APS Redistricting Process for K-8 Schools

Implementation Information

April 18, 2025

Dear APS families and staff,

At the April 17th School Committee meeting, Nick Stellitano of DillingerRAD presented key considerations to support the district as it begins the process of implementing newly approved school district boundaries. These new boundaries were adopted by the School Committee at its March 20th meeting, following extensive community input. The Committee voted for implementation as follows:

The redistricting plan will be implemented beginning in the 2026–27 school year, to allow for thoughtful planning and communication with our families.
The district will offer a transition option for families who will be affected by the new boundaries and have children entering kindergarten in the 2025–26 school year. These families will be contacted directly by the district prior to Kindergarten orientation on May 7th.
In the 2026-27 school year, affected students who are entering 4th, 5th, 7th & 8th grade will remain as legacy students to complete their educational experience in their elementary or middle schools, respectively.
In the 2026-27 school year, all current High Plain Elementary grade 4 students will go to Wood Hill Middle School as voted on by the School Committee on April 17th.
Younger siblings will be given the opportunity, through an opt-in process, to stay with their older siblings through the 2027-28 school year. Families should be aware that this option will require the younger sibling to move to their reassigned school once the older sibling has entered middle school or high school.

This phased approach aims to support continuity for students and families while ensuring the district can meet enrollment and facility needs in the years ahead. I’ll also continue meeting with the Redistricting Advisory Council as we move through this next phase of the process.

All elementary and middle school families will receive confirmation of school zones based on their family’s current address by the end of June 2025. Additional information will be shared in the coming months. To review the areas that have been redistricted, please review the APS redistricting webpage or this interactive map.

We thank our families and community members for their continued partnership throughout this process.

Dr. Magda Parvey

Superintendent

Background

When Andover Public Schools submitted its application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for funding support in 2018, the district saw the West Elementary School building project as an opportunity to approach the project for the benefit of Andover’s entire elementary program. In this application, APS noted that if a new West Elementary School was built, the district would redistrict the other four elementary schools in such a way that each school’s enrollment is most effectively aligned with its capacity.

DillingerRAD supported the district to analyze data in the redistricting process. This approach attempts to balance school capacity, provide for larger groups of students moving on to middle school, minimize long-term costs, and ensure safety for students who walk to school. A set of community goals was established to guide the redistricting, focusing on optimizing APS school building utilization, maximizing transportation efficiency, and promoting healthy student experiences. The district followed a comprehensive timeline, offering multiple opportunities for community engagement, including surveys, public meetings, and forums. After carefully reviewing the feedback received, DillingerRAD made thoughtful adjustments to the proposed boundaries to ensure that the final plan reflected the concerns and ideas of the community.

The new district boundaries were voted on by the School Committee at the March 20, 2025 meeting. The School Committee voted to support DillingerRAD's scenario E6/M5.

DillingerRAD has provided the district with an executive summary of the K-8 redistricting process and offered an interactive website and map to help visualize and summarize the key elements of the plan. This interactive map allowed the community to better understand the proposed changes and engage more directly with the process.

The redistricting process is a work in progress to develop a long-term plan for the future. The plan is intended to help address anticipated growth in Andover that could impact our students’ educational environment for years to come.

The entire community of Andover needs to be involved in developing the plan to make this project a success.

Watch, Read, and Learn More! - Presentations & Information
Data - APS Enrollment v. Capacity
April 17, 2025 - Implementation Recommendation School Committee Presentation and Vote	Presentation Video
March 20, 2025 School Committee Update	Final School Committee Presentation Video
March 12, 2025 School Committee Update	Presentation Video
March 8, 2025 Community Forum	Presentation
February 27, 2025 School Committee Update	Presentation
February 13, 2025 Virtual Community Forum	Presentation Video
February 6, 2025 School Committee Update	Presentation Includes draft versions of Elementary Scenario 5 and Middle School Scenarios 1 & 2 Video
January 16, 2025 - Let's Talk! Virtual Community Forum	Presentation Video
January 9, 2025 School Committee Update	Presentation Video
December 7, 2024 Virtual Community Forum	Presentation Video
November 21, 2024 School Committee Workshop	Presentation Video
November 14, 2024 Community Meeting	Presentation Video
October 24, 2024 Redistricting Orientation Meeting	Presentation

Watch, Read, and Learn More! - Presentations & Information

Data - APS Enrollment v. Capacity

April 17, 2025 - Implementation Recommendation

School Committee Presentation and Vote

Presentation

Video

March 20, 2025

School Committee Update

Final School Committee Presentation

Video

March 12, 2025

School Committee Update