The FSSD Board of Education continues to look for solutions to the growing socio-economic imbalance of students in its schools. After researching various proposals brought forth by a Board task force on the issue, the Board has focused its attention on possible rezoning scenarios. On Thursday, September 29, during a work session on school equity, Director of Schools Dr. David Snowden presented a map of the district with five hypothetical elementary school zones, including a new zone for Poplar Grove.

The zoning scenario presented by Dr. Snowden was designed to redistribute students to achieve a balance that reasonably represents the district's socio-economic statistics as a whole. It is merely a starting point for discussion and is not meant to represent a final proposal, but rather to serve as a tool to spark meaningful discussion and encourage creative thinking. As of mid-September 2001, the district serves approximately 40% students on free and reduced lunch, a leading indicator of low socio-economic status.

The scenario presented to the Board was developed by the district to begin meaningful discussion and was intended to be tweaked as the process moves forward. Dr. Snowden explained that the five attendance zones were developed using four guiding principles:

• a reasonable balance related to socio-economic demographics
• neighborhoods and/or subdivisions kept together
• school assignment as close as possible to where people live
• zone changes to affect least amount possible

The following map and accompanying charts represents the hypothetical attendance zones. The Board members were encouraged to submit revisions to Dr. Snowden before the next work session on October 6, at 6:00 p.m., at Moore Elementary School, 1061 Lewisburg Pike.

• Hypothetical Map with 5 School Zones
• Demographic Chart of School Zones
• Scheduled Meeting Dates
  

The Board also discussed a plan (formerly the Brown Plan) and its method of affecting socio-economic balance with a phased-in approach to zoning while maintaining some scenario of an open application process at Poplar Grove. Dr. Snowden presented a hypothetical scenario for that plan that would more closely align both Moore Elementary and Poplar Grove to the district average of 40% free and reduced lunch.