Camden City Schools School Planning and Review

The Camden City School District was experiencing severe changes in enrollment, with overall census dropping by half from 2012, while the number of facilities operating had not decreased at the same rate, leading to consistent budget shortfalls each year. FLO, along with community engagement subconsultant Bloom Planning (Bloom), worked with CCSD to design an analytical school planning review and a public committee process to get input on how to best address the multiple needs of the district. 

The goal of the long-term school planning project was to right-size the district at all grade levels to plan for fiscal sustainability, balance enrollment considering declining enrollment trends, and continue to provide equitable academic programming throughout the district. Additionally, CCSD sought to develop a solid planning framework and authentic opportunities for community engagement to guide their long-term planning. 

Bloom led the public engagement efforts during planning committee meetings and online open houses. Both FLO and Bloom facilitated virtual committee meetings and breakout sessions and documented and prepared feedback that is publicly available on the project website in a FLO-developed Tableau dashboard. District-wide community surveys were completed in the early stages of the project to collect feedback from the community about potential modifications to their school configurations and the key issues they consider when choosing schools. 

FLO performed a ten-year student enrollment forecasting that was used to inform the development of various solutions to meet the goals set forth in the long-term school planning process. These solutions included considering boundary modifications, grade reconfiguration changes, establishing of middle schools, adjusting program placement options, and evaluating feeder systems to support the current and anticipated student body and facility optimization. 

The District brought the boundary recommendations to the Board of Education for review, and the Board approved the recommendations.