Dublin City Schools is redistricting for the first time in over 20 years due to uneven enrollment growth at Dublin Jerome High School. At Monday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. John Marschhausen presented scores for three draft boundary maps based on a survey with over 3,000 responses:
The Scoring Results
- Map III: 719 points out of 1,200
- Map I: 629 points
- Map II: 550 points (likely to be eliminated)
The district used eight equally-weighted criteria, each worth 150 points: facility utilization, demographic diversity, proximity, transportation efficiency, contiguous zones, future growth, feeder patterns, and natural boundaries.
The Traffic Study Timeline
NBC4 Investigates confirmed through public records that the district released the three maps in September without conducting traffic studies, despite the superintendent promising in April that traffic data would guide decisions.
What happened:
- April: Traffic studies promised
- September: Three draft maps released
- September 29: $23,000 traffic study commissioned
- October 13: Results released
One parent analyzed four years of crash data independently and identified safety concerns along proposed routes. The district says commissioning the study after releasing maps “targeted proposed routes — maximizing accuracy and minimizing cost.”
What Parents Actually Want
The district weighted all eight criteria equally, but the 3,000+ survey responses show different priorities.
Parent priorities:
- Keeping neighborhoods together
- Safe, efficient routes (bus, bike, walking)
- Clear feeder patterns
The disconnect:
Map III scored highest overall across all eight criteria. Map I scored lower overall but performs better on neighborhood continuity and transportation—the specific areas parents say matter most.
Real Estate Impact
School assignments drive purchasing decisions in Dublin. Right now, buyers don’t know which high school applies to addresses they’re considering, and sellers don’t know how the November 10 decision affects their property values.
Parent Chang Liu’s situation illustrates the challenge: her son can stay at Coffman High, but her seventh-grade daughter would be rezoned to Scioto under some proposals.
Key dates:
- October 24: Survey closes
- October 29: Revised maps released
- November 10: Final decision
Having worked in Dublin and Powell real estate for 11 years, I know school boundary uncertainty creates hesitation in buyers and concerns for sellers. The redistricting is necessary to balance enrollment, but the process has created questions about which criteria should drive these decisions and whether the district prioritized the right factors.