The School Board approved the adjustments at its Feb. 28 meeting. The adjusted attendance boundaries are effective to start in the 2023-24 school year.

Now that the Board has approved the adjustments, a number of steps need to take place to incorporate the new boundaries. These include registration of the school and its boundaries with the Oregon Department of Education as well as updating of transportation and student databases.

Students' registrations will automatically move to their newly-assigned school of residence, if applicable. Once the systems are updated (possibly after late spring), you can confirm your school of residence on the "Find My Home School" app.

If your attendance area has not been changed, your child's enrollment will remain in effect at their current home school.

If you are affected by a change in attendance boundaries, HSD has a transfer process in place that, with approval and subject to classroom space availability, allows students to attend a school other than their home school. However, bus transportation may not be provided, and parents/guardians would be expected to provide their own transportation.

Given the expected timing of the School Board vote on the final adjustments, the second transfer window (up to May 15) may be the earliest opportunity to submit an application if your attendance boundary has been changed. Please do not submit a transfer application until the boundary adjustments are finalized and set in our systems.

A guiding principle of this boundary adjustment process is to maintain the feeder path for impacted students. None of the proposed changes affects your child's continuing on to South Meadows Middle School after sixth grade. Their high school also remains Hillsboro High School.

For the 2023-24 school year, starting September 2023, registration for kindergarten and other new students opened on March 1. [If you wish to enroll for the remainder of the 2022-23 (current) school year, you should enroll now.]

Enrollment information may be found at: https://www.hsd.k12.or.us/domain/659.

Your child will be enrolled based on the current attendance boundaries. Once the new boundaries are set and entered into our student and transportation systems, enrolled students will be automatically shifted to their updated attendance area, if applicable. Your child then will be expected to attend their home school in the 2023-24 school year.

If you wish your child to attend a school outside of your attendance area (i.e., other than your assigned home school), you will need to submit a transfer request. Information about transfers is available at: https://www.hsd.k12.or.us/Page/807. Note that kindergarten transfer requests may be held until August, subject to finalizing of home student enrollments and space availability at the requested school. If you are impacted by boundary changes, please do not submit a transfer request until after your child is enrolled and the boundaries have been set in our systems.

HSD follows state guidelines to provide bus transportation for students who live more than a mile from school. However, transportation also may be offered where student safety is a concern (i.e., crossing Cornelius Pass Road or TV Hwy). Bus routes will be determined over the summer. Note that students on transfers to a school other than their "home school" are expected to have their own transportation.

Now that Christy Walters has been selected as the school principal, planning for Tamarack operations can begin. Potentially, Tamarack could provide preschool and after-school care. Other programs, such as STEM/STEAM, are still to be determined. Note, however, like Brookwood and Atfalati Ridge, Tamarack is designed with a STEAM lab to provide students with year-round learning opportunities as part of their regular curriculum.

Staffing will be optimized based on the district’s current targets for student:teacher ratios, specifically 26:1 for kindergarten, 24:1 for grades 1-3, and 28:1 for grades 4-6. Depending on enrollments, classes also could be mixed grades. Learning will still be based on grade-level standards, and, with the help of educational assistants, the teacher will provide instruction respective to the students’ grade level.

HSD works with a demographic consultant who examines a variety of variables, including birth rates by zip code (incoming kindergartners), student mobility, and student yield factors (number of students by grade range that can be anticipated from new development).

In particular, the City of Hillsboro’s Witch Village South Community Plan provided data for expected housing units and density. Similarly, the South Hillsboro Community Plan will be a factor for future school sites in that area.

With current bond funding, HSD has purchased land parcels in the south Hillsboro area on which to build additional schools, including a combined elementary and middle school campus (separate buildings, similar to Witch Hazel and South Meadows) and eventually a new high school.

Construction of the schools cannot occur without funding from a future capital bond approved by voters, which could be at least several years from now.