Strawberry Crest High School in Florida is one of two new high schools built last year that prompted its district to redraw nine high school boundary lines.
Every time Hillsborough County Public Schools redraws its boundaries, parents put up a fight. Three years ago, they weren't happy with the results and questioned whether a former English teacher should be making boundary decisions.
But in 2009, the seventh-largest district in the nation didn't have a fight. When two new high schools came into the picture, Hillsborough contracted with a Tampa-based firm to create nine boundaries by using analytics software. And for the first time, no one yelled at the education board about the final results.
"Not a single parent or community member spoke up against the boundaries," said Bill Lazarus, CEO of Seer Analytics. "This is unprecedented in Hillsborough County history.”
Here's how they changed the boundaries without a fight.
Before the district even started drawing boundaries, its team of staff and representatives from Seer Analytics met with parents.
“We said, ‘We cannot guarantee equity of outcome, and we cannot guarantee that you will be happy with what we draw, but we can guarantee fairness and transparency of process,'” Lazarus said.
With the help of the community, they set their priorities:
Because of the Florida Class Size Reduction Amendment, high school classes must have no more than 25 students with one teacher. The new schools also need room to grow, said Steve Ayers, the district's director of community and parent relations.
With those top three priorities, the boundary team went to the drawing board.
But they didn't start by drawing maps.
“As soon as you show somebody a map," Lazarus said, "they know that it’s going to affect them or not.”
Instead, Lazarus used heavy-duty analytics software to create 78 possible solutions. Each set of solutions had nine high school boundaries.
The district staff members reviewed data on spreadsheets, which included the percentage of the school seats that would be utilized, the travel time and the diversity index for each school. They narrowed the solutions down to four, and then the company drew maps.
“I think it’s a leap forward in our district and probably nationwide to take a look at an analytical, data-driven analysis of the key variables in your particular area,” Ayers said.
Most districts consider one or two solutions and start by drawing maps, but this district looked at maps toward the end of the process, Lazarus said.
Once the staff members made little changes, they took the maps on a road trip to community meetings. At the meetings, parents mentioned that the boundaries split a subdivision in two, and a bus couldn't get into a cul-de-sac.
The computer can come up with an ideal solution, Ayers said, but you have to fine tune the edges with street and historical knowledge. Four years ago, students in one area had to change schools, and moving them again would not be a good idea.
“The analytical part of it is a tool to help you make decisions, but it’s not the complete solution," Ayers said. "You can’t take out that human element.”
The staff made a few tweaks to the maps and accomodated individual parents and communities when they could. In fall 2009, the academic year started smoothly at the two new high schools.
Over the next five to six years, Hillsborough plans to redraw all the boundaries. The federal government gave 10 school districts, including Hillsborough, grants to scale up their projects. In about 18 months, the district should have new middle school boundaries.
By talking with community members, creating solid boundaries and responding to parent concerns, the district approved new high school boundaries without a fight. And that's not something every school district can say.
