Superintendent Michael Beresford hands an award to a Science Bowl elementary school member during a school board meeting on Feb. 12. The award was intended to recognize the Collegewood Elementary School Science Bowl team for winning the Indiana state championship.

In a school board meeting on Jan. 28, a demographer gave a report on the Carmel Clay School’s future population trends. The report predicts the Carmel Clay School district’s high school student population to reach 5,562 students in 2026 before declining the following two years. The report also predicts the total student population to peak at 16,370 in 2021 before declining. The board will use the information provided in this report to help with creating a future redistricting plan across the Carmel Clay School district.

Senior Tony Ou said he understands why redistricting is important, but still sees its potential downsides.

“Childhood is a tumultuous time,” Ou said. “You need to have consistent friends but if you’re constantly redistricting then you can’t keep your same friends because you’re in a different school in a different environment.”

School board president Mike Kerschner said redistricting is necessary when building or removing schools, which will help accommodate Carmel’s demographic changes.

“We want to make sure we have the best facilities, the most appropriate facilities that we need to educate the students in a cost effective way,” Kerschner said. “We don’t want to have too many schools and we want to make sure we have enough schools.”