This story was written by Lia Salvatierra, our new Education Reporter. Find more of Lia’s reporting here. Do you have an NKY education story? Email lsalvatierra@linknky.com.
Boone County Schools Board of Education voted against a measure that would have redistricted hundreds of students from Longbranch Elementary School in response to urgent overcrowding concerns.
Last week, the board voted down a proposal to create a committee responsible for recommending a plan to redistrict up to 500 students from Longbranch to other schools for the 2027-28 school year.
The measure is the result of Longbranch parents and staff voicing concerns about overcrowding at the board’s Sept. 10 meeting. Longbranch is currently at 110% capacity, 90 students over its 900-student capacity, and projected to see an additional 300 students by 2030, which would bring the school to 143% capacity.
The board agreed in September to place redistricting on its agenda for the Oct. 8 meeting after hearing urgent overcrowding concerns from the Longbranch community, including safety issues, limited arts programming and teacher burnout. Some attendees of the September meeting specifically called for immediate redistricting.
But last week’s proposal wasn’t popular among both those protesting redistricting and those who originally advocated for it. Those advocates told LINK nky they feel they’re back at square one, without a solution to the ongoing overcrowding issue.
Details of proposed plan
The measure before the board Thursday of last week would have created a committee responsible for recommending a redistricting plan for up to 500 students from Longbranch to four other Boone County Elementary Schools.
Destination schools for redistricted students were Burlington, Erpenbeck, Stephens and Yearley elementary schools.
Board Member Karen Byrd said she took issue with how the charge was written.
“It caused what happened tonight, which is pitting the Longbranch community against itself, and that is not a good thing ever,” Byrd said.
Byrd also said the charge prescribed a plan for redistricting up to 500 students, rather than leaving the committee to handle the process.
“We do not need to be setting ourselves up for even more failure, by prescribing what the work of the redistricting committee is to be,” she said.
Longbranch community response
Thursday’s proposal drew broad opposition and calls for a better solution.
Most attendees who advocated for immediate redistricting in September returned Thursday asking for a more thoughtful solution than the proposed measure. They continued voicing frustration around the district’s lack of planning and unwillingness to address crowding concerns in a comprehensive and creative way.
“If Long Branch reached 90% capacity years ago, why wasn’t something started then?,” said Kaitlin Martin, the parent who was denied when formally requesting the district place an item on overcrowding at Longbranch on the agenda in September.
Martin said Longbranch is already using the library, cafeteria and conference rooms as classrooms. According to the district, two mobile units for four classrooms expected for delivery this month are now delayed until December.
“If we do nothing, where will our current children and the anticipated hundreds of new students go?” Martin said.
Other Longbranch families also objected to the proposed redistricting measure on Thursday, raising concerns about property values and being removed from their choice district.
A Longbranch fourth grader told the board she doesn’t care that the school holds recess on its bus loop, rather than the playground. She said she doesn’t want to be redistricted away from Longbranch Elementary, like she was from Ballyshannon Middle School earlier this year to address its 110% capacity issue.
“I’m sad about that because a lot of my friends will be going there, but I won’t. We don’t want to lose Longbranch too,” she said.
Her dad also spoke in opposition to redistricting, holding a copy of a petition with 200 signatures he gathered door-knocking in his neighborhood. Parents who originally raised the issue of overcrowding launched a separate petition on Sept. 1, which has 485 signatures.
Alternatives to redistricting?
Board Member Carolyn Hankins Wolfe said she didn’t hear much support for redistricting on Thursday and suggested the best immediate alternative for families is school choice, or self-electing to move to other schools with capacity.
But she advocated for the board’s continued work on overcrowding, and proposed forming a committee to create a blueprint for addressing the issue at Longbranch and other schools as needed. She told LINK nky that regardless of Thursday’s vote, she plans to formally request that committee.
“Saying no to redistricting should not mean that we ignore the overcrowding because redistricting is unpopular. It’s quite the opposite,” she said.
Board Member Jesse Parks told LINK nky he also thinks school choice is the best immediate tool for concerned families. Delivery of the mobile classroom units should also provide relief when they arrive, he said.
Superintendent Jeff Hauswald also told LINK nky the district also plans to move forward with constructing a new 700-student capacity middle school to free up elementary school capacity. The proposal for the new school was included in the district’s new facility plan approved during the Sept. 10 meeting.
A public hearing for that plan was held on Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. On Thursday, Byrd voiced concerns that the meeting was not clearly noticed and prohibited working constituents from attending.
Unresolved feelings
Around a dozen Longbranch community members gathered after the meeting, voicing confusion and concern about how to address their original concerns.
“I feel like we walked away unheard again,” Longbranch parent and substitute teacher Tiffiney Vinup told LINK nky.
She reiterated Byrd’s comments that the board’s charge wasn’t presented as intended.
“Redistricting was never our focus; we just wanted a solution,” she said.
Another parent, Lyndsey Phillips, said she wants a plan.
“I think they need to be transparent with the parents, the staff, they are ignoring the big problem and they just keep seeming to push the bus,” she said.
