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C.P. will redo boundary lines School board looks at issues on crowding By VICKI GUARINO GOLD HILL -- Central Point School Board members cast aside a busing scheme to address overcrowding in favor of a more elaborate planning effort that could redraw school boundaries. The board readily agreed Tuesday with recommendations from Superintendent Mike McClain that could realign elementary school neighborhoods. The board is expected to appoint a committee next month that would consider boundaries and other attendance issues to reduce crowding at Richardson and Jewett elementary schools. The committee would include school and Central Point city staff. Members would return to the board in February with recommendations. The committee, McClain said, "would seriously look at redrawing elementary school boundaries. "We may, indeed, have to do that," he cautioned. "That can be an extremely tough and volatile issue." Board members acknowledged that solving the crowding problem -- even if the district's $36.7 million construction bond measure is approved by voters next week -- could require school boundary shifts. "I agree we're going to have to redistrict sometime," said board chairman Dave Gilmour. "It's going to be very contentious." Because buses are in short supply in the district, Gilmour added, "we may not have lots of choices. "We can't promise any one school for any one kid." The lack of buses killed Gilmour's approach to overcrowding. He suggested earlier this month that the district bus students from Central Point's large new subdivisions to the rural, less crowded elementary schools in Sams Valley and Gold Hill. Gilmour suggested that the busing would be less disruptive to kids and families because they would not have to break ties to schools they had been attending, and bus routes to the new large neighborhoods would be manageable. The district, however, barely has enough buses for present needs, McClain said. He had discussed the proposal with district transportation officials. "We are bus poor," McClain said. "We're using 1970s-vintage buses right now." A bus run from Central Point to Sams Valley Elementary will continue under the new plan, and be expanded somewhat to relieve crowding. School bus needs would be another subject of study for the school boundary committee. McClain said the committee should look for ways the district could purchase buses, as well as ways to cut transportation needs. Schedules may be changed to allow for more bus runs, and more students might have to walk to school. McClain noted the district provides more bus service than required by state law. By law, districts must provide transportation only to elementary students living more than a mile from school and to high school students living more than a mile and a half from school. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA