The Andover School Committee began discussing how it would implement a redistricting plan that could affect as many as one in five students in grade K-8 at a workshop before its regular meeting Thursday.
The committee discussed several ways to implement the plan, including “grandfathering” students who will be in 5th and 8th grade when the plan is implemented so they would not have to adjust to new schools in back-to-back years. Other implementation strategies the committee discussed include:
- Allowing students entering kindergarten and sixth grade in 2025-26 to enroll the school they will be assigned to the following year.
- A phased-in, or gradual implementation, with potential exceptions for certain grades.
- A geographical implementation where students in areas with fewer than 50 kids could be grandfathered in for a maximum of two years.
No final decisions have been made, but the school committee is expected to vote on the redistricting plan next month. The plan, which would begin at the start of the 2026-27 school year, is aimed at balancing school utilization rates following the opening of the new West Elementary School last fall. The committee also reviewed new maps for redistricting elementary and middle schools at Thursday’s workshop.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance Keith Taverna said grandfathering options would result in logistical challenges for bussing and staffing.
“The more that we can hone in on what options that we’re looking at and really have guidance from the committee about what that is, the greater level of detail that my office in conjunction with our transportation vendor can look at what the implications of that are,” Taverna said. “The more that we grandfather, the more complex that the staffing transitions are, and again, something that we can work through, [to] make sure our resource allocations are right.”
