Iowa City school board set to discuss redistricting plans

The Iowa City school board is ready for its shot at redis­tricting. A 38-member committee has been meeting since November to develop scenarios for redrawing school boundaries, a process known as redistricting. Last week, that committee settled on several scenarios for the board to consider: two for elementary schools, one for the junior high schools and three for the high schools. The school board will discuss the proposals in a work session at 7 p.m.

Thursday at the district's Central Administrative Office, 509 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. There will be no vote Thursday. There may be at least one more public forum, and the board said it hopes to pick a redistricting plan by the end of the school year.

None of the redistricting changes will take effect next school year.

The board has mostly stayed out of the redistricting process so far, letting the committee do its work. The board has, however, identified priorities for what should be considered when redrawing boundaries.

Those priorities are: operational costs, enrollment/using buildings efficiently, maintaining neighborhood schools and student demographics.