Boundary changes worrying Beaverton students, parents

BEAVERTON, Ore. (KOIN) — Concerns about safety dominated discussions at a meeting Thursday night over boundary changes for Beaverton School District.

Beaverton’s population is growing, and with a new high school in the works the district is starting to redraw its boundaries.

What’s been proposed thus far has some parents speaking out.

“Initially we were shocked by the springboard proposal,” West Tualatin View parent Jean Singer said. “We’re really concerned about our options for mobility and safety.”

District officials are in the preliminary stages of reworking their boundary map, and while nothing’s set in stone, some say they’re already concerned.

Singer and other parents in the Sunset High boundary are worried the proposal would put them in Beaverton High’s zone.

“They are changing the traffic configuration, potentially, for an entire region,” Singer said.

Singer says students and bus drivers will be forced to travel further, through more traffic and along accident-prone roads if the boundary change goes through.

But the district says its boundary adjustment committee, made up of both principals and parents, is keeping those concerns in mind.

“We will be very careful about how we approach not only the boundary adjustments, but the transition considerations that will go to the superintendent,” Maureen Wheeler with the Beaverton School District said.

Wheeler says these kinds of changes are nothing new for Beaverton, which has dealt with challenges associated with growth for some time now. She says many local high schools are already at or over capacity.

Aside from safety, some parents are simply worried about the social side effects of boundary adjustments.

“You spend 2 years getting familiar with teachers, getting familiar with coaches, being familiar with your high school community and then have to start all over again,” Sunset High parent Chris Miller said.

The process of changing Beaverton School District’s boundaries is still in the beginning stages, and while no public comments were taken on Thursday, Wheeler says the district cares very much about community input.

A public hearing is set for February and anyone can submit comments or concerns online.

The superintendent will make a final decision in late spring or summer and the boundary change will take effect in Fall 2017.