Kooser, Campbell elementaries could see new boundaries

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Lincoln Public Schools hosted a webinar Tuesday night to allow community members the chance to ask questions and voice their opinions on proposed boundary changes for Kooser and Campbell elementary schools.

The Lincoln Board of Education's Planning Committee proposed the changes in an attempt to decrease enrollment at Kooser and increase it at Campbell, which has seen drops in attendance in the past 10 years. The new boundary would assign Campbell the area from Folkways Boulevard to Interstate 80, and 14th to 27th streets, which was previously part of Kooser's zone.

Only three people were in attendance at the virtual meeting, questioning if other neighborhoods were considered for the proposal and what happens to students when they hit middle school.

The committee looked at three other north Lincoln neighborhoods within Kooser's boundary before deciding on the proposed area, said Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs at LPS.

The committee chose this area because it believed it would provide a good balance of families to avoid shifting too many students to Campbell, Standish said.

One parent also asked about middle school boundary lines and how students can avoid being split up from their classmates.

Campbell students are assigned to either Dawes or Goodrich middle schools, and all of the proposed area is included within the Dawes attendance zone.

It's common across all of Lincoln for elementary schools to be split among middle schools, Standish said. There are currently no proposed changes to middle school boundaries.

LPS will host a second webinar about the proposal at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5. The board is set to discuss the boundary changes at its Sept. 12 meeting.

If approved, the new boundaries for both elementary schools would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

The adjustments would affect an estimated 120 students based on current enrollment, Standish said. However, students already attending Kooser who live within the boundary-change zone, as well as their siblings, will not be required to transfer to Campbell.

Enrollment at Kooser has increased from about 730 students to nearly 900 students since the 2013-14 school year, Standish said. The program capacity for the school is just more than 750 students.

In an effort to deal with its growing attendance, Kooser previously added a portable building at the school, which contains space for two classrooms. Later this fall, the school will add another portable.

The neighborhood around Kooser, located at 7301 N. 13th St., is continuing to grow, too. The school is surrounded by empty residential lots, which could potentially bring more families to the district. By making the enrollment boundary smaller now, the committee believes it will help keep attendance at Kooser under control in the future.

"Kooser is an area we're going to continue to watch," Standish said during the webinar. "We know there's growth out there. We know there's enrollment out there. So we're going to need to continue to keep an eye on Kooser, but we think this is a good step."

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Reach Jenna Ebbers at 402-473-2657 or [email protected].

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