Wayzata Boundary Changes Will Shift More Than 500 Students in 2019
The Wayzata School Board voted for boundary changes that will shift more than 500 students to new schools in 2019. Parents living in two Plymouth neighborhoods have been vocal in opposition of Wayzata boundary changes.
Parents made up a sparse, but passionate crowd at a school board meeting on Monday night, May 21. Most, if not all, of the vocal opposition came from parents of nearly 50 children who live in two subdivisions that currently attend Greenwood Elementary School. “We don’t have kids in school yet,” explained Andrea Potashnick, who spoke at the meeting. “This afternoon I was online looking at Zillow and looking at houses in Minnetonka. We went through this three years ago. I have such a bad taste in my mouth for this school district.”
Earlier this month, parents staged a walking protest to show how close their neighborhood is to Greenwood Elementary. Some parents can see the school from their house. “It doesn’t make sense to have [students] go to another school when we are so close,” says Liz Aseltine, a parent who just moved into the district from California with her family. “I’m concerned that schools in Minnesota seem to be okay with moving children every three to five years.”
The parents in the Seven Ponds and Heather Run neighborhoods fought off a boundary change a few years ago, but this attempt proved unsuccessful. In the fall of 2019, students will be bused two plus miles away to Gleason Lake Elementary.
“It’s a great school,” says parent Andrea Dobrin. “But how soon is it going to be that retired people are moving out of their homes and those homes start turning over? Then we are going to be crowded at Gleason Lake and they are going to start shifting back.”
Dobrin noted that she was glad the school district decided to feed Gleason Lake Elementary students into West Middle School, which is also where Greenwood Elementary students will go.
Reasons Behind Wayzata Boundary Changes
Wayzata Schools is dealing with what some would call a good problem to have. The district is considered desirable and single-family homes continue to be built in record numbers. The district projects an estimated one thousand homes will be built in Plymouth, Medina and Corcoran by 2020. To get ahead of the influx of students the new homes will bring, the district proposed and voters passed a levy last fall to build a new elementary school on the border of Medina and Plymouth.
The board approved boundary changes that would fill the new school and ease overcrowding in others. Some parents pointed to the undeveloped neighborhoods as the people who should be shifted to open space.
The vote capped off months of study by 24 community members and district parents who objectively weighed options. The changes do not take place until the fall of 2019.
