A 52-member task force proposed three possible solutions for DeKalb elementary school redistricting and will send the proposals to the DeKalb school board for its consideration.

Three maps were drafted during the final task force meeting Thursday night. The maps balanced school capacity with five parameters: keeping family members together, maintaining neighborhood schools, minimizing busing as much as possible, ensuring ethnic and socioeconomic diversity and maintaining targeted class size.

The task force committees worked through a series of maps to arrive at the final proposals.

“Because development is occurring, there is a need to look at school district boundaries and adaptations,” said Paul Rasmussen, director of community development in DeKalb.

The task force consists of community members, parents, teachers and other district staff excluding school administrators.

School board member Holly Wallace said redistricting is difficult, but the committee has done a good job.

“All the groups have worked well together,” Wallace said. “A group of 50 is always going to make a better decision than a board of seven.”

As task force members worked on the maps, a computer program drew new maps, including numerical data on the five parameters.

DeKalb resident Christina Setchell, a mother of two, hopes to see her children stay at Lincoln Elementary School.

“You don’t just flip kids around; they need continuity,” Setchell said.

Setchell said she hopes there will be minimal moves for all schools.

Task force member Misty Haji-Sheikh said obtaining good information on the five parameters was the hardest part of developing the maps.

“It went slow at first; then it went real fast at the end,” Haji-Sheikh said.

The school board will consider the proposals at its next meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the District 428 Education Center, 901 S. Fourth St.