JEFFERSON — A four-part plan to redistrict elementary-school students in the Jefferson Area Local School District will be presented to the School Board at tonight’s meeting, Superintendent Doug Hladek said Monday.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the Jefferson Area High School library.

The issue has raised a lot of concern among parents during the past couple of months. Hladek said the first part of the plan is to redistrict the students to balance the numbers at Rock Creek and Jefferson elementary schools.

The decision to redistrict students arose after the Ohio School Facilities Commission allowed the district to build two small elementary schools rather than one large school. Building the two schools was contingent upon the number of students in each school. With enrollment consistently decreasing in the district, the only way the two schools could be built was to shift some of the Jefferson Elementary students to Rock Creek, board president David Keep explained at a previous meeting.

Jefferson Elementary was built to accommodate 650 students, while Rock Creek Elementary was built to house 450 students. The projected number of students, without counting kindergarten students, is 501 at Jefferson Elementary and 340 at Rock Creek, Hladek said. The district is projecting approximately 130 kindergarten students, which will be divided between the two schools.

“We knew all along we were going to have to do this,” Hladek said. “Families will be impacted.”

Hladek said the main concerns among families are before and after-school day care and the length of bus rides. Right now, there are no day-care facilities in Rock Creek. However, a plan is in the works for a day care once the Rock Creek Area Projects Board takes possession of the old school building.

Not only will the redistricting affect families, but also it will affect the district’s staff, as well, Hladek said. The second part of the plan is to redistrict the staff, including teachers and classified staff.

The third part of the plan will be deciding what equipment the district will keep from the old buildings and move into the new ones.

The fourth part of the plan will be to continue to work on the curriculum and keep it aligned with state content standards, he said.

“The positive in all of this is two brand-new buildings are opening up,” Hladek said. “We are proud of our staff and of the curriculum we offer at both schools.”