More than 2,000 students in Fishers will go to a different school next fall despite pleas from some parents to lessen the redistricting.

The Hamilton Southeastern School board unanimously approved the administration's final redistricting plan Wednesday night, which will move about 1,200 elementary and 1,050 middle school students.

The redrawing of K-8 school boundaries was spurred by the addition of a 13th elementary school next year, Southeastern Elementary on Cyntheanne Road. Administrators have said the shuffling is also an opportunity to address overcrowding in some schools.

The board's decision comes more than three months after the process started with small committee meetings. Hundreds of parents attended community meetings held in October to offer feedback to three potential redistricting options.

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On Wednesday the board considered a few new details offered after Superintendent Allen Bourff first presented the final plan in November, including potentially moving 74 students to Sand Creek Intermediate and Fishers Junior from Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate/Junior High so all of the students in intermediate/junior high feed into Hamilton Southeastern High School. That option was voted down by the board.

The only revisions to pass were no longer moving 11 students in the Logan's Pointe neighborhood, so they will remain at Durbin Elementary, and no longer moving six students in The Anchorage neighborhood so they remain at Brooks School Elementary.

Most of the 10 parents who spoke Wednesday were the same 25 people who addressed the board in November. Multiple people spoke to how difficult it would be for their family to be uprooted. Some said their child's bus ride would double. One said there are six elementary schools closer than the one her child would be assigned.

The district has said students in grades 3, 5 and 7 can apply to be grandfathered into staying at their elementary. But transportation will not be provided.

The final redistricting plan is different than any of the earlier versions, moving 1,300 fewer students than any of the previous three proposals.

Early proposals created a K-8 feeder system, where entire elementary classes move to the next level together rather than splitting them up among secondary buildings. But the final plan does not. It has four elementary schools where students feed into different schools, Cumberland Road, Durbin, Harrison Parkway and Hoosier Road.

Previous plans were criticized for not leaving space in schools on the city's east side, where it's seeing more growth. In the new plan, five elementary schools that will still be slightly over their capacity using this plan: Brooks School, Harrison Parkway, Hoosier Road, Lantern Road and Thorpe Creek.

However it still lessens the overcrowding in those buildings. Thorpe Creek Elementary, for example, will be over capacity by about 16 students. The elementary currently has 900 students but was built for 700.

None of the plans included moving students with severe special needs, who may have a more difficult time adjusting to a new building and routine. Tom Bell, HSE's director of special education, told IndyStar only a couple special education preschool classrooms were moved in the final plan to centralize the preschool program in one building.

The district has 2,400 students with Individualized Education Programs, meaning they need some degree of specialized support. Those students may be moved, Bell said, but their current teachers are working with their future teachers to ease the transition. When asked if some of those students with an IEP could be grandfathered, Bell said some exceptions may be made.

HSE's last redistricting was in 2014, when Bourff said 4,500 students were moved.

Contact IndyStar reporter Emma Kate Fittes at 317-513-7854 or efittes@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter: @IndyEmmaKate

