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Boundary Committee Members Prepare For Study
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Two community meetings have been scheduled to hear comment about the proposed re-drawing of boundaries for the Van Allen and Dent Elementary campuses in Escalon.

A Superintendent's Advisory Committee of seven members has been seated to study the issue and make recommendations for changes to the district boundaries, to take effect for the 2011-2012 school year.

"I'm going to meet with the committee this Thursday (Nov. 18) to give them all the facts," Escalon Unified School District Superintendent Ron Costa explained of the initial session with the newly selected committee, providing attendance facts and figures for both elementary school sites.

That gathering will be at Dent and lay the groundwork for the committee's task, which is to investigate possible changes to the two school boundaries to more accurately reflect the populations in each district. Costa said the district decided to look at changing current Dent and Van Allen school attendance boundaries due to new classrooms currently being unused at Van Allen, while Dent is nearly overflowing with students.

Those are the only two school sites included in the possible boundary changes being considered right now.

The community meetings are scheduled on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. at Dent Elementary and on Monday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. at Van Allen Elementary.

"That's where the committee will share with the community the possibilities, the options," said Costa.

Committee members will also hear comment from the public and take suggestions about the boundary changes.

Follow up meetings will be used for committee members to compile all the information and develop a proposal to present to the Escalon school board for consideration, most likely at a regular meeting in January.

Costa said there were several residents that put their names in as potential committee members to study and make recommendations on the issue.

"We tried to make it manageable," Costa said of the committee size, adding that he feels a good cross section of members was obtained. "They are not all from one school, not all from one neighborhood. This past week we notified the committee members that had been selected and thanked all those that had applied."