The board is trying to come up with boundaries that minimize disruptions for students, promote neighborhood schools, ensure a diverse mix of economic conditions, ease overcrowding and minimize use of portable classrooms. One plan would leave Badger Mountain Elementary School largely intact but too crowded. The other options, all designed to relieve crowding at Badger, would send some of this year's Badger students to Lewis and Clark Elementary School. A report detailing the options is available from the district. But parents already are worried.
Badger is less than a mile from their home, and they can see the school from a front window.
But one option for new boundaries would place the Chin's neighborhood in the service area for Wiley Elementary School. The Chins clocked the trip at eight miles and 15 minutes. Lori isn't worried about the quality of education her son will receive at Wiley, but the distance is a concern. If it takes 15 minutes to drive directly to the school, how much time will the boy spend on a school bus, she wondered. Nancy Aldrich lives in West Richland's Lakes neighborhood.