After months of meetings, public input and school board discussions, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board has reached a decision on new boundary lines to make way for the new Deer Creek Elementary School, set to open in the fall semester of 2022.

According to a release from the school district, the following neighborhoods will be reassigned elementary boundaries starting in school year 2022-23:

Reassigned to Deer Creek Elementary –

Autumn Breeze Apartments

Deer Path West

Meadows of Shelborne

Blue Ridge

Flagstone Woods

Summerland Park

Waterman Crossing

 Reassigned to Harrison Parkway Elementary –

Deer Chase Apartments

 Reassigned to Thorpe Creek Elementary –

Silverton

All current Durbin Elementary students will also be attending Deer Creek next fall. 

“This process is never easy and often filled with mixed emotions. We were faced with the difficult challenge of moving students to a different school to open Deer Creek Elementary and lower enrollment at Southeastern Elementary,” said Superintendent Yvonne Stokes in an HSE Schools statement. “Because of that, we spent a considerable amount of time examining every possible scenario and listening to the input of our stakeholders.”

The biggest concern about the approved map is that Deer Creek is projected to be at 88% capacity, higher than the 80% capacity another scenario would have provided.  However, a parent in the Silverton neighborhood spoke before the board asking for the map that was approved by a board vote of 6-1, with Brad Boyer voting no.

Southeastern Elementary school had a much higher than projected enrollment when it opened, requiring the use of portable classrooms that are still in use today.

Durbin will no longer be an elementary building, but will be utilized by the school corporation for other uses.  Durbin could not be expanded due to the lack of water and sewer lines at the building’s location.

School administrators tried to keep this boundary change limited to the area near Deer Creek Elementary because it is also clear a general redistricting will be required looking at the entire school district.  Also tied to all this is the coming decision on what to do with Fishers Elementary School, the oldest building in the HSE System.

School officials say more information will be released in the coming weeks for those students and families impacted by the changes. Hamilton Southeastern Schools say they plan to closely work with families to ensure a smooth transition. Details about open houses, school tours and other events will be forthcoming.