Redwood City schools adopt new boundaries

The July 29 vote was necessary to realign the boundaries following officials voting to shutter four schools with hopes of freeing the school system from the budget constraints that have long plagued the district.

In late 2018, trustees voted to close Fair Oaks, Hawes, John Gill and Selby Lane schools with hopes of moving away from a neighborhood school system to one built around larger, regional campuses.

With declining enrollment amplifying budget concerns, officials determined the district could operate more efficiently with fewer, larger sites that would require less overhead and personnel costs.

Board President Janet Lawson said the vote was not an easy one to take, but officials weighed a variety of perspectives when taking action.

“These decisions are never easy, especially when they impact people's lives so directly,” she said in an email. “Decisions need to be made based on data, community input, staff input and a variety of other factors.”

Under the board's most recent decision, the Mt. Carmel neighborhood, previously in the John Gill enrollment area, was added to the Clifford Elementary School boundary because the school has capacity to accommodate additional students, according to officials. The school's boundaries reach across the northern segment of the district, spanning from the area near Interstate 280 to Highway 101.

Similarly, homes in Atherton that fall within the Redwood City school district boundaries are now part of the Garfield Elementary School enrollment neighborhood. The boundary spans the southern tip of the district, intersected by El Camino Real, and runs from a segment of Atherton into the North Fair Oaks community.

Meanwhile, the new Henry Ford Elementary School boundaries were expanded to include the southern segment of the former Hawes neighborhood as well as a portion of the former Selby Lane neighborhood west of El Camino Real.

The new school boundaries wrap the around the southwestern portion of the district, ranging largely from the intersection of El Camino and Woodside Road to Interstate 280, barring a section intersected by Stockbridge Avenue, which is included in the Garfield boundaries.

The Taft Elementary School, reaching along the southeastern segment of the district and across Highway 101, absorbed the rest of the former North Fair Oaks neighborhood boundary.

The Roosevelt Elementary School boundaries are largely the same from the amendments last approved in 2018, with small additions of neighborhoods formerly in the John Gill and Hawes neighborhoods. The school boundaries are located in the middle of the city, with boundaries butting up against those of almost every other school.

The Roy Cloud Elementary School boundaries are largely preserved as well, with small additions of homes from the former Clifford and Roosevelt neighborhoods. The school located in the western region of the city around Emerald Hills features boundaries running up against Interstate 280.

Lawson acknowledged many neighborhoods lobbied for enrollment rights to Roy Cloud, but officials concerned about equitable access opted to keep most of the boundaries intact.

To that end, she said had the boundaries been moved to include other neighborhoods, the school's limited capacity would have been filled and students from other parts of Redwood City would not be able enroll.

More broadly, she said the map ultimately adopted offered the alignment which officials considered most fair to the entire school community.

“Data points such as socioeconomic income and ethnicity were evaluated very closely. It was clear looking at the data that [the selected map] provided the most equity to the low income and Hispanic/Latinx students,” she said.

The board's decision ended a yearslong process in which officials and community members discussed ways to redraw boundaries in the most equitable fashion, said a district press release.

Looking ahead, the district will use the new boundaries for the 2021-2022 school year. Students already enrolled will not be required to move to another site according to the new boundaries.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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