School boundaries
November 18th, 2008 by 
Alica
I grew up on Sylvan Circle in Brandon, and our back yard abutted Highway 11. Before my fifth-grade year, the Brandon Valley School District changed the boundaries. Everyone east of Highway 11 (Splitrock Boulevard) had to go to Valley Springs Elementary.
I wasn’t happy. I said I’d pitch a tent in the ditch across the road and establish residency there so I still could go to Brandon Elementary, where my friends were.
Didn’t happen, though. I went to sixth and seventh grades in Valley Springs. I think it was a good experience. I made new friends. Coincidentally, a couple of kids I knew from kindergarten in Sioux Falls had moved to Valley, and I got reacquainted with them in Valley Springs. Plus, when both grade schools came together in junior high, I already knew everyone.
Next year, Brandon Valley Schools will open its fourth elementary school. Someone has to attend there. Will it be your child? Maybe he or she will be upset, like I was, to have to leave friends in one school to attend another. But maybe your child will make new friends, like I did, and will be grateful in middle school and high school for those early connections with fellow students.
What do you think about the new school boundaries the district is proposing? Post your thoughts and questions here, and we’ll do our best to respond. And if you have questions, you can ask them at two upcoming public forums at the middle school media center (library), on Nov. 24 and Dec. 8.
Posted in Uncategorized, School business | 
November 19th, 2008 at 9:19 am
What is the districts policy on elementary school “open enrollment”? I can’t see too much to complain about as far as the boundaries go, but its possible that someone will. Are parents allowed to send their children to a particular building even if they don’t live in that specific part of the district?
November 19th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Yes, open enrollment is an option. I don’t know who would be responsible for transportation in that case, though. Perhaps the family.
If the school had to transport kids to whatever school they chose, can you imagine what the bus routes would look like?
Yikes!
November 19th, 2008 at 10:42 am
We live just east of N. Cliff but south of Renner so we are in the BV school district. It looks to me like my child will have to go to the new school. My question is, if my daycare is an in-home daycare in Brandon and part of a different district, which one will he go to? The bus would pick him up from daycare I’m sure. He’ll be in kindergarten next year so it’s not like he has friends already at one school or the other.