-27 school year, when the Scioto expansion is slated to be completed.
Without changing the boundaries, Dublin Jerome High School would be at about 140% capacity within 10 years, according to district projections.
Some teachers and staff also might be moved within the district to maximize efficiency, Marschhausen added.
Dublin City schools updated elementary and middle school boundaries last year, which affected about 1,000 elementary students and 360 middle school students. Unlike the high school changes, families could not choose for current students to stay at their current schools.
However, The Dispatch has previously reported that families will need to provide transportation to current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who opt to stay at their current schools. Any younger siblings would be required to go to the new school.
Some parents unhappy with the draft options
Val Geisler is the parent of two students now in middle and elementary school. Students who leave one of her children’s elementary schools are already split between two different middle schools — and she’s worried about additional splits to the middle school.
“If this were politics, it would be called gerrymandering,” Geisler told The Dispatch.
Some parents said all schools in Dublin are good, but Ethan Goldberg said he chose the house he moved to about a decade ago to live within walking distance of schools. Some of the draft maps move his family’s home to another high school that is miles away.
Krissy Schalter said she would worry about the safety of her kids traveling farther than the high school closest to her home and going through the busiest part of Dublin.
Mike Skalak said that he can hear the marching band practice at Coffman High School, but some of the draft maps move his family’s neighborhood school to Scioto.
“Proximity is one of the biggest issues here. We’re going to be getting bused to a location that’s two to three times as far away from the school that we can walk to,” Skalak said.
The district will take public feedback on the draft maps from an online survey through Oct. 24, Marschhausen said. The school board will hear more public feedback at the Oct. 29 board meeting, which will be held at Dublin City Hall.
Marschhausen said he is planning to share the final version of the high school boundaries with the board of education on Nov. 10.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers the northwestern suburbs for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dublin City Schools unveils draft maps for high school boundary shifts, the first since 2006
Reporting by Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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