19 October 2023
SUPERIOR The Superior School Board will decide on new elementary school boundaries in November that will start in the 2024-2025 school year.
The move will consolidate the Superior School District’s six elementary schools into five and help better utilize each building’s capacity in the face of declining enrollment. The board voted in April to shutter Lake Superior Elementary at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
Four options were presented during informational community meetings at Superior Middle School Monday and Superior High School Tuesday. Fewer than 100 people attended each session, according to district communications specialist David Coy. Links to recordings of the sessions are expected to be available on the district website next week.
The PowerPoint presentation, as well as maps of the four options, are currently posted on the district’s elementary boundary website. Families can use an online locator tool under the “Criteria, enrollment and options” tab to type in their address and see how each option would affect them. Residents have until Nov. 3 to fill out an online survey about the four new boundary options.
Between 329 and 383 students will be moved from their current elementary school boundary to another, depending on the option chosen, according to the information presented. That number includes all 147 students enrolled at Lake Superior Elementary School this year.
None of the students at Cooper Elementary School, which is currently the least utilized school in the district at 56%, would move, regardless of the option chosen.
Cooper would, however, grow. The school would welcome between 60 and 114 additional students in 2024-2025.
Four Corners Elementary School would see 13 students move from its current boundary under every one of the plans. None of the Bryant Elementary School students would move under the first three options; under the fourth, 18 would move.
Great Lakes Elementary School would see 109 students move from its boundaries under all four of the plans. Between 48 and 114 Northern Lights students would move from their current boundary to Cooper.
Timeline
The process that led to the boundary redistricting started in the 2018-2019 school year when the staff at Great Lakes Elementary brought up capacity concerns during a listening session, according to District Administrator Amy Starzecki. A capacity study was completed that included a 10-year student population projection. In addition to annual enrollment decreasing, the district saw significant decline once COVID-19 hit in 2020. In 2019-2020, the Superior school district had an elementary population of 2,053. This year, it has 1,571 elementary students.
Community feedback taken through Nov. 3 will be presented to the Superior School Board at its Nov. 6 meeting. The board is expected to vote on an option during a special session Nov. 13 at the Superior High School Performing Arts Center.
Transfers
One question that has come up involves Superior School District students who currently attend an elementary school outside their boundary through an interdistrict transfer request.
Transfers differ from open enrollment because they involve students who live within the district. All students who want to attend a school outside their boundary will need to apply for a transfer request by Jan. 26. Previous transfer requests will need to be resubmitted. Transportation to and from the requested school would be the responsibility of the parent or guardian.
While class size is the primary factor in determining whether requests are approved, transfers may be approved for students under certain circumstances. That could include students currently in fourth grade requesting to stay at their current school for their fifth grade year with no transportation, according to a proposed transfer process document. Transfers are considered on a case by case basis.
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