The Columbia Board of Education has given final approval to the district’s attendance boundaries. Tweaked from out of 182 possible scenarios, the Board Monday approved Approach B, which divides Columbia Public School’s Secondary Boundaries into six intermediate schools for grades 6-8 and three high schools for grades 9-12. By Anthony Martinez (Columbia, Mo.)
Some parents continued to express concern, saying that the Board agreed in 2007 to let the class of 2015 graduate at the high school where they started their sophomore year. Columbia parent Chris Temporal said she now has to move her daughter from Oakland Junior High School to Battle High School.
“I just don’t feel it’s fair or appropriate to ask these students to move a third time when the whole purpose of building Battle was to decrease the number of moves. Plus, they were promised. And, I’m sorry, I believe that if you make a promise, you keep it,” Temporal said.
School Board member Tom Rose said that the district will continue transfers when a “clear” educational benefit exists for any one student that is affected by the attendance boundary changes.