Collier County Schools will vote on potential school zoning changes

A proposal to redrew school borders is scheduled for a vote by the Collier County School Board on Tuesday. Modifications to the map may result in community divisions and student transfers.

Months had passed while the suggested border alteration plan was being developed. Zones surrounding thirty-two public elementary, middle, and high schools are to be reshaped.

The district claims that by making this change, overcrowding in schools will be lessened and Collier County’s expanding population will be accommodated, according to a recent article by Mahmoud Bennett of FOX 4.

CCPS Superintendent Chad Oliver told Fox 4, “It’s necessary, but it’s highly personal because you’re dealing with where students are assigned to go to school, and that’s a really big decision.”

One area of concern is the current attendance of elementary pupils at Laurel Oak Elementary School. About thirty-three pupils from the Oakes Boulevard area would transfer to Vineyards Elementary under the proposed proposal.

If the plan is accepted, more than 200 children from the StoneCreek, Riverstone, and Olde Cypress communities would also transfer schools.

The school system claims that the plan will ease traffic in some locations and make room for growing communities, despite the disapproval of some parents.

“We’re being forced into new communities and pulled apart.” Parents of elementary school students Stephanie Jonas said, “We’ve all lived in these communities for more than 12 years, and we just think it’s really unfair.”

In all of its schools, CCPS serves over 47,000 students.

Tuesday night is the planned vote on the rezoning plan.

This article originally appeared on FOX 4

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