Students in the Campbell Union School District might have the chance to attend a rebranded middle school when it opens next year, even if they don’t reside within its attendance boundary.

At an Oct. 24 meeting at Campbell Middle School—to be renamed the Campbell School of Innovation in summer 2018—a handful of teachers and parents heard about proposed boundary changes for the primary school district’s elementary and middle schools.

The proposed changes would send some students to the renamed school, which is expanding to become a transitional kindergarten through eighth grade campus.

“We wanted to reduce the size of the two largest elementary schools, Castlemont and Capri, and we wanted to balance our two middle schools,” said James Crawford, deputy superintendent of administrative services. “The new boundary makes up about two-thirds of the new school. We did that to hopefully attract students from around the district.”

According to Crawford, Castlemont has roughly 700 students, whereas the other schools have 500 to 600. The district says Rosemary Elementary area is going to be a “dual zone,” which allows students to move on and attend either Monroe or Rolling Hills middle school.

Crawford said the proposed boundary lines have not been approved by the district’s governing board and could change when first batch of TK-4 students begin attending the new school.

“We’re taking input and making changes and so forth,” Crawford said. “Numbers are going to drive a lot of this.”

Boundary changes would also allow parents the chance to enroll their child in a school outside their neighborhood attendance boundary. Parents would have to apply through open enrollment, and then the district would determine which students get priority to attend a particular school.

“We wanted to have the opportunity for choice,” said Lena Bundtzen, assistant superintendent of human resources.

Bundtzen said the Campbell School of Innovation is looking to start with 12 to 14 teachers when it opens its doors for the 2018-19 academic year.

The district decided to transform the grades 5-8 middle school to a TK-8 school in an effort to attract more students to the campus after a perception survey showed the middle school was seen in a negative light.

“To be quite candid with you, as a community the school did not have a positive reputation, and we were aware of that,” said Shelly Viramontez, the district’s superintendent.