With four high schools, five middle schools, and 16 elementary schools, the Olentangy Local School District continues to grow as more houses are built rapidly in the area. 

   The population in our district continues to grow rapidly resulting in the need for additional buildings at all levels. The current project for the district is Olentangy Berlin Middle School which is to become the 6th middle school building that will open in the fall. A plan is required to fill the new school and help relieve overcrowding in the other buildings. Due to the location of the new addition, the northeast side of the district has the most movement. 

   The halls of the elementary and middle schools are filled with the news of the redistricting as students realize they could be split from their friends or be the first students at a brand new building.

   “I don’t hate the idea of it. It’s a new school and I think it will be nice. I get to be with my friends so it’s cool,” Mason Gruzs ‘29 said. 

      The Redistricting Committee which is appointed by the school board created two options, each with benefits and challenges. The end goal is to fill the new Berlin Middle School while both possibilities are also designed to remove the overcrowing at Heritage and Liberty Tree Elementary. The intent is that these two schools won’t be affected when elementary 17 is built in a few years. Another goal for both possibilities is to remove the Shanahan Middle School to Olentangy High School island near Polaris. 

   If option one were to be chosen, there would be two elementary schools where 100 percent of their students would attend the new middle school, but it would move Olentangy Falls, which is still in the growth process and may need to move again in the future. Along with that, it would move some of the Shanahan Middle School kids to Liberty Middle School, but this would also cause Liberty Middle School to have a detached zone close to Shanahan. 

   With option two as the chosen situation, the overcrowded middle schools would be fixed, but it moves more of those middle school students around than preferred. It would also be better in the sense that more room would be left for growth although it is taken into consideration that Shanahan middle contains two major growth areas. 

   The Redistricting Committee held two public forums at Berlin and Olentangy High School to present the two options and additional information to the community. A question and answer session was held at the end of each meeting. Then a survey was sent to the community to gain feedback on the pros and cons of each plan. The next step will then be taken by the committee over the next couple of weeks.

   “The committee will review all the feedback from the community and develop a recommendation for the superintendent,” Justin Rich from Cooperative Strategies said in an online informational video on the Olentangy District website. 

   Once superintendent Mark Raif has reviewed the recommendation, the final step in the long process will take place at the Dec. 8 board meeting. The final redistricting decision will be announced at that point.

   All information about the redistricting as well as an address search tool can be found on this website: https://www.olentangy.k12.oh.us/departments/superintendent/superintendents-committees/attendance-boundary-committee/2023-2024-redistricting