Frequently Asked Questions

Redistricting involves dividing and/or reorganizing the district boundaries related to school attendance in a new way to help accomplish specific goals that were previously not being met. 

Reviewing district data allows us to support learning by :

• Balancing school capacity and enrollment so that each school is appropriately utilized, avoiding overcrowding in some areas and underenrollment in others.
• Refining transportation routes to reduce travel time, enhance safety, and/or lower costs
• Ensuring a representative population of students from diverse backgrounds in all schools 
• Optimizing programming for all students
   

• Redistricting Plan: The district is working with a consultant, Dillinger Research and Applied Data (DillingerRAD), through this process. DillingerRAD is analyzing current district data, including student demographics, enrollment, school building capacity, and transportation routes to determine recommended options and to create a plan for the district’s consideration and a School Committee vote.
• Redistricting Implementation: Redistricting Implementation is about how the district will transition from the current boundaries to the approved scenarios. The recommended options will include guidance about a timeline for implementation, but ultimately, the decision about when to implement the plan is up to the school committee.

The Westborough School Committee has the sole authority to make the final decision and approve any new redistricting plan.

While the district has partnered with DillingerRAD to help manage the process, their role is to facilitate and provide technical expertise. This includes:

• Designing and developing potential redistricting scenarios.
• Analyzing data (like enrollment, geography, and building capacity).
• Gathering community feedback.
• Presenting all options and data to the School Committee.

Ultimately, DillingerRAD provides recommendations and scenarios, but the School Committee is the only body with the authority to vote on and adopt the final plan.
 

The redistricting plan will review and adjust boundaries only for the Elementary Schools (Hastings, Armstrong, and Fales). Once data is analyzed and a plan is presented and voted on, we will be able to identify which neighborhoods or streets will be impacted.

• Fales Elementary: SY 2024-2025 Enrollment: 305
• Hastings Elementary: SY 2024-2025 Enrollment: 336
• Armstrong Elementary: SY 2024-2025 Enrollment: 391

October/ November 2025

• Collect and analyze data from across the district
• Collect input from stakeholders

December 2025

• Develop and iterate on various scenarios 
• Review models with stakeholders and collect feedback

January 2026

• Finalize a model for school committee consideration
  • Including maps detailing new school boundaries and implementation recommendations

We anticipate that DillingerRAD will present options for the community to review and the School Committee to vote on by early winter Jan 2026 . The timeline for redistricting implementation is currently scheduled for the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.

Following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the district selected Dillinger Research and Applied Data to support this work.

Dillinger Research and Applied Data Inc (DillingerRAD) is a Connecticut-based woman and veteran-led 501(c)3 nonprofit. DillingerRAD partners with youth-centered organizations to leverage data and tools they currently use to help students and youth succeed. They focus on providing contextualized data support for all partners to ensure that solutions are sustainable, equitable, and meet the needs of all stakeholders involved.
 

The district hired a consultant because redistricting is a highly complex process requiring specialized skills that fall outside of normal school operations. While the School Committee makes the final decision, a firm like DillingerRAD provides essential, neutral project management.

They bring strong data analytical skills and expertise in GIS mapping software to model multiple "what-if" scenarios. This instantly shows how moving one neighborhood impacts enrollment, class sizes, and transportation across all schools. This data-driven work provides the School Committee with clear, objective options. As a neutral third party, DillingerRAD also facilitates the difficult public discussions necessary for redistricting, allowing the School Committee to focus on community feedback and making the best final policy decision.

Please feel free to email Nick Stellitano <nstellitano@dillingerrad.org>.  Nick is the Managing Director of DillingerRAD and is the project lead.