Boulder Valley School District
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BVSD connects with families concerning possible attendance boundary changes

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Susan Cousins

During the second semester of the 2024-25 school year, the Board of Education began reviewing school attendance area boundaries as required by Policy JC. The Board held work sessions in January, March and May to discuss potential boundary adjustments and is currently considering changes to attendance boundaries for Boulder schools, with implementation anticipated in the 2026–27 school year. Over the summer, district staff have been connecting with families who may be impacted to share information and gather feedback.

Learn More from Past Board Discussions:

Background

This attendance boundary review is part of BVSD’s broader response to declining enrollment. Reviewing attendance area boundaries was one of several recommendations that came from the Long Range Advisory Committee as part of its work to help the district respond to declining enrollment. 

Proposed Changes in the Boulder Area

At this time, the Board is only considering changes that affect students in the Boulder area. The current proposals include: 

Why make these changes?

In accordance with Board Policy JC, attendance boundaries are reviewed every five years to ensure they continue to serve the district’s long-term planning efforts. Specifically, attendance boundaries are designed to:

  • Foster balanced enrollment among schools in order to support high-quality learning experiences for all students 
  • Ensure efficient use of district resources, including facilities, transportation, and staffing
  • Maintain neighborhood and community cohesion
  • Enable thoughtful long-range planning

The current boundary change proposals aim to support one or more of these objectives. For example, there are currently more than twice as many students living in the Crest View Elementary attendance area compared to Heatherwood Elementary, and Centennial Middle School has significantly more students in its attendance area than Nevin Platt Middle School. 

Adjusting attendance boundaries can help rebalance enrollment, making it possible to sustain strong academic programs and provide more equitable opportunities for all students. When enrollment is uneven across schools, it impacts funding and the ability to provide essential programs and staff, such as classroom teachers, counselors, and specialists in art, music, P.E., and libraries. Fewer students can mean fewer adults to support them, which affects the overall student experience.

Particularly in Boulder there are a number of split feeder systems, where students from one elementary school may be assigned to different middle schools and different high schools. Currently, students at Whittier Elementary are assigned to two different middle schools and students at Creekside are assigned to three different middle schools. The proposal to adjust the Casey Middle and Manhattan Middle attendance boundaries aims to clean up the feeder system for Whittier and Creekside. 

Community Outreach

This summer, BVSD staff have been working to connect with the families that would be potentially affected by the changes to inform them of the proposals and gather their feedback. Emails were sent to families in July, and they were given the opportunity to speak with a BVSD representative to ask questions and share feedback.

An attendance area boundary changes website has been created and will serve as the central clearing house for information related to the proposed changes. It is located in the Current Topics area of bvsd.org. The website includes a link to provide general feedback about the proposed changes.

Additional Considerations

At the May 20 worksession, several Board members expressed interest in exploring broader changes that could create more substantial impacts in response to declining enrollment. Board members commented that they regularly hear from parents about the impacts of declining resources that come with fewer students and the resulting impact on students’ learning experience.

This year there are 13 schools that have two or fewer classes per grade level, and that number is predicted to grow to 15, or around half of BVSD’s elementary schools, by 2029. Fewer students means fewer resources available to a school and can lead to reductions in teachers for art, music and P.E., counselors, media specialists, and classroom teachers. Two rounds is the point where the reduction in resources really starts to impact the student experience. 

What Comes Next

In the coming months, district staff will work with the Long Range Advisory Committee to respond to the Board’s request for additional recommendations. Community engagement will continue to be a key part of this process. 

We encourage all families to stay informed as this important work progresses.

 

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