The discussion of boundaries within the ICCSD has yet again taken a new turn: newly announced rules now dictate the process undergone by transfer students. Superintendent Stephen Murley explains that the system was implemented to ensure that population size at each school was balanced and students could go to schools with their neighbors.

“We know for the most part [that] kids want to go to school with their friends and their neighbors and those who they participate in extracurricular activities with. That usually means they want to go to school in their attendance area,” he said.                                                   

The boundaries have been constructed in a way that is based off of the neighborhood that students and their families live. This means that the elementary school that a student goes to will determine what high school they go to. Previously, this was not always the case. A large reason for past transfers was so students could go to a school that made more sense with their location and where their elementary friends were going.

Anna Lindower ‘19 went to Lincoln Elementary, and dealt with boundary issues that the new policy seeks to amend. Lindower was supposed to go to Northwest along with the friends she had made in elementary school.  However, after being assigned to City High, she made the decision to get a transfer from Northwest to Southeast.

“In sixth grade at Lincoln I had a really tight group of friends and it was hard seeing them split up — half of them going to Northwest and half of them going to Southeast,” Lindower said.  “It made the most sense for me to go to Southeast so I could make more friendships that continue throughout high school at City High.”

To keep problems like this from happening the School Board used a linear feeder system when creating the new boundaries. A linear feeder system means that all the students from an elementary school will go to junior high together, continuing on to that junior high’s respective high school. With the new boundaries there should not be elementary schools where the students go separate ways for junior high and high school.

While the boundaries have been created to keep things organized between the schools, there remain different motives for students requesting a transfer.  The rules have also changed  for how students and their families should go about transferring. A student requesting a transfer to a different elementary school will have to make that request every year they are at that elementary school, but on the secondary level the process is different.

“We know that the high school experience is really a singularity. So [transfers at the high school level] will be granted for all four years. This should be quite a peace of mind for students and their parents as they go through the process,” Murley said.

Once a student’s transfer request has been accepted they then will be able to go to their preferred junior high for both years or high school for four years. An important point to note, however, is that students will have to request a transfer in between junior high and high school.

Transfers are granted based on population size. The school board has set two numbers–a ceiling number and a floor number–for each school. The ICCSD recommends that the population for each school be somewhere in between the two numbers. But these numbers are also dependent on how much space a school has.  For City High, there is more wiggle room for transfers given its plan to add six new classrooms in 2021.

And to transfer, there are regulations one must follow.  First, requests must be made by December 1st.  Once the school is aware of the quantity of requests, they will work to grant them case-by-case. Transfers will be granted based upon making sure there are not too many students leaving a school and if there is space at the school they want to go too. If it is not possible for all the students to transfer then they will be put into a lottery system and drawn randomly.

But with the implementation of these new, more lenient rules for transfer students, the question of equity with the district arises. A critical thing for students and parents to note is that throughout the three high schools teachers are working together to make things equal for students.

“As the language arts curriculum coordinator, I made the recommendations for Liberty’s course offerings. I recommended that Liberty open with the English courses held in common by City, West, and Tate. While the core courses and many electives will be the same everywhere, there are a few electives offered at specific buildings due to teacher expertise and interest,” English Teacher Jennifer Brinkmeyer said.

To combat the threat that the new rules may impose on equity, schools across the district are working to create sufficient learning environments by offering the same core courses for students, regardless of which school they attend.  Ultimately, though, it comes down to what best suits each family.

“We know it’s important for students to be where they want to be so they can be engaged in their environment. [If they are engaged], then they will do a better job at school and our obligation to students and their families is that they can choose,” Murley said.