Woodland school district to redraw boundaries as enrollment shifts across city

Some parents in Woodland have been left wondering where their kids will go to school next year as a population shift in the city is causing some campuses to become overcrowded.

Woodland Joint Unified is the largest school district in Yolo County, bigger than Davis or West Sacramento. But some schools only have a fraction of the students they were built to accommodate.

"Enrollment is going down," said Rob Murray, Woodland Joint Unified's demographic consultant. "There are fewer kids than there were 10 or 20 years ago."

Now, after 25 years, the school district is about to redraw the boundary maps for all of its schools. That means some kids could be forced to go to a different campus than they were expecting.

The district says overall enrollment is declining even though Woodland's overall population is growing.

"There's a lot of great neighborhoods that we didn't have before," said Woodland parent Aime Wallace.

Wallace has twin boys in 4th grade. She was expecting them to attend Pioneer High School, but they may now have to go to Woodland High.

That's because Pioneer is currently at more than 90%capacity, while Woodland High's enrollment is at just 55%.

"Honestly, they're both really great schools," Wallace said. "I would be OK with either of them."

Other campuses like Tafoya Elementary are at 152% capacity, while Beamer, Plainfield, and Sci-Tech Elementary schools are less than half-full.

The district has released a set of maps, outlining the potential changes. It's now holding a series of public workshops, asking community members which new boundaries they prefer.

Woodland district officials say the changes will go into effect next school year, but it will only impact new students and elementary students once they graduate.

"Current 6th grade students would be the first ones potentially affected by a new middle school and high school assignment," Murray said.

Wallace says her family is ready for any change.

"I trust the school district will make the right decision," she said.

There will be three more public workshops, including Tuesday night at Lee Middle School.

The school board is expected to make a final decision on September 10.