Redistricting panel recommends grandfathering option for some Lexington students

This from the Herald-Leader:

Some students could remain in their current schools even if their homes were reassigned to other schools, based on a recommendation drafted Monday by the Fayette County Public Schools redistricting committee.

Under the tentative grandfathering proposal that the committee plans to present to the school board, students who will be in grades 5, 8, 11 and 12 in fall 2016, when the redistricting plan is to take effect, could remain in their current schools. Those students' siblings, if enrolled at the same schools, also could stay until they entered middle or high school or completed high school. When the siblings moved up to middle or high school, they would have to attend the schools to which their homes were assigned.

The school district would not provide transportation to any student who took the grandfathering option.Additionally, once the board approves the redistricting plan this year and families know they are being reassigned to another school, they could apply for an out-of-area assignment and possibly go to their new school as early as this fall, committee chairman Alan Stein said.

"Grandfathering is an important part of this redistricting process," he said in an interview.

The recommendation might create some problems with overcrowding, "but for a very short term," said Stein.

Changes are expected to take effect in fall 2016 when two new elementary schools are expected, one open east of Interstate 75 and one on Georgetown Road.

A new high school on Winchester Road is set to open in fall 2017.

The redistricting committee expects to give the school board a proposal by April 1. The committee has released some tentative draft plans but expects to continue to make revisions at several meetings this month. The next meeting is at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at Central Office on East Main Street.

James Wagers, whose daughter attends Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, said after Monday's meeting at Central Office that he liked the details of the grandfathering recommendation.

"I would hope that they would leave it that way," he said.