Superintendent Dr. Marschhausen told the Dublin City (Regular School District) Board of Education that the district has been working under board policy 51 20 and related authority in developing attendance-zone maps and explained the steps the board would need to take to pause or change the redistricting process.

The issue arose after board members and members of the public questioned why maps produced during the district’s redistricting work had appeared in a public-records request before all board members had seen them. Dr. Marschhausen said legal counsel advised that he is acting under existing authority but that the board could suspend policy 51 20 and remand new criteria to the policy committee if it wanted to change the superintendent’s authority or the criteria used for redistricting.

Why it matters: Redistricting will change which students attend which high schools, affecting families and neighborhood composition; the board’s next steps could slow the schedule ahead of a planned public meeting where the district plans to present a recommended map.

Dr. Marschhausen described the specific process: a board vote to suspend policy 51 20 would likely require notice and follow-up committee work to rewrite criteria; the district’s bylaws do not treat the situation as an emergency that could bypass two readings. He said he has briefed board members individually on the criteria and maps and that the district has used Cropper GIS in the mapping work. "I am acting under authority of 51 20 and 33 19 o 1, and that the board does evaluate, and you guys are my bosses," he said, explaining his understanding of the division of authority.

Several board members expressed frustration at how maps surfaced and at communication about which criteria were being emphasized. One board member told colleagues she felt "blindsided and ill prepared" after seeing a map produced through a records request; another urged that socioeconomic balance remain an explicit part of the redistricting criteria. Board members repeatedly emphasized that no single criterion was intended to outweigh the others in the district’s stated eight‑criteria approach, and that the team had been evaluating maps against all eight criteria.

Student representative Lucille, speaking during the public/representative reports portion of the meeting, urged the community to work together and cautioned against framing the changes as creating "haves and have‑nots." "Not once have I ever looked at myself and said I don't have these resources," she said, adding that students at Emerald Campus mix across high schools and value that shared environment.

Dr. Marschhausen said if, after upcoming individual briefings with board members, a majority of the board wants to pause the process, the next steps would be: (1) schedule a special meeting with appropriate public notice, (2) vote on suspending policy 51 20, and (3) remit specific redistricting criteria to the policy committee for revision, which would require the usual two readings for policy changes. No formal vote to suspend the policy or to pause the process was taken at the meeting.

Board members and district staff reiterated that the mapping work has tradeoffs and that it is unlikely any single map will meet every criterion equally. The superintendent said the team has sought to balance enrollments across high schools while weighing the eight criteria and that any change to which criteria are prioritized should come as explicit direction from the full board.

What’s next: The superintendent said he will meet individually with four board members the following day to share map materials and that, if the board remains unsatisfied, a special meeting could be scheduled with 24 hours’ notice to consider pausing the current process and directing policy changes.