How did we arrive at the new boundaries?

1. General criteria and factors used in developing boundary adjustments

The committee’s first step was to ratify a list of factors that would be applied in considering boundary changes.  It should be noted that it is not always possible (and was not in this case) to develop boundaries that meet every criteria on this list.  The committee attempts to balance these factors in the best interest of all students in the district when developing its recommendations to the school board.

• Building capacity for each school, with portables where applicable 
• Use the program capacity for each building to guide boundary decisions
• Student safety considerations
• Current enrollment, anticipated development, and enrollment growth for each school
• Transportation walk limits and proximity of schools to where students live
• Stability of attendance boundaries, with the goal that students not be rezoned more frequently than necessary
• Commitment made to community to not move students again that were moved during the middle school adjustment that took effect this year (the portion of the Colinas del Norte zone bordered by the western district boundary, 28th Ave., 10th St., and Northern Blvd.)  This area was moved from Mountain View to Eagle Ridge
• Feeder school alignment from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school
• Maintaining the integrity of neighborhoods wherever possible
• Minimize amount of transportation time for students
• Anticipated new school construction
• Impact of boundary changes on Public Schools Facilities Authority prioritization of state school construction needs

Other information pertinent to the process:

• One middle school may have a different start time from the others by up to one hour (i.e. be on a different tier)
• Reducing enrollment too much at a school has the potential to compromise the educational program because the school does not have enough students to sustain a full range of electives and offerings
• Any boundary process is accompanied by the transfer of at least some teachers and in some cases administrators to other schools
• A new middle school will most likely not be completed before 2011
• Middle school boundaries will have to be re-evaluated in two to three years

Option 1:

Option 1 creates an attendance boundary for the Mid-High that includes all of Cielo Azul Elementary (currently at Mountain View) and Rio Rancho Elementary (currently at Lincoln), the portion of the Colinas del Norte Elementary zone currently attending Mountain View, portions of the Enchanted Hills Elementary zone currently attending Mountain View, and portions of the Stapleton zone currently attending Eagle Ridge.

Advantages to Option 1 (click map on right to view full-sized Options 1 map):

The new attendance boundaries:

• Create an attendance area for Eagle Ridge Middle School which includes:

• All of the Puesta del Sol attendance area. This area is currently assigned to Eagle Ridge
• The portions of the Colinas del Norte attendance area currently assigned to Eagle Ridge (everything south of 28th Ave.)
• The portions of the Stapleton Elementary attendance area currently assigned to Eagle Ridge except for Vista Hills. The line runs between Loma Colorado and Vista Hills approximately along the 40th St. alignment if it extended south of Northern Blvd to the Montoyas Arroyo. The area west of this line remains at Eagle Ridge. The area east of this line moves to the new middle school.

• Create an attendance area for Lincoln Middle School which includes:

• All of the Martin Luther King, Jr. attendance area, which is currently assigned to Lincoln
• All of the Maggie Cordova attendance area, which is currently assigned to Lincoln
• The Abrazo-Idalia-Chessman “triangle,” which is currently assigned to Lincoln

All students in the Rio Rancho Elementary School attendance area will move from Lincoln to the new middle school.

 

• Create an attendance area for Mountain View Middle School which includes:

• All of the current Vista Grande Elementary Zone, currently assigned to Mountain View
• All of the current Sandia Vista Elementary Zone, currently assigned to Mountain View
• Those portions of the Enchanted Hills Elementary zone lying north of the Barrancas Arroyo (just south of Iris Rd.) and east of NM 528. This includes all of Rivers Edge and also the area south of Corrales Rd and east of NM 528 north of Northern Blvd. These areas are currently assigned to Mountain View
• The remainder of the Enchanted Hills Elementary zone moves to the new middle school

• Create an attendance area for the future middle school (current Mid-High) which includes:

• All of the current Cielo Azul Elementary Zone, currently assigned to Mountain View
• Those portions of the current Colinas del Norte Elementary zone currently assigned to Mountain View MS (students living north of 28th Ave.).
• Those portions of the Enchanted Hills Elementary zone lying south of the Barrancas Arroyo (just south of Iris Rd.) and west of NM 528, currently assigned to Mountain View (east of 40th St.) and Eagle Ridge (west of 40th St.)
• The portion of the Stapleton Elementary zone west of the 40th St. alignment, if 40th St. extended southward across Northern. This principally includes Vista Hills. The area is currently assigned to Eagle Ridge.
• All of the current Rio Rancho Elementary Zone, which is currently assigned to Lincoln

School-by-school enrollment summary: Click here to view a complete description of the boundary details for this plan.

 

Comparison of old and new middle school boundaries based on elementary school attendance areas:

 

Elementary school attendance zone	School students currently attend	School students will attend in 2009-10
Cielo Azul Elementary	Mountain View	New Middle School
Colinas del Norte Elementary
North of 28th Ave.	Mountain View	New Middle School
South of 28th Ave.	Eagle Ridge	Eagle Ridge
Enchanted Hills Elementary
Rivers Edge 1 and 2	Mountain View	Mountain View
East of NM 528 and South of Corrales Rd.	Mountain View	Mountain View
North of the Barrancas Arroyo and West of NM 528	Mountain View	Mountain View
South of Barrancas Arroyo, west of NM 528, and East of 40th St.	Mountain View	New Middle School
West of 40 St.	Eagle Ridge	New Middle School
E. Stapleton Elementary
North of Northern Blvd.	Eagle Ridge	Eagle Ridge
East of 40th St. alignment (including Vista Hills)	Eagle Ridge	New Middle School
Between Broadmoor and 40 St. alignment (including Loma Colorado)	Eagle Ridge	Eagle Ridge
Area bordered by Unser/Idalia/Chessman/Abrazo	Lincoln	Lincoln
West of Broadmoor except "Abrazo triangle"	Eagle Ridge	Eagle Ridge
Maggie Cordova Elementary	Lincoln	Lincoln
Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary	Lincoln	Lincoln
Puesta del Sol Elementary	Eagle Ridge	Eagle Ridge
Rio Rancho Elementary	Lincoln	New Middle School
Sanda Vista Elementary	Mountain View	Mountain View
Vista Grande Elementary	Mountain View	Mountain View

 

Comparison of old and new middle school boundaries based on elementary school attendance areas
School	Capacity	2009-10 base enrollment (Versa Trans)	Base 2009-10 enrollment after changes	Available remaining capacity	Percentage growth 2009-10 based on 3% annual growth	Est. enrollment in 2009-10 based on 3% annual growth	Percentage growth 2010-11 based on 4% annual growth	Est. enrollment in 2010-11 based on 4% annual growth
Eagle Ridge	900	1,000	801	99	3.0%	825	4.0%	857
Lincoln	875	1,205	835	40	3.0%	860	4.0%	894
Mountain View	900	1,356	773	127	3.0%	796	4.0%	828
Mid High*	1,300		1,153	147	3.0%	1,188	4.0%	1,235
TOTALS	3,975	3,561	3,562			3,669		3,815

Option 2: Option 2 creates an attendance boundary for the middle school at the Mid-High that includes three elementary schools: Enchanted Hills, Stapleton, and Rio Rancho Elementary. (Click map on right to view full-sized Option 2 map.)

 

Advantages to Option 2:

1. Maintains pure feeder alignment for all elementary schools; keeps all elementary students together at schools that are now “split feeder” (Stapleton, Enchanted Hills, and Colinas)
2. No more than three elementary schools feed into any middle school
3. Honors commitment to CDN parents moved in last MS boundary adjustment (50 students)

Disadvantages to Option 2:

1. Leaves Mountain View Middle School over capacity even before considering growth; the school does not have room to add portables
2. Eagle Ridge Middle School’s enrollment might not support a full range of educational offerings
3. Transportation challenges with getting Cielo Azul students to Mountain View; some students currently have very long bus rides
4. HS boundaries not pure feeder
5. Transfers students from the north end of the current Colinas del Norte zone (north of 28th Ave.) from one existing middle school to another existing middle school (from Mountain View to Eagle Ridge)
6. Students who can currently walk to some schools would not be able to
7. Splits the Northern Meadows community for middle school as well as elementary
8. Eagle Ridge Middle School is located outside its attendance boundary
9. Moves the Unser/Idalia/Chessman/Abrazo area out of Lincoln
10. Mid-High is larger than other Rio Rancho middle schools

Summary of Option 2:

1. Creates an attendance area for Eagle Ridge Middle School which includes:
   • All of the Puesta del Sol attendance area. This area is currently assigned to Eagle Ridge
   • All of the Colinas del Norte attendance area. The portion of the Colinas del Norte attendance area south of 28th Ave. is currently assigned to Eagle Ridge, and the portion north of 28th Ave. to Mountain View. 
   • Option 2 would move all of the Stapleton attendance area, most of which is currently at Eagle Ridge, to the new middle school at the Mid-High
2. Creates an attendance area for Lincoln Middle School which includes:
   • All of the Martin Luther King, Jr. attendance area, which is currently assigned to Lincoln
   • All of the Maggie Cordova attendance area, which is currently assigned to Lincoln
   • Option 2 would move all Rio Rancho Elementary students (currently at Lincoln) to the new middle school at the Mid-High
3. Creates an attendance area for Mountain View Middle School which includes:
   • All of the current Vista Grande Elementary attendance area, currently assigned to Mountain View
   • All of the current Sandia Vista Elementary attendance area, currently assigned to Mountain View
   • All of the Cielo Azul Elementary attendance area, currently assigned to Mountain View
   • Option 2 would move all Enchanted Hills Elementary students (currently at Mountain View) to the new middle school at the Mid-High
4. Creates an attendance area for the future middle school (current Mid-High) which includes:
   • All of the current Enchanted Hills Elementary attendance area, currently assigned to Mountain View except for the area west of 40th St., which is assigned to Eagle Ridge
   • All of the current Rio Rancho Elementary attendance area, currently assigned to Lincoln
   • All of the current Stapleton Elementary attendance area. The portion of the Stapleton attendance area bordered by Unser, Idalia, Chessman, and Abrazo is currently assigned to Lincoln. The remainder of the area is currently assigned to Eagle Ridge.

School-by-school enrollment summary: This summary uses as a baseline enrollment in this year’s grades 5-7 (next year’s grades 6-8).

Impact of Proposed Boundary Changes Under Option 2
School	Capacity	2009-10 base enrollment (VersaTrans)	Base 2009-10 enrollment after changes	Available remaining capacity	Percentage Growth 2009-10 based on 3% annual growth	Est. enrollment in 2009-10 based on 3% annual growth	Percentage growth 2010-11 based on 4% annual growth	Est. Enrollment in 2010-11 based on 4% annual growth
Eagle Ridge	900	1,000	727	173	3.0%	749	4.0%	778
Lincoln	875	1,205	783	92	3.0%	806	4.0%	839
Mountain View	900	1,356	933	-33	3.0%	961	4.0%	999
Mid High	1,300		1,109	191	3.0%	1,142	4.0%	1,188
TOTALs	3,975	3,561	3,552			3,659		3,804

Other scenarios considered by the committee and development of Option 2 The committee then analyzed the Option 1 scenario and developed other scenarios that addressed some of the disadvantages identified in Option 1.

Area	Current 5th - 7th graders	Capacity
North of Northern	1690	2200
South of Northern	1882	1775
Total	3572	3975

 

Enrollment vs. Capacity and the High School Boundary:
Last year, the district adopted Northern Blvd. as the boundary between Rio Rancho High School and the new high school opening next year. The committee discussed at length at a scenario that would maintain this boundary and create “pure feeder” alignment from middle school to high school (meaning all students attending a middle school move on to the same high school). This scenario would have assigned all students living north of Northern Blvd. to either the Mid-High or Mountain View and students living south of Northern to either Eagle Ridge or Lincoln. The committee is aware that many in the community feel this is the most logical alignment of middle school boundaries.

 

However, the data indicated that, desirable though it would be to maintain Northern as a firm middle school boundary, it would be impossible to do so. The majority of population lives south of Northern, and the majority of capacity is to the north of Northern. This may change over time, but not within the 2-3 year time horizon considered in the boundary adjustments.

 

Any scenario based on this alignment would leave both Eagle Ridge and Lincoln at or over capacity even without accounting for growth. If the two schools were evenly split, each would have 941 students. The committee was also concerned that Mountain View would have too few students to support a full academic program. Another concern is that in order to align schools with the Northern Blvd. boundary, the committee would have to move students in the Colinas del Norte attendance area were moved this year. This would violate a commitment made to that community that those students would not have to move twice in two years.

 

After considering all of the factors, the committee felt it would be irresponsible to recommend for public consideration a scenario that would seriously overcrowd two middle schools and leave a third under populated and potentially without a full educational program. The committee therefore voted to not take this scenario to the public as an option for input.

 

Elementary to Middle School Boundary Alignment:
The committee also looked at the other issues with Option 1 -- the number of elementary schools (5) feeding to the Mid-High, and the fact that three elementary schools were not pure feeders to middle school. This led to the development of a scenario based on “pure feeder” alignment from elementary to middle school. The committee voted to present this scenario as Option 2.