The district is lopsided. The population of the east side of USD 232 is growing exponentially and the west is defined by rural population figures. This creates a confused mess of school populations.

To deal with this problem, the Board of Education formed a committee to discuss possible options for restructuring the system. The Board hired a data gathering company, RSP and Associates, to estimate enrollment figures.

With all boundary committee meetings done and 18 options of boundaries on the table for the Board to consider, their responsibility is to decide how the students will be separated between the middle and high schools.

Several weeks ago, the Board agreed on narrowing down the options and scheduled a special meeting to talk specifically about the boundary issue. Going into this special meeting, the board was to decide between these three options:

1. To live through it. No boundary changes and a more publicized and streamlined open transfer program between middle schools and high schools in the district. Any student that lives in the Mill Valley High School area and would like to go to De Soto High School may transfer, with transportation possibly being provided. However, only students who are in good standing may transfer from one school to the other.

2. To change a little. Any students that live east of Woodland drive must attend Mill Creek Middle school.

3. To change a lot. any student that will be attending DHS must go to  Lexington Trails Middle School, and any student attending MVHS must go to Mill Creek or Monticello Trails Middle School.

One of the reasons the board took so long with their decision is because they didn’t trust the data given to them by the company they originally hired. A projection given to the board by RSP for 2013 enrollment was incorrect in some schools by as much as 20 students, and this gave several board members doubt about the company, specifically board member Scott Hancock.

“If we don’t have data we can trust, how can we disrupt people’s lives?” Hancock said to the other board members last meeting.

In the end, the Board’s final decision was to “live through it.” The Board will continue to discuss an open transfer policy at De Soto High School and Lexington Trails Middle School, and whether to provide transportation.