The school district is proceeding with a rezoning initiative to address overcrowding in South Mountain and Tuscan schools, it was announced at Monday's Board of Education meeting.

According to Superintendent Brian Osborne, 226 more students are enrolled in local elementary schools than two years ago, and another 115 are expected to enroll next year. It will be another two years before a leveling-off takes place, according to demographic projections.

While the district has found that some of the increase is from students who would have been enrolled in private schools had the economic downturn not taken place, the majority of the surge of kindergarteners and first graders is attributable to a rise in birth rates in 2002 and 2003—both locally and in New York City, Osborne said.

Osborne noted that the district isn't in a position where "it would be prudent or fair to taxpayers to build additional space."

In a presentation to the Board, Assistant School Business Administrator Cheryl Schneider showed that South Mountain School and Annex are already above capacity this year; 30 classrooms were needed, while only 29 were available. To address the overflow, a dedicated music room was converted into a regular classroom. Next year, Tuscan School is projected to need 30 classrooms and currently has only 29 available. (The increase was already addressed this year by sending some kindergarteners in the Tuscan zone to other schools this year, she said.)

By the 2012-2013 school year, South Mountain will need 31 classrooms, and Tuscan will need 32, according to demographic projections.

Schneider then presented a timeline on how rezoning would be undertaken, noting that a presentation with suggestions for implementation would be given at the next Board of Education meeting on March 22. A community forum will be held shortly thereafter, and the Board is scheduled to vote on a resolution on April 19. By the end of April, mailings would be sent out to affected families, and transfer requests for the 2010-2011 school year would be given consideration. Student tours and parent open houses for students attending new schools would be given in May.

She also noted that plans would keep rising fifth graders in their current schools.

Board member Richard Laine asked whether the possibility of unpairing Marshall and Jefferson schools to make them regular K-5 elementary schools was being considered. Osborne replied that if they were to be unpaired, there would still be transportation of students across district, since a simple separation would do "significant damage" to the demographic balance.

"We would have two schools that each would look very unlike the population of our district," he said.