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Introduction

This report provides a revision to the plan presented to the Board of School Directors on September 8, 2008 and the public on September II, 2008. In addition this report also provides information concerning many of the scenarios explored by the Consultant and the School Administration. As with the proposal made on September 8, 2008 this revision is not to be seen as the final product but as another step on the way to the final product.

Revision to Proposed Plan-Rev 1

The following is a revision to the proposed planas presented to the Board of School Directors on September 8, 2008. This revision makes the following changes:

1. It revises the middle school attendance zones. In this revision the middle school attendance zones and the high school attendance zones are the same.

2. The feeder patterns change for Penn Valley and Belmont Hills to the middle school and the high school (not for all students).

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Attached to this revision are two maps. The first map shows the revised attendance lines for the middle schools and the high schools. The difference in this revision is that students living in the Penn Valley section of the Penn Valley Elementary School,

along with the students in.Penn Valley who reside in Haverford will attend Welsh Valley Middle school and then on to Harriton HS.

Students who reside in the section of Narberth Borough, as shown on attached map_ will attend Bala Cynwyd MS and then Lower Merion HS.

The revised feeder patterns are as follows:

Penn Wynne Welsh Valley Harriton HS

Penn Valley (LMHS walk zone and Ardmore) Bala Cynwyd

Lower Merion HS

Belmont Hills (not Narberth) Welsh Valley

Harriton HS

Belmont Hills (Narberth) see map _ BalaCynwyd

Lower Merion HS

Gladwyne Welsh Valley HarritonHS

Cynwyd BalaCynwyd Lower Merion HS

The tables which follow show the projected numbers for each of the middle schools and the high schools based upon these changes. The data for these tables is based upon the

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District enrollment as of September 8, 2008_ As of that date the District enrollment was slightly lower than the projected enrollment for 2008 (the projection was 6,750, the actual enrollment asof that date was 6,914).

Table 1: Welsh Valley Projection-Rev I
6 7 8
Welsh Valley Total Total
5 6 7 Actual Estimate 1Q;'
2009-10 254 262 280 796 796
4 5 6
2010-11 286 263 266 815 815
3 4 5
2011-12 268 297 267 832 831
2 3 4
2012-13 277 277 301 855 855
1 2 3
2013-14 298 287 282 867 866 •

Table I shows the projected enrollment for Welsh Valley Middle School. The numbers at Welsh Valley, in this revision, are within the capacity for the building. The number of students at Welsh Valley is less than that at Bala Cynwyd because it is the smaller of the two schools. At the end of the projected period Welsh Valley will have approximately 26 less students than Bala Cynwyd.

Table 2: Bala Cynwyd Projection-Rev 1
6 7 8
8ala Cynwyd Total Total
5 6 7 Actual Estimate ~(0
2009-10 261 270 289 820 819
4 5 6
2010-11 295 270 274 839 839
3 4 5
2011-12 276 305 274 855 856
2 3 4
2012-13 285 286 310 881 881
1 2 3
2013-14 306 295 290 891 892 Table 2 shows the projected enrollment for Bala Cynwyd Middle School under the first

revision. This number of students is within the capacity of the building .

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Table 3: Harriton HS Projection-Rev 1
9 10 11 12 Total
Harriton HS
8 9 10 11
2009-10 255 278 301 296 1130
7 8 9 10
2010-11 283 253 279 304 1119
6 7 8 9
2011-12 269 281 255 282 1087
5 6 7 8
2012-13 269 267 283 257 1076
4 5 6 7
2013-14 304 267 269 286 1126 • '

Table 3 shows the projected enrollment for Harriton HS based upon Revision 1. With a capacity of 1,250 students, and a flat enrollment projection this school will be able to easily accommodate this student population .

Table 4: Lower Merion HS Projection-Rev 1
9 10 11 12 Total
lower Merion HS
8 9 10 11
2009-10 263 286 310 304 1163
7 8 9 10
2010-11 292 261 288 313 1154
6 7 8 9
2011-12 277 290 262 291 1120
5 6 7 8
2012-13 278 276 291 265 1110
4 5 6 7
2013-14 314 276 277 294 1161 Table 4 shows the projected enrollment for Lower Merion HS based upon the first revision. As with Harriton HS this building is projected to be below capacity through the five projected years and will have no problem accommodating the student population.

As with the first proposal the following recommendations remain:

I. All high school and middle school students will be grandfathered, and be allowed, at their option, to remain in the school in which they started .

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2. Beginning with the 2009-10 school year all 9th grade and 61h grade students will attend the school for which they are zoned.

3. Siblings will have to attend the school for which they are zoned, and while this may be an inconvenience for some families it is important that at some point the new attendance zones are completely in effect.

Analysis

Revision I makes the following changes to the proposed plan:

1. The attendance zones for the middle schools and the high schools are the same.

2. The enrollments at the middle schools and the high schools are both within the capacities of the buildings.

The major change is that students who attend Penn Valley Elementary School and live in the Penn Valley area will attend Welsh Valley Middle School and Harriton High School. The students who attend Belmont Hills and reside in Narberth Borough and in the area below S Woodbine Ave will attend Bala Cynwyd Middle School and Lower Merion High School.

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I. High school and middle school attendance zones.

2. Penn Valley students attending Welsh Valley Middle School and Harriton HS.

3. Belmont Hills students attending Bala Cynwyd and Lower Merion High School.

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Proposed High School and Middle School Attendance Zones

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The areas inside the black solid lines are the Welsh Valley and Harriton HS attendance zones. The areas inside the black solid lines are Bala Cynwyd and Lower Merion HS.

Area of Penn Valley to Welsh MS and Uarriton US

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The light blue area completed surrounded by the black solid line feeds Welsh Valley Middle School and Harriton HS .

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Area of Belmont Hills to Bala Cynwyd and Lower Merion US

The violet area surrounded by the solid black line will feed Bala Cywnyd and Lower

Merion High School. .

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Options Explored

During the months of July and August a number of alternative scenarios were developed. The merits of each were explored. Several were immediately rejected on the basis of severe enrollment imbalances. There were also considerations based upon the Board of School Director guidelines, and geographical limitations based upon the locations of the schools and the simple fact that 50% of the district student's reside in the lower 1/3 of the District.

One of the very first options which was tested was to test the possibility of creating a direct feeder pattern from the elementary schools to the middle schools. It became clear very early on in the project that there was no "3-1-1" solution that either balanced the schools or kept the 2 high schools within their own attendance zone.

The following are several of the options which were considered and evaluated. In all of these scenarios the children were kept together K - 8. The elementary schools and the middle schools were not redistricted.

Scenario 2

Scenario 2 had the following feeder patterns:

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Harriton High School Middle Lower Merion High Middle School
Feeders School School Feeders

Penn Wynne BalaCynwyd Cynwyd Bala Cynwud
Penn Valley - Penn Valley Welsh Valley Merion BalaCynwyd
and Haverford
Belmont Hills (not including Welsh Valley Belmont Hills Welsh Valley
Narberth Borough) (Narberth Borough)
Gladwyne Welsh Valley Penn Valley LMHS walk zone
and Ardmore The problem with the scenario and why it was rejected was because in its first year Harriton was 153 students lower than Lower Merion High School. The enrollment imbalance between the two schools would tend to increase during the five years of the projected period.

As far as diversity is concerned this scenario provided good balance between both high schools .

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Scenario 2A

Scenario 2A is very similar to Scenario 2. In this revision of Scenario 2 the only change was to move a small section attending Belmont Hills (area bounded by South Woodbine, E Montgomery Ave, Maplewood Ave, Hamilton Rd, and Bryn Mawr Ave) and move it from its path to LMHS to HHS.

While this did decrease the enrollment differential it still created approximately 100 more students in HHS to begin with than LMHS.

This scenario did not change the diversity in either School.

Scenario 3A

Scenario 3A was a revision of Scenario 3 (the currently proposed scenario).

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Harriton High School Middle Lower Merion High Middle School
Feeders School School Feeders

Penn Wynne Bala Cyl!_\\TYd Cynwyd Bala C)'nwud
Penn Valley - Penn Valley Welsh Valley Merion BalaCynwyd
and Haverford, Ardmore
Belmont Hills (not including Welsh Valley Belmont Hills Welsh Valley
Narberth Borough) _ili_arberth Borough)
Gladwyne Welsh Valley Penn Valley LMHS walk zone The difference between this and the proposed scenario is that students living in the Ardmore section who attend Penn Valley would attend Harriton High School. This was rejected because it increased the difference between the two schools to 153 students, with Lower Merion HS having the higher population.

This scenario also created a major difference in diversity in virtually all categories .

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Scenario 4

Harriton High School Middle Lower Merion High Middle School
Feeders School School Feeders

Penn Wynne-Ardmore BalaCynwyd Penn Wynne- BalaCynwud
Wynnewood
Penn Valley-Haverford, Welsh Valley Merion BalaCynwyd
Penn Valley
Gladywne Welsh Valley Belmont Hills Welsh Valley
(Narberth Borough)
Cynwyd Bala Cynwyd PeM Valley LMHS walk zone
Belmont Hills-except Welsh Valley
Narberth Borough This scenario was rejected for several reasons. The first is that it split the PeM Wynne Elementary students at the high school with the Ardmore section attending HHS and the Wynnewood section attending LMHS. This also created an imbalance in the enrollment with HHS starting at 157 students higher than LMHS.

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It was also determined that it would be a longer bus ride from the lower end of the Cynwyd section of the attendance zone for students to HHS than it was from PeM Wynne (in other scenarios).

This scenario did an acceptable job with diversity in each of the schools.

Scenario 4B is a revision of Scenario 4. The difference is that the Ardmore section of Penn Wynne is placed in LMHS. The problem was that it reversed the loads and made LMHS approximately 157 students higher to begin with than HHS.

Scenario 4B

Harriton High School Middle Lower Merion High Middle School
Feeders School School Feeders

Cynwyd BalaCynwyd Penn WYMe BalaCynwyd
Penn Valley-Haverford, Welsh Valley Merion Bala Cynwyd
Penn Valley
Gladywne Welsh Valley Belmont Hills Welsh Valley
(Narberth Borough)
Belmont Hills-Except BalaCynwyd Penn Valley LMHSwalk
Narberth Borough zone, Ardmore •

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Scenario 4B and Scenario 3 (the current proposed) provide very similar enrollments. In this scenario the two high schools are approximately 30 students apart. In terms of diversity this presents good balance (just slightly less than Scenario 3), but more than . acceptable.

It was difficult to choose between Scenario 3 and Scenario 4B. The deciding factor was the difference in distance from the furthest points in Cynwyd to the furthest points in Penn Wynne. In this scenario the students from Cynwyd would have a longer ride to HHS than the students in Penn Wynne.

During the period between the September 11th presentation and September 25th comments and questions regarding the proposed attendance zones, the revision, and any of these scenarios will be considered .

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