Middle School Boundary Adjustment Process

San Juan Unified is committed to investing in facilities that will support the district’s projected enrollment for the coming years. 

In order to match projected student resident populations with the capacity of each school (including those that are in the process of being modernized), adjustments to middle school boundaries for several schools (Arcade, Arden, Katherine Johnson, Starr King and Winston Churchill) are necessary. As part of this process and as approved by the board, Arcade will be given an attendance boundary, as it does not currently have one. These schools will need appropriate geographical spacing, and suitable walking and travel distances for students.

Three proposed middle school boundary maps are now available:

• Scenario 1

• Scenario 2

• Scenario 3

The proposed map webpage features the ability to toggle between the three options and each features an address look-up where residents can enter their address to see which middle school would potentially be assigned to their address.

PHASE 1 - March-April 2023

• Share information with the community regarding the middle school boundary change process and gather feedback on criteria for map development

PHASE 2 - April-May 2023

• Demographer develops middle school boundary change map options

• Gather feedback on boundary change map options from community

PHASE 3 - Postponed to Spring 2024

• Boundary change map recommendations shared with the Board of Education

• Board of Education adopts final boundary change map

PHASE 4 - Postponed to Spring 2024

• Implement new middle school boundary change map for enrollment for the 2024-25 school year and beyond; open enrollment for the 2024-25 school year will begin in December 2023 and targeted outreach will be conducted to families affected directly by the boundary changes for enrollment options for the 2024-25 school year.

As approved by the board, Arcade Fundamental and Katherine Johnson are currently undergoing campus modernizations to accommodate additional students. While Arcade Fundamental will remain at its current location, Katherine Johnson will be relocated to the Creekside location. Modernizations at both schools are expected to be completed by the start of the 2024-25 school year.

No, the IB Diplomat program will remain at Winston Churchill and updated boundaries at the school should not affect the Diplomat program.

There are several reasons why boundary changes are anticipated at these five select middle schools. Katherine Johnson Middle School is being relocated to a new campus with a larger capacity. In addition, there is a need to provide schools in appropriate geographic locations to better serve students and families where the population densities support closer proximity to schools.  Additionally, the district is seeing a population growth mainly in the western region of the district. Current middle schools in the rest of the district are able to accommodate expected population changes in the next few years. Boundary changes at Thomas Edison Language Institute and Sierra Oaks K-8 are not anticipated.

Any middle school boundary changes would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

Several criteria will be used when developing boundary adjustment options, including:

• Create attendance boundaries for middle schools that match projected student resident populations with the capacity of each school and sufficient for a comprehensive middle school.

• If warranted, study and recommend minor adjustments to elementary and or high schools attendance areas to reconcile feeder patterns and improve.

• Neighborhood proximity and accessibility to school site.

• Safest routes and achieve reasonable, drive, walk and bike riding distances for students and families. Keep neighborhoods together, avoid geographic barriers.

• Legacy student options

Yes, students already attending one of the affected schools in the 2023-24 school year will have the option to remain at that school for the 2024-25 school year. Additional information will be provided as we move forward in the process. Open enrollment to another school site will remain an option for families. Please also note that any boundary changes would not go into effect until the 2024-25 school year.

Current school boundaries can be found at www.sanjuan.edu/boundaries. A map of current middle school boundaries is also available.

Below are the elementary schools that currently feed into the five affected middle schools:

Arcade Fundamental: None (Arcade is currently an open school with no boundaries)

Arden: Mariemont Elementary, Del Dayo Elementary

Katherine Johnson: Dyer-Kelly Elementary, Howe Avenue Elementary, Cottage Elementary, Greer Elementary

Starr King: Starr King K-8

Winston Churchill: Cameron Ranch Elementary, Pasadena Avenue Elementary, Del Paso Manor Elementary, Whitney Avenue Elementary