School Redistricting Analysis

Support & Services

Submitted To:

BILLERICA, MA
PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Submitted January 9, 2018 by:

 Table of Contents
1. Project Understanding 3

2. AppGeo Information & History 4

3. Consultant Team for Billerica 6

Staff Roles and Interaction with the Billerica Team 6

4. Project References 8

5. Approach 12

6. Cost Proposals 13

AppGeo Proposal to the Billerica Public Schools

School Redistricting Analysis Support Services Page 2
 1. Project Understanding
AppGeo understands that the Billerica Public Schools (BPS)
seeks professional services to support review of its school district
boundaries and support planning and analysis to alleviate
crowding in future years. Specifically, AppGeo understands that
the project goal is to refine the district boundaries and balance
enrollment at the elementary schools.

As our proposal will demonstrate, AppGeo has the technical

expertise and experience to serve as a valuable partner to the
BPS in this endeavor.
● We’ve been providing similar system integration, data
development, geospatial analysis, mapping and public
meeting support to our local government clients for over 25
years.
● We’ve been a trusted partner to local school districts
previously performing similar school redistricting support
and analysis in Weymouth, Lexington, Newton, Winchester
and Dedham.
● Located in Boston, we can be available on short-notice to
provide on-site technical support and attend planning or
public meetings

AppGeo Proposal to the Billerica Public Schools

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 2. AppGeo Information & History
Company Background & Capabilities
Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo, ​www.AppGeo.com​) provides
a broad range of high quality Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) and GIS-related Information Technology (IT) consulting
services and innovative solutions.

Now in its ​27th year in business​, AppGeo has completed more

than 600 GIS consulting projects for government and
private-sector clients in a number of markets and industries in
more than 35 states and territories.

AppGeo’s mission is to empower people to put GIS to work every

day through the intelligent use of geographic data and applications
that improve work flows and increase services.

AppGeo is a ​full-service GIS consulting​ firm. AppGeo helps its

clients to put GIS technology to work in all of the following ways:

● Business system integration

● GIS strategic and business planning, needs assessment,
implementation planning
● Geospatial data modeling, data development and
integration
● Custom applications for desktop, Web and mobile
platforms
● Hosting of Web applications
● Cartography and Spatial Analysis
● Training and Technical support

AppGeo maintains ​expertise in GIS and GIS-related IT

technologies​, including Esri, Google and Open Source GIS
software. AppGeo evaluates new technologies, and maintains its
own geospatial applications code base and innovative solutions,
such as MapGeo™ and GPV® web mapping applications.

In all of its work, AppGeo brings an ​independent and objective

view​ to determine the best fit between its client’s situation (goals,
resources, business drivers, and legacy investments) and
available GIS/IT technologies (state-of-the-art methods, best
practices, software platforms, system architectures, development

AppGeo Proposal to the Billerica Public Schools

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 environments, data resources, and costs).

A Record of Service to New England

Municipalities
While AppGeo’s experience includes all levels of government:
Federal, State, Regional, County and Local, ​our core business
for 25 years has been serving New England local
governments​.

AppGeo is on the Information Technology Services (ITS53) State

Blanket contract and has served over 200 communities in the
Commonwealth, as well as MassGIS, the Massachusetts
Broadband Institute, the Massachusetts Water Resource
Authority, and several Regional Planning Agencies.

Having worked with several Massachusetts school districts,

AppGeo understands the objective and scope of the task at hand,
as well as the data and issues to be analyzed.

AppGeo Proposal to the Billerica Public Schools

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 3. Consultant Team for Billerica
AppGeo’s Boston Office will manage and staff the Billerica project.
Located in the heart of downtown Boston (24 School Street,
Boston, MA 02108), AppGeo’s Boston Office serves the
Northeast and clients across the nation.

Because of AppGeo’s proximity to Billerica, AppGeo can

conveniently provide staff to work onsite at short notice and low
cost, attend meetings in person, and provide other forms of onsite
support that may have short notice, or extended length.

The following staff will be involved and​ ​committed to the

project for the duration of the project​:

Kate Hickey, Principal, Vice President Consulting Services,

PMP
Kate Hickey has 17 years of experience as a GIS professional in
positions of increasing responsibility. Ms. Hickey provides overall
leadership and strategic direction for AppGeo’s Local Government
GIS consulting practice. Project activities that she leads and
participates in include GIS implementation support and training,
geospatial analysis and cartography, data automation and
systems integration, quality control, and the design and
development of municipal web and desktop applications.

Priya Sankalia, Project Manager and GIS Analyst

Ms. Sankalia is a Project Manager and GIS Analyst with over 15
years of GIS consulting experience. She currently supports GIS
implementation for a wide range of municipal GIS projects,
including geospatial analysis, data development, cartography, and
web application development projects.

GIS Analysts
AppGeo analysts with experience in GIS analysis, geospatial
analysis, and map design and data production will also work on
this project.

Staff Roles and Interaction with the Billerica Team

Staff ​roles ​on the project and interaction with the Town will be
through onsite, telephone and video meetings to discuss project
tasks and progress. Specific staff roles and communications

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 include:

Ms. Hickey​ will be the Principal in Charge overseeing the

contracting, the client relationship, the assignment and
activation of staff resources, the task performance, and the
quality of all deliverables. Ms. Hickey will also attend key
meetings, give presentations and help facilitate discussion
and answer questions about the analysis results and
recommendations.

Ms. Sankalia​ will coordinate project activity and objectives

with Billerica staff. She will review task requests in order to
clarify assumptions and outputs, and work with the
assigned AppGeo GIS Technician to complete
assignments and she will also facilitate discussion and
answer questions concerning the analysis for Town Staff or
the general public. Ms. Sankalia will provide supervision
and quality assurance on all work.

GIS Analysts ​will​ ​perform the required technical tasks

under the direction of the Project Manager. Tasks may
include obtaining, preparing and loading of data
(geographic and tabular); building and running alternative
scenarios using a variety of software tools; preparing
professional maps, charts, graphs, and tables to
summarize and present results; and documenting methods
and outcomes for use at staff or public meetings.

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 4. Project References
AppGeo’s prior experience includes redistricting analysis (school,
legislative, voting) as well as experience with municipalities across
New England working with parcel and zoning and voting district
data. This means that AppGeo understands the objective and
scope of the task at hand, as well as the data and locality in which
the work is to be performed.

1. Town of Lexington MA (2015-16) Public

Schools – Student Reassignment Support &
Analysis
Contacts:
Mary Czajkowski, Superintendent of Schools
781-861-2580 ​mczajkowski@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us
Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Planning and Assessment
781-861-2580 x68022​ ​mkavanaugh@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us

AppGeo worked closely with

the Lexington Public Schools
Administration to support a
student reassignment review
process and development of
recommendations. As with
many communities in the
Commonwealth, Lexington is
experiencing significant
increases in student
population and overcrowding
at some of the elementary
schools. Lexington also has
some changes in
infrastructure and were
looking for a solution which
would create a more
equitable distribution of students while alleviating overcrowding.
Working closely with school and parent representatives AppGeo
created neighborhood “components” or geographical areas which
provided them with options for potential scenarios. We used GIS
tools that allowed us to adjust and recreate scenarios quickly to
present them to the community and get feedback. We also
worked with the town to consider buffer zones as an option to be

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 considered. Since this was a quick turnaround project Lexington
had intended for a Phase II to the project the following year, but
because of the success of Phase I that has been put on hold.

2. City of Newton MA Public Schools – Student

Reassignment Support & Analysis (2014-15)
Contact: Julie Kirrane, Long Range Planning Manager
617-559-9025 julie_kirrane@newton.k12.ma.us

AppGeo also worked with the

Newton Public Schools
Administration in their student
reassignment review process. While
Newton also faces the overcrowding
issue the primary purpose of this
project need was to reassign
students to a new school that was
expected to come online within 2
years. Similar to the approach in
Lexington we created “components”
from existing districts to reassign to
adjacent districts in a sense creating
a domino effect that would over time
reassign students to the new school.
Using a combination of queries and
mapping we created several
scenarios that were evaluated and
debated openly. They were shared
with the School Committee and the
public at large. The outcome of the
project was a final recommendation
that met the district's objectives with
minimal impact to families.

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 3. Town of West Hartford, CT Public Schools -
Redistricting and Mapping Support
Contact: Jared Morin, Director of Info Technology
860-561-6689 ​jared.morin@westhartford.org

In 2013, AppGeo supported the West

Hartford Public Schools in reconfiguring
their elementary, middle school and high
school district boundaries. AppGeo staff
worked collaboratively and iteratively with
school staff to identify potential new
boundaries, align boundaries with existing
digital geospatial data, analyze results
and prepare final presentation-quality
maps. AppGeo supported the needs of
this project through on-site meetings with
staff as well as technical data editing and
analysis at our offices. AppGeo has
recently been working with the Town’s
Fire Chief and IT Director to map the
interiors of the public school buildings to
support public safety and emergency
response efforts.

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 4. Town of Winchester, MA Public Schools –
Redistricting Services
Contact: Sam Rippin, Former Winchester Public Schools Director of
Finance
781-721-7004

In 2004, AppGeo supported the Town of Winchester in

planning for an expected increase in school enrollment
through the use of GIS analysis and integration with the
school’s enrollment database. AppGeo worked closely and
collaboratively with the school board and school redistricting
sub-committee to build and test scenarios including the
potential to move the central office, grouping of similar grades
in the same school, adding capacity and some schools and
building a new school. AppGeo supported on-site collaborative
analysis and meetings as well as conducting analysis at our
offices in Boston. AppGeo also generated reports and
presentation maps to support the analysis and final
recommendations.

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 5. Approach
In a professional services engagement, ​AppGeo seeks to clarify
roles and responsibilities, establish clear communication
paths, and align project expectations and methods​. To meet
these needs and serve the Billerica Public Schools most
effectively and efficiently, AppGeo recommends the project
commence with a project kick-off meeting. Ms. Hickey and Ms.
Sankalia would both be present to meet with key BPS staff and
discuss project expectations, coordination, constraints and
schedule.

AppGeo will work closely and collaboratively with BPS staff on an

ongoing basis to define specific objectives, tasks and deliverables.
Throughout the project, AppGeo’s project manager will
review the objectives and task requests in order to clarify
assumptions and outputs, and to ensure the assignment of
appropriate staff resources​. AppGeo’s Project Manager will
provide supervision and quality assurance on all staff work, ensure
the assignment of adequate and appropriate resources for each
task, and coordinate the overall relationship, ensuring the
achievement of the District’s goals.

The range of skills anticipated to fulfill the specific objectives,

tasks and deliverables include some or all of the following:
● Desktop geospatial analysis, iterative data editing
● System and or tabular data integration (e.g. integration of
school enrollment data into geospatial environment)
● Scenario building, testing, analysis and reporting
● Geocoding and georeferencing of school enrollment data
● Cartographic design and high quality map production
● Reporting, documentation, charting and graphing
● Training, presentations and meeting facilitation
● Parcel-based analysis
Because of AppGeo’s proximity (Boston-based), AppGeo can
conveniently provide staff to work onsite at short notice and low
cost, attend meetings in person, and provide other forms of onsite
support that may have short notice, or extended length.

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 6. Cost Proposals
AppGeo proposes to support the BPS in their school redistricting
effort with technical GIS services and analysis to meet the town’s
objectives.
As a local firm, AppGeo is available to provide on site support for
geospatial analysis and scenario building in “real-time” as well as
attending planning and public meetings. AppGeo proposes to
support the project and provide services on a “Time and Materials”
basis at the hourly rates listed in the table below. BPS staff will
define specific tasks, requests, and deliverables as needed
throughout the duration of the project. As part of this project the
AppGeo team will perform the following tasks:
Initial Key Tasks:
● A kickoff meeting with key BPS staff to get a clear
understanding of the issues they face
● Data acquisition from BPS – this includes any student
enrollment data which would include address
information
● Geocoding of student addresses to allow visualization
of the BPS student population
● Geocoding of census data to use as potential
projections
● A brainstorming meeting with BPS staff to identify
potential “components”
● ​“Component” creation and scenario creation

Additional Optional Tasks:

● Integration of other geospatial reference data (districts,
major roads, physical barriers, bus routes, etc.)
● Calculation of walking routes and distances
● Support at public meetings
● Presentations to the Advisory Committee, Elementary
Principals, School Committee and other stakeholders
● Collaborative working sessions with the “working
group” to evaluate scenarios
● Documentation of processes
● Digital and hard-copy map design
● Other tasks as needed

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 AppGeo proposes a “Not to Exceed” budget of $35,000 to
perform these tasks​. Hours will be billed monthly according to
the rates below. If additional support tasks are identified that
exceed this budget, then additional funding authorization will be
requested. If the Town wishes to proceed with an initial limited
scope focused on data mapping and analysis without public
meeting engagement, a reduced fee could be offered.

Rate Category Hourly Rate

Principal in Charge $200

Project Manager $125

Analyst $80

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