DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) -- Dublin City Schools has completed the redrawn neighborhood boundaries for its elementary and middle schools as the district readies to expand an existing high school and open a new elementary school.
The district's new maps unveiled on Dec. 9 mark a collaboration with Cropper GIS, a central Ohio-based consultant specializing in school planning who aided in outlining each elementary and middle school's boundary. John Marschhausen, superintendent of Dublin schools, said the new zones take into account the hundreds of comments that were submitted during the public engagement process.
"We want our families to know that every comment was read, every comment was considered and, in a time when there are competing interests, we know not everyone is gonna be satisfied," said Marschhausen during the Dec. 9 board of education meeting. "Our goal was a process that will allow us to have consistent boundaries for as long as possible."
Dublin residents can enter their street address into an interactive map here to view their elementary and middle school assignment for the 2025-2026 school year. Before the new boundaries were finalized, the district had anticipated the following eight schools to be impacted:
Elementary and middle school students, including rising fifth graders, will not be permitted to remain at their current school if they have been impacted by the new boundaries. The district's website reiterates that all students and their siblings will attend school in the area outlined in the redistricting plan. Affected families will be receiving postcards about the changes over winter break, Marschhausen said.
The superintendent has long said redistricting was needed given Dublin is one of the fastest growing districts and the upcoming Bishop Elementary will be overcapacity when the building opens next fall. He said during the Dec. 9 meeting that the board is mindful, that in the next three to five years, the district will likely have to draw new maps again, especially when it comes to elementary schools.
"When we look at where the growth is in our community and we look at where our school seats are, growing districts have to continually work to achieve that required balance so that every student has a seat and the classes are balanced in those different elementary schools," said Marschhausen.
Dublin City Schools will also be redrawing the boundaries for the district's high schools next year, with the expectation the boundaries will take effect at the start of the 2026-2027 year. That process will be the first redistricting of Dublin's high schools in about two decades and comes as the district is pursuing a 60,000-square-foot addition to Dublin Scioto High School.
When at capacity, Scioto currently is home to about 1,400 students, while Dublin Coffman serves 2,000 and Dublin Jerome has 2,400. Dublin schools aims to break ground on the Scioto addition during the summer of next year, with a targeted opening for August 2026.
The Scioto expansion announcement came in August after the district said it was pausing a nonbinding agreement with Cardinal Health the buy the 250,000-square-foot west campus headquarters at 7200 Cardinal Place for $37 million.
Marschhausen paused the Cardinal agreement after the city's planning commission signaled they were unsupportive of the zoning changes needed to repurpose the building. Dublin schools had entered into the purchase agreement earlier this year, which allowed the district more than a year to determine if the building can be effectively configured to serve as a school.
At the Dec. 9 meeting, the superintendent said conversations are ongoing with Cardinal Health on how to utilize the west campus headquarters.
"Most recently, we had a meeting with city officials and Cardinal Health officials where we continued to look at potential partnerships for the west campus building," said Marschhausen. "We've made a commitment that that's not our short-term solution, our short-term solution is the addition to Scioto High School, but we are still very interested in a potential long-term solution there."
