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Seminole County asks parents to submit elementary school rezoning proposals

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Seminole County school officials are trying to make sure parents are involved as the district draws new lines to rezoning elementary schools, so they're taking an unusual step by allowing parents to submit their own rezoning plans.

WFTV learned 260 new rezoning ideas have been submitted by parents who are hoping to keep their children from being transferred.

Each proposal consists of a different map on how 28 of the 36 elementary schools should be rezoned. Three core committees will soon sift the pile in an effort to choose a plan.

“Certainly there is a concern about the number of plans, but it may take a few late nights to kind of reduce some of those plans, but we feel that it's attainable,” said Seminole County Public Schools Director of Human Resources John Reichert.

Parent Kara Moore said she is concerned about the rezoning.

"My daughter loves going there. She has an excellent teacher, she's had an excellent teacher. I want her to stay in that school," Moore said. "I don't know how they're going to be able to do it and be able to make a logical decision.'

For weeks now, anyone with access to the Internet has been able to turn in their own ideas, a way for the district to involve parents as much as possible. But experts said opening up the process like that may not always be best policy.

“When you invite the public to respond like that, sometimes the results can be overwhelming, and the problem becomes harder to solve,” said WFTV analyst Dr. Rick Foglesong.

The first of several core committee meetings start on Wednesday. The committees will whittle the proposals to just a few and present them to the school board, which will then hold public hearings for parents.