CST March 1, 2016

Many residents advocated for keeping theirA current elementary school assignments Tuesday, while some promoted sending their kids to the new Grant Elementary.

Parents spoke out during an Iowa City Community School Board public hearing aimed at discussing input on elementary school boundaries, and manyA parents said the proximity of schools was a primary concern.

The hearing came after more than 60 neighborhoods participated inA the board’s new, caucus-likeA process for gathering input on changing school boundaries.A The processA calledA on parents across the school districtA to gatherA with their neighbors and fill out forms indicating their top three school choices, along with rationales.

The board received forms from neighborhoods and individuals living in the Alexander, Borlaug, Hoover, Horn, Lemme, Lincoln, Longfellow, Mann, Penn,A Van Allen, Shimek and Wickham elementary attendance zones, and the hearing allowedA participantsA to explain their choices and rationales.

The board in May plans to set boundariesA for the new Grant and Hoover elementaries, opening to their own attendance zonesA in 2019.