Akron Public Schools has reconsidered part of its redistricting plan for students, allowing some elementary students who will be redistricted to move back to their original clusters for middle school and high school.
The redistricting proposal is due to be considered by members of the Board of Education in January, and other changes to the plan are possible before a vote.
Under the original proposal, some students at the Harris-Jackson Community Learning Center would instead go to Barber CLC. They would then attend East CLC for middle and high school.
Now, the plan will move those redistricted Harris-Jackson students back to the North cluster for middle and high school, sending them to Jennings CLC, then North High School.
Wanda Lash, the director for student and family services at APS, said the change was made after hearing resident feedback at a public meeting at North High School.
The redistricting plan was meant to ease overcrowding at Harris-Jackson CLC, she said. Once that problem was solved, there were opportunities to be more flexible with higher grades. The Harris-Jackson students expected to move to Barber CLC are those in the eastern area of the current attendance zone.
There have been other instances where the district has had one building feeding into more than one location, Lash said.
“It’s not a fresh idea,” she said.
She added that she didn’t expect overcrowding issues at Jennings CLC or North High School, even if students move back to that cluster after their elementary years.
The district also has open enrollment, so parents can request that their students who move to Barber CLC continue in the East cluster and go to East CLC for middle and high school, if desired.