Dover Area School District

The Challenge:

Over a decade ago, Dover Area Public Schools made the decision to shut down one of their elementary schools, located in Washington Township. This closing led to a 10-year appeals effort by community members to have their township placed in a neighboring school district. In 2021, the township was granted their request to redistrict, leaving Dover Area Schools with little time to make some critical and strategic moves in accessing current and future district needs. Washington Township was home to 250 students and critical in generating revenue for the district. The 2021-2022 school year would be one of assessment and transparency as the district looked to reestablish school boundaries and communicate out the fiscal requests of the district to maintain and invest in programming and support needs for their students.

The Results:

Running scenarios and comparing them side-by-side provided excellent context to the community at large. The district was able to establish new school boundaries that supported current students and allowed for increased enrollments in buildings serving growing populations.

Additionally, they were able to effectively show the multi-year recovery timelines to get the district back to pre-loss of township local revenue generation. Losing a township is not common, but with analytic tools and advisory support, the district was able to develop, communicate and execute a plan with intention and community support.

Data is at the core of every decision that we make. Having the ability to present data in a way that generates interest and formulates a story helps our Board, and key stakeholders, better relate to the data. Our district has had success utilizing multiple visual aids from Comparative Analytics, Financial Planning Analytics, and Location Analytics to tell our unique story during an unprecedented situation.”