Andover Public Schools Redistricting Project

Redistricting involves reorganizing student populations across the district in a new way to help accomplish specific goals. As communities change, the distribution of students fluctuates and a school district will periodically need to redistribute students when new facilities are built.

Why redistrict? The benefits of redistricting include balancing a district’s resources, using school building capacity efficiently, equalizing enrollment, and aligning student demographics.

Andover Public Schools serves approximately 5,500 students across one preschool, five K-5 elementary schools, three middle schools, and a senior high school in the town of Andover, Massachusetts. During its redistricting process, the APS community identified three main goals: 

Optimize APS school building utilization APS enrollment is projected to increase over the next decade, and current building utilization (i.e. how much of a building’s total space is used) varies significantly by school. The target is ~85% utilization across schools.

Maximize transportation efficiency Whether they’re walking or being bussed, the goal is for students to get to school as efficiently as possible, minimizing travel time while ensuring a safe route for each child. 

Promote healthy student experiences Throughout the process, the community expressed that keeping elementary student cohorts together through middle school is a top priority. The goal is to provide a positive elementary and middle school experience for students, while also balancing socioeconomic, race/ethnicity, and English Learner (EL) populations to the extent possible.

Communication and outreach has included: 4 Community Meetings 6 School Committee Meetings 3 Principal Meetings 3 Redistricting Advisory Committee Meetings ~330 emails 624 responses via Survey Over 700 responses via interactive web app

Who gave input? Stakeholder groups include: Families and students Community School committee Staff Parent Teacher Organizations and Parent Advisory Councils Town Business organizations Administration

What does the community want? 54% prioritized Student Capacity and Enrollment Balance. 37% prioritized Transportation Distance and Safety. 9% prioritized Student Demographic Distribution.

In addition, parents indicated that it is very important to keep current elementary school cohorts together through middle school, to avoid disrupting students’ social groups. 

Each of these goals requires compromise and tradeoffs to coexist with the others.  APS must also balance the needs of today’s students with those of future generations. How do we weigh changing current students’ routines with the needs of students who will enroll in five, 10 and 15 years?

In a situation with no perfect solution, how does APS balance its goals to achieve the best solution that will benefit the most students today and tomorrow?

Based on how stakeholders ranked goals, DillingerRAD built three final rezoning scenarios that would achieve the community’s priorities for the greatest number of students today and tomorrow. Each rezoning scenario includes an iteration for both elementary and middle schools. This choice structure allowed APS to make the best possible choice for their district.

On March 20, 2025, the school board voted to implement Option 3: E6/M5. The interactive web map below allows you to swipe back and forth between old [left map] and new [right map] boundaries. You can also search addresses (top left) to see where they are located in the old vs. new boundaries.

Balanced facilities Elementary: In the new model, enrollment is more evenly spread out—each elementary school is close to 80% full, which matches the district-wide average. Previously, schools ranged from 66% to 101% full; the new range is a much tighter 76% to 82%. This helps ensure that no building is overburdened and that resources are used more efficiently.

Middle: At the middle school level, the new model also brings better balance. Wood Hill, which was only half full, sees increased enrollment, while Doherty—previously nearing capacity—gets some relief. The baseline range of 54% to 84% utilization shifts to a more balanced 64% to 80%.

Efficient transportation Current levels of walkers are maintained, all utilizing safe walking routes. Transportation costs do not increase, except for a two year period where APS will offer extra bus routes to help students adjust to the change. 

Positive student experiences Under the new zones, approximately 82% of elementary students will move on to middle school with their full elementary cohort—up from just 22% before. This honors the community’s desire to keep students together and helps strengthen peer connections, making for a more supportive and stable transition to middle school. 

In partnering with DillingerRAD, APS was able to navigate tradeoffs and arrive at a decision that most closely reflects the community’s priorities.