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Marion County schools lay groundwork to rebalance North End attendance zones amid projected growth
Summary
District staff proposed creating an Attendance Boundary Advisory Committee and a fast‑track rezoning timeline to address projected concentrated growth (about 600 students per year) and raise North End elementary utilization toward an 80% target; the board asked for clearer cost data and more community outreach.
Ben Whitehouse, a district staff presenter, told the Marion County School Board at its Nov. 6 work session that the district projects roughly 600 new students per year over the next decade — about 6,000 students concentrated in Southwest Marion County and The Shores — creating localized overcrowding pressures.
Whitehouse said combining the enrollment and capacity across several North End elementary schools (Fessenden, Oakcrest, Ocala Springs, Reddick Collier and Spar) currently yields about 82% utilization and that targeted rezoning could bring those campuses to roughly 80–82% capacity. To manage that shift, staff recommended creating an Attendance Boundary Advisory Committee…
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