Redistricting changes that parents urged at a forum last week were backed Tuesday by a majority of the Elmbrook School Board, to the delight of parents in the audience.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" one mother said.

The board plans to vote at its Nov. 22 meeting. But Tuesday, the majority said they could support an alternative scenario dubbed 4B in the board's packet, which would:

• Keep all Hillside Elementary School students together, moving them en masse to Brookfield Elementary next fall after Hillside closes.

• Move Brookfield Elementary students in census tracts 113 and 144 to Swanson Elementary, not Dixon, to have more peers moving with them to the same middle and high schools. Move Brookfield Elementary students in tract 112 to Burleigh. Fourth-graders at Brookfield Elementary likely would be allowed to stay at their school rather than moving to Swanson for just one year.

• Resolve a longstanding problem with tract 146 by moving those Dixon students to Swanson, again to be with more peers moving to Wisconsin Hills Middle School and Brookfield Central.

• Essentially eliminate Dixon as a swing school, in which some students would move on to middle and high school on the east side of the district and other students would move on to west side. That would mean the west side would have two elementaries feeding into the middle and high schools (Swanson and Brookfield), and the east side would have three feeders (Burleigh, Dixon and Tonawanda).

Dividing the five-schools into two west side, three east side could result in Dixon's enrollment declining to unacceptable levels. Some board members said Tuesday that if Elmbrook decided to add 4-year-old kindergarten, it is possible 4K classes could be consolidated at Dixon, rather than be held in all schools.

Dividing Non-Resident Students

The board will take a closer look before the Nov. 22 vote at where non-resident students would be placed and whether tract 146 would prefer to stay at Dixon or move to Swanson.

Hillside's non-resident students (those who enroll though open enrollment and Chapter 220 programs) are slated to move to Burleigh Elementary. Brookfield Elementary will have no non-resident students after its non-resident students move to Dixon. Dixon's non-resident students would then move on to Wisconsin Hills Middle and Brookfield Central.

Non-residents students at the other four elementary schools will not move.

Board member Meg Wartman urged that as best as possible, non-resident students at Hillside and Brookfield elementaries be moved together to stay with friends.

Complete School Closure Coverage

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