Andover School Committee members said they want more community feedback on the ongoing redistricting process as they reviewed new scenarios for reassigning elementary and middle school students at a workshop Wednesday.
The school committee is expected to vote on the redistricting plan later this month. It will be implemented at the start of the 2026-27 school year, and is aimed at equalizing building utilization following the opening of the new West Elementary School last fall.
The newest scenario would not affect a majority of Andover Public Schools elementary school students. Under the elementary scenario, about 130 students would move from High Plain to West Elementary to relieve overcrowding at High Plain. The rest of the current districts would stay the same.
Under the newest middle school proposal, students from Sanborn and High Plain elementary would go to Woodhill Middle School, while Bancroft and about 70 percent of South Elementary students would go to Doherty. The remaining 30 percent of South students, who live in Ballardvale, would continue to go to West Middle.
School committee member Lauren Diffenbach said she had not “loved any single option,” but appreciated the transparency of the process and the effort that went into soliciting parent input of the proposals.
“Each option has kind of troubled me in a different way, and as a member of the South community, the most recent options hit especially close to home. So me liking options is very different than me appreciating the process,” she said. “It has been sincere and feedback driven…no matter where we land, there’s always going to be a part of it that I know I don’t love and other members of the community won’t love.”
The scenarios were developed based on feedback from the committee and parents on the previous scenarios presented by Dillinger, the district’s consultant for redistricting. The new scenario addresses preserving walkability for students who currently walk to school, a major concern raised by parents who reviewed the earlier proposals.