The ICCSD school board came to a consensus Tuesday night regarding secondary boundaries after going back on the original 2015 boundaries in May this year. May’s debate was met with controversy surrounding proximity to the schools versus equal levels of FRL students. Board members opposed to the 2015 boundaries cited overcrowding at North Central as a concern, and the vote in May ended with Tom Yates stepping down. Brian Kirschling voted in favor of the boundary plans in 2015.

“I will vote, as I did in 2015, to support diversity,” Kirschling said at the meeting.

Tuesday’s 4-3 vote has two of the elementary schools at the center of the socioeconomic diversity debate. Alexander Elementary and Kirkwood Elementary are to feed into Northwest Junior High, West High, North Central, and Liberty, respectively. A motion to allow voluntary transfers for Alexander students to City and Kirkwood students to West failed by a vote of 3-3-1.

“I am definitely in favor of diverse schools in our district,” new board member Paul Roesler, who filled Yates’ seat this summer, said. “I think our schools should be reflective of the real world.”