MERIDIAN -- After an overwhelmingly amount of negative feedback from parents, Meridian School District officials decided Wednesday to keep the high school boundary lines the same.
Enrollment numbers are increasing rapidly in some of Meridian's five high schools but not others. So the issue of redrawing the boundary lines to prevent overcrowding will have to be brought up few years later.
This was the decision a panel of 30 parents made along with the district, after getting an earful from concerned parents.
Tuesday night, parents packed the Mountain View High School auditorium to voice their frustrations. Some were concerned about splitting up siblings. The new plan called for current high school students to be grandfathered into their existing high school.
Another issue was safety for students, crossing busy roads and the distant some families would be forced to travel to a new school.
One parent said they moved to a specific area of Meridian to enroll their kids in a certain high school.
“The reason we all chose to move here was because of the amazing high school, Rocky (Mountain High School) wasn’t here and Eagle was far away but Rocky wasn’t around, so most of us chose this because we knew where we were going to be for high school,” said parent Traci Cason, her kids attend Mountain View High School.
Eric Exline with the Meridian School District said there is a major remodel in the works for Meridian High School and by not adding more students will allow that project to proceed with minimal impact to students.
That was a common theme among parents, saying Meridian High school was old and outdated.
The remodel which is still in the planning stages, could give that high school the upgrades its needs.
Changing boundary lines is not a dead issue. District officials say overcrowding at Rocky Mountain High School and Mountain View High School will need to addressed in a couple of years.
