Setting boundaries
Committee unveils Tomahawk Creek Middle redistricting plan
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

The opening of the new Tomahawk Creek Middle School this fall will relieve the severe overcrowding at nearby Swift Creek Middle, but that school will still be 5 percent above capacity.

The proposed attendance boundaries for the new Tomahawk Creek Middle School fan out southwest from the school's location near St. Francis Medical Center and will include students who reside in Woodlake, Foxcroft, Edgewater and other communities in the western Route 360 corridor.

The Chesterfield School Board heard the redistricting proposal from the New Tomahawk Creek Middle School Boundary Committee earlier this week. A public hearing on the boundaries is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 at Manchester High School, and the board will vote on the proposal Mar. 11.

"Your work is done," said School Board Chair Dianne Pettitt last week when she and two other board members heard a dry run of the presentation by committee members. "The board will adopt or modify the boundaries."

Tomahawk will open with an estimated 895 students, 75 percent of its 1,200-student capacity. The boundary proposal does not include much of the area north or east of the school.

Nearby Swift Creek Middle School will be impacted the most - reducing its population from 1,523 students (48 percent over its capacity with about 18 trailers) to 1,080 this fall, just 5 percent over capacity. The plan proposes that students from Brandermill (except 27 homes in the Millcrest neighborhood), Ashbrook and Hampton Park attend Swift Creek, despite urging from Hampton Park residents that their children attend Tomahawk.

Midlothian Middle School's attendance is projected to drop from 1,506 to 1,340, just 3 percent over capacity. Bailey Bridge Middle School's population will be reduced from 1,622 students (4 percent over capacity) to 1,540 (2 percent less than capacity).

The committee began working on the proposal last October, but even last week there were ruffled feathers when some people felt their communities were underrepresented compared to those living south and west of Tomahawk. Only three of the 23 members live north or east of Tomahawk. School officials said all schools and PTAs that might be affected by the boundary changes were contacted.

"I know I wasn't contacted, and neither was the Evergreen PTA," said President John Schultz of the Gordon Elementary School PTA.

"We're on the committee because we requested additional representation," Kevin Page of the Monacan Hill community told fellow committee members. That exchange and the responses caused facilitator Carl Chafin to call for "a time out."

The report cautions the board that challenges remain, including watching which elementary schools send kids to Tomahawk in the future, the impact of gifted programs on school capacities, and future residential growth beyond five years.

To view the entire boundary proposal, visit www.chesterfieldobserver.com and click on "special."