It’s nearly impossible to drive through most of Union County and not see that it’s changing. Construction is morphing fields and forests into neighborhoods and new businesses. The population is booming and economic growth abounds.
With the influx of residents has come an influx of school children, most of whom need to find their spot in the Union County Public School System. As a result, changes have been made, and changes are still being made to our public schools.
On September 19, the Student Realignment Citizen’s Advisory Committee met for the sixth time since its inception in April, in order to serve its purpose to assist in providing input and intelligent discourse to the Union County School Board as they face the difficult task of drawing new school attendance maps.
The purpose of the maps is to stabilize school attendance zones for the next 10 years, while best serving the community and our children.
The Student Realignment Citizen’s Advisory Committee is made up of Union County citizens, chosen through their application to be part of the decision-making process. These are our neighbors, friends, co-workers and peers and they are tasked with exploring the options that provide our county’s school system with the most feasible, economical, and logical choices for student school attendance.
While their job is a difficult one, the members are volunteers and have committed to serving our school system while listening closely to the wants and needs of the community they are a part of.
The recent meeting saw the unveiling of four newly created possible school assignment maps. The purpose of this forum was as Public Input Session where Union County community members were invited to view and comment on the proposed maps. Because the Committee is still in the process of forming a final recommendation, which they will eventually present to the School Board for consideration, the maps as they stand now are likely to be changed and adjusted based on feedback and other data points.
The end goal of the Student Realignment Citizen’s Advisory Committee is to cement a finalized recommendation for student realignment, likely to take effect for the 2018-2019 school year, in January 2018. Once the recommendation is made to the School Board, it is up to the board as to how the UCPS will actually move forward with realignment.
In the meantime, the Student Realignment Citizen’s Advisory Committee has posted an online survey on the UCPS website where community members are encouraged to give feedback on the updated, in-progress alignment maps, and will hold another Public Input Session on December 14, where residents can again engage in the decision-making process.
If you would like to examine the most recent alignment maps, provide feedback via the survey, or view the anticipated timeline of the redistricting process, all of these things can be done on the UCPS website under the Student Realignment Citizen’s Advisory Committee page.
