October 14, 2022

Hello,

Thank you for your patience as we have worked to construct the best possible boundaries for next year's district zoning. In building these boundaries, we worked to consider four factors:

• Geographic proximity (minimizing travel distance for students)
• School capacity (all projected enrollments match or very closely match schools' capacities)
• Cohort continuity (maximizing the number of students that stay together as they move through our three grade bands, K-4, 5-8, 9-12)
• Major roads (minimizing the number of students who have to cross a main artery as they travel to school)

You can find our draft attendance zones on our website, https://www.parmacityschools.org/Page/3700. 

We recognize that this is a significant process and we want to be as "right" as possible. We invite you to share your perspective to help ensure that we are considering all variables before we formally adopt these zones.

CLICK HERE TO PROVIDE YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE PROPOSED BOUNDARIES

Use the link above if you would like to suggest a change that you feel we should consider. Importantly, we cannot open any of our schools to a specific neighborhood or group of students without re-assigning an equal number of students to an alternate location (example: Valley Forge cannot accommodate a change that results in a 50 student increase without also subtracting 50 students from its zone). We will consider the input of families before presenting to our Board of Education a resolution for finalization. We have also contracted with the Ohio School Boards Association and will consider their independent expert's draft as we work to ensure the best possible final zones.

As we look ahead to the enrollment and registration process, we would also like to clarify the following:

• All students who have completed a "School of Choice" process will return to their home school next year as defined by the projected boundaries. STEM students at Pleasant Valley and Greenbriar are the only exceptions to this procedure; those students will retain their assignment to PV or GBMS. 
• We will open in January the "School of Choice" process for families who want to send their child to an alternate school. However, we will have to be more deliberate in considering these applications as all schools will already be at or very near their capacity levels. 
• We will provide busing for all students, including those in high school, who live more than a two-mile travel to school.  
• Career Tech students will be assigned to their home school based upon the zones on our website. We will provide daily transportation to students who need to travel to the opposite campus for their program. These are the program locations: 

Valley Forge

• Auto Co0llison
• Auto Service Technology
• AP Biology/Biotechnology
• Business Management Administrative
• Cooperative Marketing Management (CMM)
• Engineering
• Teaching Professions
• Visual Communications
• Workforce Development Job Training Programs (Job Training/CBE)

Normandy High School

• AP Biology/Biotechnology
• Carpentry
• Cooperative Marketing Management (CMM)
• Culinary Arts
• Dental Technologies
• Digital Media Creative Arts
• Engineering
• Medical Professions
• Networking
• Welding
• Workforce Development Job Training Programs (Job Training/CBE)

We will follow this timeline to complete the process of boundary adoption for next school year:

• October 14: Send proposed boundaries to parents along with Google Form to allow input
• November 8: Receive projection from Ohio School Board Association (OSBA)
• November 15: Review feedback from family Google Form and OSBAs zones
• December 9: Release to parents any changes to first zones
• December 15: Present to Board resolution for formal adoption of zones
• January 1: Open "School of Choice" request form
• January 31: Close "School of Choice" request form

Finally, we are most focused right now on our vision for the future of our district (4 elementary schools-2 middle schools-1 high school), plans which are dependent upon the passage of Issue 9. After Election Day, we will turn our collective attention to ensuring a positive transition to next year's model (6 elementary schools-3 middle schools-2 high schools), a structure which we hope will be only a short-term configuration. Please email questions or comments about this transition to consolidationquestions@parmacityschools.org. We will begin to respond to these November 21.

Thank you for your continued support and, please, remember to vote on or before November 8! Together, we can Build Our Future and promise a very bright one to all of our children.

Charlie