WETHERSFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS BRINGS ITS COMMUNITY INTO THE PROCESS AND COMPLETES AN ELEMENTARY REDISTRICTING PLAN USING MASTERPLAN SOFTWARE FROM PLANWARE SYSTEMS.

January, 2005 - Wethersfield, Connecticut - Wethersfield Public Schools, a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, used MasterPlan software from Planware Systems LLC, Morgan Hill, CA, to analyze the characteristics of its student population and successfully select a redistricting plan that conforms to the district's standards for providing quality education.

Due to necessary facility changes that had already been approved by referendum (renovating a K-6 school, closing the Kindergarten center, and moving the central office) Wethersfield needed to redistrict its elementary schools. The district's goals were to create new school boundaries such that each elementary school would maintain the diversity present in the district as a whole. MasterPlan helped redistrict the entire elementary system. Using MasterPlan, the district was able to develop 10 possible scenarios in a short period of time. Says Superintendent, Dr. Patrick Proctor, "The beauty of the system is its ability to analyze information in short-order, where previously it would have taken weeks or possibly months to do the job. The final scenario gave us the best plan for implementing these changes and creating balanced K-6 schools."

"Not only did MasterPlan ease the process of developing these scenarios," Dr. Proctor says, "but perhaps even more valuable was the way it helped present the information and include the community in the redistricting process. By the end of the project the whole community was experienced with demographic planning and took ownership of the redistricting plan."

About Planware Systems

Planware Systems provides business application software and consulting services that allow school district administrators and consultants to easily visualize demographic patterns and plan for the most efficient use of facilities and personnel. Planware's MasterPlan software is a geographic information system (GIS) built exclusively for school district administrators. Headquartered in Morgan Hill, CA, Planware has offices and affiliates serving school districts throughout the United States and Canada.