Fred Hijazi, the consultant from CityGate GIS, told a packed community session that the district is pursuing redistricting to address rising student enrollment and imbalances in school capacity. "The purpose of the meeting today is to first discuss the scope of the redistricting project," Hijazi said, describing neighborhood‑level modeling, enrollment projections and scenario mapping that will be posted online for public comment.

Superintendent Mrs. Perez and district administrators said the project seeks to "balance attendance areas, account for future growth and optimize utilization of schools" while protecting specialized program space and minimizing unnecessary disruption. The district presented October snapshot data showing an elementary increase district‑wide and singled out Stratford as an example of a school that reached capacity this year, requiring students be assigned elsewhere.

Hijazi described the public feedback workflow: residents will place comments on an online map tied to specific locations and flag support or objections; the consultant said he aggregates those markers and uses them to revise scenarios. The timeline presented calls for scenario development through December and January, narrowing to a recommended plan in February and, if approved, phased implementation beginning July 1 for the next school year. District leaders said phasing is an option if a plan is operationally complex.

Parents and staff used the Q&A to press for specifics. Concerns included whether redistricting would prioritize socioeconomic diversity at the cost of increased busing; whether current pre‑K classrooms (which some parents said appear to reduce space for K–3) can be relocated; and how many students new local developments would add. Hijazi said diversity could be considered but that creating diversity by extensive busing is a community tradeoff; he also said development projections were included in the enrollment modeling.

Administrators described immediate steps to protect students during any transition: transition visits, summer orientation programs and outreach to staff. They emphasized that special‑education programs will remain distributed across buildings rather than consolidated into a single site, and pledged further communications with families once scenarios are released. "We want to do what’s right for the community, what’s right for our kids," Superintendent Perez said.

Next steps: the district will publish scenario maps online, invite location‑tied comments and return revised scenarios for public review before the board considers final action.