HSE Schools Approves Redistricting Plan

Hamilton Southeastern Schools board of trustees unanimously approved a redistricting plan to reduce crowding in schools and prepare for the opening of a new elementary school at a meeting Wednesday night.

Board of Trustees President Matt Burke says while it was a difficult decision the plan is the right thing for schools.

"There is no win, there’ll always be somebody that’s not happy," Burke says. "You try to minimize the impact the best you can."

The plan will redistrict an estimated 2,265 students in HSE’s elementary, intermediate and junior high schools –– around 10 percent of the district’s enrollment.

Even with the proposed plan, several schools in the district would still be slightly over capacity.

Ten parents gave public comment at the meeting, and each relayed their grievances with the plan. HSE parent Amanda McNeely, she says she worries how the move will affect her son.

"Finally gotten that support and knowing where he is and that stable ground, and now that’s going to be ripped out from underneath him for his last year of junior high before he goes to HS," McNeely says. "So it’s another round of anxiety he’s going to have to go through."

The district’s first redistricting plan would have moved twice as many students. 

The plan will go into effect during the 2019-20 school year.