CUSD adopts new attendance boundaries

Clovis Unified School District has approved new attendance boundaries, which will take effect in the 2016-17 school year. The new boundaries were developed after a months-long boundary study, initiated at the request of the district’s governing board.

Norm Anderson, associate superintendent of school leadership, said 19 district elementary schools will be affected by the change.With the 2016 opening of Boris Elementary, he said, they knew they would need to make changes to develop an attendance area for the new school, as well as balance enrollment at surrounding schools. The study also anticipated future growth areas within district boundaries.

“We tried to balance current needs and potential growth,” Anderson said. Some schools, he said, are over-capacity while others are under-capacity.

“When schools are so big,” he explained, “it’s hard to do everything they need to do. The infrastructure is not there.”

Instead of simply building new facilities to alleviate overcrowding at individual sites, Anderson said, the district instead looked at how to use the spaceit already has to its best capacity.

The new boundary changes will affect students currently enrolled in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade as well as any student who moves into a new school attendance area or enrolls in a Clovis Unified school for the first time in the 2016-17 school year.

The CUSD Governing Board has approved a special Priority Intradistrict Transfer window for students affected by the boundary change who wish to remain at their current school. Those requesting a Priority Intradistrict Transfer have until 5 p.m on Dec. 9 to make the request. To learn more about the newly adopted attendance boundaries and the Priority Intradistrict Transfer, visit www.cusd.com/attendance-boundaries.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 3:59 PM with the headline "CUSD adopts new attendance boundaries."