An interesting challenge is facing Iowa City and the Iowa City school district. The School Board passed a diversity policy in 2013 in an effort to create a more even distribution of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch in the district; a factor the district uses as an indicator of poverty. Now the Planning and Zoning Commission is asking the City Council to urge the School Board to add a walkability clause to its diversity policy. The clause would guarantee that any student living within a half-mile of one or more elementary schools along a safe route could enroll in that school, and also guarantee that residential areas located within a half-mile of an elementary school would not be zoned to a school outside a walkable distance of a half-mile.
The full article from the Iowa City Press Citizen is here.
