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Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | 12:01 a.m.
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Sun archives
The Clark County School Board approved a zoning change Tuesday night that will move 250 children from Madeira Canyon and Anthem Highlands from Coronado High School to Liberty High in the fall.
But the board turned down options that would have allowed some students to stay at Coronado if it would not change the number of teachers needed.
Parents who attended the meeting to talk about the zone changes were unhappy after the votes.
"'I'm totally disappointed, and my house will be up for sale tomorrow," said parent Cynthia Proudfit, whose home was rezoned to Liberty. "My son will not go to Liberty. We will take a loss on our house."
Meanwhile, parents in the Roma Hills neighborhood, off Horizon Ridge Parkway, said they have been waiting for years to get their children moved from Foothill, which is eight miles from their homes, to Coronado, which is three miles away.
"I'm not happy about it," said Laura Moxley, who spoke in support of the option that would have allowed parents in Roma Hills to choose Coronado or Foothill. "For years, we have been fighting for this. We thought it was a win-win for everyone."
During the 2 1/2-hour meeting, the School Board voted on zoning changes that would have affected 17 schools across the Clark County School District.
It debated at length the idea of offering parents the eight options that would have allowed current freshmen and sophomores to choose between the new school and the old. Juniors are allowed to remain at their schools for their senior year.
Board Member Carolyn Edwards said the extent of the options amounted to changing the School District's policy on open enrollment without debating the policy as a whole.
Board Member Sheila Moulton said she did not want to provide the choices to some high school students without offering them to all -- a sentiment echoed by several board members.
"What's fair for one part of town is fair for the other town," she said, noting that open enrollment was being tried in the Northeast Region this year.
Ultimately, it came down to the cost of mailing notices of the options to the 30,000 students who would be affected.
After several board members asked about the effect of the $115,000 cost, Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said that, even though that is a small amount in a $2 billion budget, the district is trying to cut $120 million to $150 million from its budget.
"The cost would be at the expense of something else," he said.
Board Member Deanna Wright, who represents Coronado, argued for the options.
"As the district wanted to offer open enrollment, I thought this would be a baby step in that direction," she told her colleagues, adding she would not favor the Coronado zone change without the option for students to choose.
The board voted 4-2 for the Coronado zone change, with Wright and Moulton opposing the motion and Board Member Chris Garvey absent, and 6-1 against the options, with Board Member Linda Young supporting them.
After the meeting ended, Wright said she hoped to bring the options back before the board with clearer figures about the cost. She said she thought the numbers presented to the board did not reflect the true cost to the district.
Steve Menard, an Anthem parent who had organized some of the opposition to the zone change, sent an e-mail out to other parents thanking them for their efforts.
"Let's embrace our new high school Liberty and pray that no child or busload of children gets into an accident on the way home from school," he wrote.
Jean Reid Norman can be reached at 990-2658 or jean.norman@hbcpub.com.
At the conclusion of the Board meeting, Terri Janison, President of the Board, held a ceremony proclaiming high school sports are dead and none of the transferred students can participate on teams, clubs or honor societies....."it is the policy of CCSD to disenfranchise as many of our youth as possible"!
The highlight of the ceremony was having a school bus back up and run over a freshman who was left behind.
Why not just give the state and local appropriations to the parents and allow them to decide which school is best for their child rather than zoning laws?
Reading this article, one would assume that the families affected by this zoning change were sending their students to a struggling, subpar institution rife with discipline problems and low levels of academic success. However, these families are now zoned to attend Liberty High School, and as such I am baffled by their concerns, shocked by their allegations, and appalled by the amount of unfounded slander being thrown in the direction of Liberty.
As an educator of eleven years, I have seen the sort of school these parents seem concerned about. Liberty High School is about as far from that type of school as is possible. Upset by moving from their previously-zoned schools, each good in their own right, these parents appear to be directing their anger at the mythical "bad school" they perceive as the alternative. Anyone who would make such statements has obviously never set foot in Liberty High School.
The real Liberty High School is a high academically-achieving school with little to no discipline problems. Over the years, I have worked in a variety of academic settings. I can say without a moment of doubt that Liberty is the most functional and collegial working environment I have yet experienced, there is a paramount emphasis on academic rigor, and the school is safe to a fault. I have not witnessed one major disciplinary incident in my time here, and minor incidents are virtually unheard of. The focus at Liberty is on producing well-rounded, academically- and culturally-literate citizens.
Liberty features all of the advanced curricular offerings of other schools and offers a loaded slate of extra-curricular opportunities. Our Classical Scholars program offers additional opportunities for academic excellence not offered elsewhere. Simply stated, Liberty is the safest and most academically successful school I have had the privilege to be a part of. Our students and their families, our learning environment, and our faculty are all second-to-none.
Rather than seeing our school as the academic oasis it is, many outsiders seem to have formulated their own ridiculous charicature of what Liberty has to offer and why it remains underpopulated while other schools continue to burst at the seams. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our principal was once fond of saying that Liberty was the best-kept secret in the school district. It is time that our accomplishments, stellar learning environment, high levels of student achievement, and impeccable disciplinary record stop being a secret. It is time to bring to light what truly goes on in our halls, and for unfounded rumor, speculation, and slander to stop. It is time for our new Liberty families to meet the real Liberty High School. We welcome them with open arms. After spending some time in our school, I do not doubt they will see us for who we really are, and no one will be disappointed. The facts speak for themselves.
In response to Patrick R. Gibbons. I think that all schools will eventually move to a voucher system, but that has not yet been implemented. In any case, there are physical plant limitations for all schools. A school can only hold so many students. Presently, the district provides portable classrooms at overcrowded schools and leaves classrooms unused at undercrowded schools. These portables are NOT FREE! They cost money to rent and to heat and cool. If one or more schools were oversubscribed without the use of these expensive portables, I would be amenable to completely open choice. As the schools are now, these extra costs mean that other programs must be cut. Get rid of the portables before starting completely open enrollment.
Chris Garvey was absent. Why? I can tell you that her employer told her that her job cleaning teeth is more important than sitting on the school board. This lady needs to be committed to our students than she is to cleaning teeth. If she can't make the meetings then she should do the honorable thing -- resign and allow someone who will commit to education and our students.
Chris Garvey was absent because she knew the fix was in. As to dbfisher, the problem with reading this tripe from the Sun is that they are in the back pocket of Trustee Edwards, and as such, their info is faulty, misconstrued or flat out wrong. Garvey gave the 5-2 vote on the Madeira Canyon move. And the number of kids was 160 for next year with a possible 200 kids going to Liberty from our area in 2010/2011, not 250. How does that accomplish the stated Board goals of relieving overcrowded Coronado, or putting more students into Liberty? CHS still plans to open 500 students over capacity; while even with our move, Liberty opens 500 students under. Mission accomplished, Trustees!
We parents at Madeira Canyon never impugned Liberty, just wanted to know why our kids are being sent to a school, 12.5 miles away, away from our neighborhood; when there are 320 students living 1.5 miles from the Liberty zone that could have basically stayed in their own neighborhood and been rezoned to Liberty.
We were told the reason that it was our 160 students, and only us, to be rezoned this year,(in order to take care of an attendance imbalance of over 1200 students - can you say "math challenged")from no less a source than Trustee Edwards. She said,"because we should have been rezoned last year". Wrap your PhD around that answer!
When this board has to resort to the underhanded dealings exhibited in this travesty, just to take 160 kids that live at the southern most tip of Anthem, 12.5 miles away; it begs the question "What's wrong with Liberty?"
In response to gibdawson, I certainly understand your concerns. I will be the last person to say that the particulars of this (or any) zoning decision make sense. It's hard to discern all of the motivation behind this specific move (and I wouldn't even want to begin to try...such a nightmare). My only point was that despite how this maneuvering looks, our school should not take the unwarranted abuse evident in this article and elsewhere that it has. Our educational and social product is top-notch. We don't deserve the slander others have been perpetuating.
The bottom line here is that we will continue to do our best for those students who come to us, whoever they may be. If the question "What's wrong with Liberty?" comes to mind (as perhaps it should, given the givens), we only ask that families like yours see for yourself before judging. You are addressing the matter in a perfectly rational manner. Others, including some of those quoted in the article, do not appear to be doing so.
As the lone AZAC member who voted against the zone change, I obviously agree that it is not a good move. However, I have to say that all the other possibilites were even worse, and I had little hope of any zone change really giving Liberty what it needed. The problem is that Liberty was built for Inspirada, and Inspirada hasn't happened.
That's why I was thrilled when staff responded in a positive way to the option idea, that would invite any student living in the Coronado zone to choose to attend Liberty and take advantage of the unique opportunities Liberty can provide. Giving students the chance to choose those excellent academic, athletic, leadership, music, and other opportunities seemed like a far better way to utilize the seats at Liberty than forcing a distant geographic area to go whether they wanted to or not.
I was both sad and angry that staff couldn't get the options idea completely ready in time for Tuesday night's school board meeting. It got pushed so close that come meeting time, they didn't even have the cost estimate broken down by line item. I felt sure that the school board could have found a way to make the idea work if staff had come better prepared with something more clear than just a lump sum.
Now my hopes are up again that Liberty will be welcoming students next year who actually chose to be there. I heard yesterday that staff kept working on it, and did break down the cost estimate, and found a way to cut it down to a few cents per student.
If they put it back on next Thursday's school board agenda, and if it passes, then anyone zoned to Coronado will have the chance to choose Liberty. And, the students who choose the opportunities at Liberty will be opening up a chance for some, or maybe all, of the current Coronado students who got rezoned, those who don't see Liberty as a great opportunity, to stay.
I read here in this article that Trustee Wright wants to bring it back. I'm watching the school board website with bated breath to see if the high school options show up on next Thursday's agenda.
Here's a question for Erin. Now that you've selected our neighborhood, and we are, at best, a "good start", who's the next neighborhood on the list to relieve CHS and bolster LHS, student population?
I don't think future home buyers, with HS aged children, will flock to our community, so that they can enjoy the 12+ mile drive to be active in their students endeavors, but I could be wrong. Madeira is a nice place. So, my question remains, where will you find the next batch of students to move?
I realize that this is one of the questions that no one in the CCSD organization, would answer. Perhaps this is an opportunity for you to respond to us parents. I eagerly await your reply.
You know, the real question isn't what's wrong with Liberty. The real question is what's wrong with Silverado? There are 500 students that live 1 to 3+ miles from Silverado; that are zoned to Coronado. Their area has been considered for rezone multiple times over the past 5 years, but they remain getting on the bus for Coronado.
When the Anthem Highlands/ Madeira Canyon kids fail to provide the necessary relief for CHS and LHS; who's neighborhood do you think AZAC will come to call? Anthem Country Club? Maybe Roma Hills? Maybe Boulder City? Of course, I'm using logic, which has been a foreign concept in this entire affair. So, what do I know?
I agree with many of the comments above. Let's get some rationality into the redistricting. Then more people would come on board. We all agree that overcrowding and underuse of our already constructed brick and mortar is not a desirable outcome. Get the right boundaries to bring all schools into optimum usage. We cannot guess when development will or will not occur (e.g. Inspirada), but we can adapt to the actual situation. Let's get rid of the expensive portable classrooms and move boundaries with rationality.
In response to Gib Dawson's question, I think some creativity needs to go into the unique situation at Liberty rather than trying to do more zone changes. I'm really quite hopeful about the option.
Erin, why do you, or anyone from AZAC or the Board, refuse to answer why those students north of St. Rose and the 215; who live closer to Silverado, are zoned to Coronado?
Is this the "unique situation" for which you need creativity?
What's unique about the Liberty/Coronado situation? Portables at Coronado means overcrowded. Empty classrooms at Liberty means underused. Move some boundaries somewhere to stop the waste. Those portables are not FREE!!! Let's use the money saved to provide programs for our kids! In case someone does not get it, in this economy the school district will not be rolling in money for a while. Save where we can save.
Go with open enrollment and when all the available seats are taken then close enrollment and parents will have to look elsewhere - it seems simple enough. Get there early to sign your kid up - if not then you will be one of the ones looking elsewhere.
I have a great idea:
Why not bus all the Madeira kids to Eldorado HS or Rancho HS and let them get some social sciencing along with a high school education? That way they won't be in culture shock when they attend UNLV or UNR.
In response to azsk8fan. Not everybody could take off from work to camp out for a spot at the school like getting in line for Rolling Stones tickets. Your system would favor those who could camp out for a spot. These are public schools. Draw the lines that make the most sense. If schools were better balanced in numbers, there would be less problems obtaining legitimate zone variances. Go anywhere in the country and you will not see these kinds of imbalance. In Ohio, if you did not like the public school in your district, your options were to move or put your kid in a private school. This AZAC stuff is hard for me to understand. Nobody should get special treatment for public schools.
This school board enjoys making non-decisions. In the end -- Coronado will still be over-crowded and Liberty will be under-utilized. These Grandmas are afraid to make decisions. Why? It's an easy one to state -- EVERY single one of these Grandmas wants to be on the city or county council. They need good reports from their constituents to make that happen. They deliberately do NOT want to step on anyone's toes, so they take the path of least resistance. So again, we have a group of soccer moms who are looking to their futures and not looking at the zoning issues. So let's do the one thing they will understand --- start those recall initiatives right now. That will get them kicked off the board and forever out of the public venue to seek jobs on the city or county councils.