Lakeville board reviews second option to delay boundary moves as Highview, Century face crowding

Lakeville Public School District staff on Tuesday presented a second, pause-focused plan for attendance-area adjustments intended to ease concentrated enrollment growth in the district’s northeast neighborhoods, leaving immediate large-scale boundary changes off the table while directing staff to produce a third option for board consideration.

Superintendent Baumann framed the problem as a growth-management issue the board cannot control but must respond to, saying the district faces “a very challenging problem that we face” and noting the board “doesn't have any control over what the pace of growth is for Lakeville as a community.”

The district’s attendance-area review team — which met about five times since the board’s last briefing and includes principals and district administrators — presented “Option 2,” described by staff member Tracy Provold as “preliminary area adjustments.” Provold said the approach would pause moving currently enrolled students, adjust boundaries only in undeveloped or not-yet-occupied subdivisions, and grandfather a small number of existing students who live in the areas under consideration.

Key data staff cited: Highview Elementary had about 674 students now and is projected at roughly 708 next year; Century Middle School had about 958 students and is projected near 998 next year. Staff also cited a TeamWorks demographic and housing analysis…