Nazareth Area School District 'swing zone' plan affects 14 kindergartners

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES
About 14 kindergartners are affected by the Nazareth Area School District's "swing zones" redistricting plan, according to the superintendent.

Those kindergartners, who live in the Redcliffe housing development, will attend Lower Nazareth Elementary School rather than Shafer Elementary, according to Superintendent Victor Lesky.

More students could be affected, depending on how many elementary-age students move into the district before school starts in the fall.

The redistricting plan, approved by the school board in April, gives the administration flexibility to send some new Upper Nazareth Township students to one of two schools:

* Children north of Route 248 and west of Nazareth could be assigned to either Shafer or Lower Nazareth elementary schools.

* Children north of Route 191 and south of the Bushkill Township line could be sent to either Shafer or Bushkill elementary schools.

“The policy was implemented to keep the class-size numbers as close to 20 students per class as possible in all three elementary schools,” Lesky said Thursday.

Lesky said parents in the affected zones were notified of their children’s schools during the first week of June.

As of June 1, the district had 123 students registered for kindergarten at Shafer Elementary School, 82 at Bushkill Elementary School and 60 at Lower Nazareth Elementary School.

Under the new "swing zone" plan, 109 students will go to Shafer Elementary for an average class size of 18. At Bushkill Elementary, 82 new students are enrolled for a class size of about 20. Seventy-two students will go to Lower Nazareth Elementary for a class size of about 18.

These numbers provide for enrollment growth over the summer that will allow for class averages of between 20 and 24 in all kindergarten classes for 2010-12, Lesky said.

He said attempts will be made under the redistricting plan to keep students from a similar area or neighborhood together to allow for student interaction inside and outside of school.

Students already attending a school will not be affected and siblings will not be separated, he said.