“It’s going to take courage and some really hard decisions,” said parent Mariah White on Tuesday. “You cannot look at half of the schools to do it. You have to look at all the schools.”

After months of debating when to start rezoning, with a majority of the board opting to wait until this year rather than last because of widespread academic issues, the board has a timeline.

The district is paying Cropper GIS, an Ohio-based demographics firm, $127,000 to help evaluate trends, and intends to hire a property assessment firm by March, in hopes of having reports from each in April.

School leaders would then present draft rezoning proposals to the board and community over the summer, with the board taking a final vote in October. Students would potentially start attending new schools in 2020.

Board members said they didn’t want to move too quickly in the process to make sure that the new zones actually help alleviate overcrowding.

“I don’t want a rush job just for the sake of saying that we did it,” said 5th District Representative Patrick Sapini.

Kamras said the process will resemble how the district developed its five-year strategic plan, which included about 170 community meetings.