JERSEY SHORE - The Jersey Shore Area School Board took action to set boundaries for which schools students will attend by approving option two presented by the district at Monday's meeting.
Bruce Boncal, instructional technology specialist, and Dr. Dorothy Chappel, assistant superintendent, presented two options to the board at its last meeting.
Boncal said the district had options as parents from the Black Forest/ Cedar Run area have agreed to continue to work together in getting the students from that area home after school. He said getting the students is not a problem, but students rides homes to that area from Salladasburg Elementary is long.
Boncal then went over how students in each grade would be affected by the decision to go with option two.
In the first grade, Boncal said 16 students would be transferred to a different school then they went last year. Second-grade students would see a move of 13. Eight students from Avis Borough who attend Jersey Shore Elementary would be part of 19 students that would be transferred to different schools.
Boncal said fourth grade would have 16 transferred.
There currently are five students from Jersey Shore Borough who go to Nippenose Valley and Salladasburg, a piece in the fifth grade. That class would see the most movement as 33 would be transferred.
"When you add it all up we're (at) 80 some transfers. That's how out of whack the (school attendance is)," Boncal said.
Boncal added that the district got like that because they tried to even each class out throughout the district schools. He said it kept getting "deeper and deeper" in taking kids from different areas and sending them to other schools.
"There are children within walking distance of Jersey Shore Elementary who are going (to school) outside the borough," he said.
Chappel added that teachers should go to the students, not vice versa. She also urged the board to make a decision now as to have time to put the boundaries into action before school starts.
"We need to do it, like, now," she said.
And although the district would be moving so many students this year, Chappel said it would be better in years to come.
"In the long run we'll end up with less movement," she said.
"I think it's a real no-brainer," said board member John Shireman.
Superintendent Richard Emery said now that the board has approved the boundaries, the district will start implementing them and notifying families of the changes.
