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Thursday, March 12, 2009 | 11:20 p.m.
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- High school zoning options back on the table (3-10-2009)
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Sun archives
Coronado High School freshmen and sophomores who have been rezoned to Liberty High but want to stay put may have that choice in the fall.
The Clark County School Board voted 6-0 with member Larry Mason absent to approve an option that invites all Coronado students to attend Liberty in the fall. If seats are freed up at Coronado by that option, those seats may be filled by students who live in Madeira Canyon and Anthem Highlands, which were rezoned to Liberty.
The School District rezoned the students to ease crowding at Coronado, which is 17 percent over capacity, and fill seats at Liberty, which is 29 percent under.
John Karachepone, who lives in Anthem Highlands, said he would be applying for one of those freed-up seats for his 10th-grader.
“I want my child to stay in Coronado,” he said. “There should not be conditions.”
Meanwhile, the Roma Hills neighborhood, on the eastern border of the Coronado zone, will continue to be zoned for Foothill. An option that would have allowed students there to go to Coronado, three miles away, was denied. Foothill is eight miles from the neighborhood.
“We will take matters into our own hands and make the best decision for our children,” said Roma Hills resident Jeff Moxley, whose child attends Coronado on a variance. His wife, Laura, said they would apply for another variance for next year.
School Board members unanimously approved six sets of options that will allow freshmen and sophomores who were rezoned to existing high schools a chance at staying at their current schools.
In addition to Coronado, that option will be open to students at Palo Verde High being rezoned to Bonanza, students at Rancho and Chaparral High being rezoned to Desert Pines and students at Las Vegas and Desert Pines High being rezoned to Eldorado.
In all cases, the options will be allowed only if seats are available and if the students provide their own transportation.
If more students seek the option than the school can accommodate, a lottery will be held, as it is for magnet school seats. The idea did not sit well with Karachepone.
“I hope it doesn’t have to go to a lottery,” he said. “That my child’s education would be subject to a lottery is beyond me.”
The School Board members debated the options at length after hearing an hour of testimony from parents. Several said they were uncomfortable with forcing Madeira Canyon and Anthem Highlands students to move to Liberty, but then allowing Roma Hills students to move into Coronado.
Under the option the board declined, Coronado students who live north of Interstate 215 would have been allowed to go to Green Valley High, where their peers from Greenspun Junior High School go. Any seats freed up by those students would have been given to Roma Hills students to transfer from Foothill to Coronado, where their Bob Miller Middle School friends attend.
“There is no way I can support moving students out of Coronado and offering seats to other students not in Madeira Canyon,” member Carolyn Edwards said.
Zoning director Sharon Dattoli said her department will propose to the Attendance Zoning Advisory Commission next year a plan to rezone Roma Hills and the area north of Interstate 215.
Moxley said she did not hold out any hope that Roma Hills would be rezoned for Coronado.
“I think again you’re going to have the same controversy,” she said, noting the neighborhood has been trying to be rezoned for almost 10 years. “The process hasn’t worked in the past for us.”
Board members also debated whether they were inadvertently changing policy or setting precedent.
“If the board wants open enrollment, it should make a decision to that effect and direct staff to come back with a comprehensive plan,” Edwards said. “This feels like an open enrollment plan.”
But other members noted that it was a one-time offering for this year’s freshmen and sophomores.
The board originally denied all of the options March 3, after they learned that notifying the families involved could cost $115,000. The item was brought back to the board after staff members redesigned the letter to take advantage of bulk mail savings and brought the cost down to $12,000.
Families will have until April 3 to return a post card choosing an appropriate option if they wish. They will learn whether their children will be able to remain at the existing schools by May 4.
Jean Reid Norman can be reached at 990-2658 or jean.norman@hbcpub.com.
Just who exactly lives in the Legacy/ Fountains area that can hold hostage to any meaningful zone change, for SE District High Schools? A blind man can see what the problem is, you have to move that block of students back into their closest neighborhood schools (and it's not Coronado!) Is there one person in the CCSD Hierarchy that will speak the truth? Even anonymously? Who is it??? Who could it possibly be, that would have these Trustees (who profess to have the students best interest at heart) sell their souls, sacrifice their integrity, and go to such illogical measures to insure this area isn't touched?
CCSD Trustees are only loyal to themselves. They want to be re-elected, so they basically "decide not to decide." These Soccer Moms need to be re-called, and be replaced with individuals who understand education, students, and teachers. Unfortunately the folks who "lost" in last year's election were the ones who could have made those decisions. They understood that lines need to be drawn and students need to be moved -- for their own good. The only solution now is to recall ALL the Soccer Moms, and replace them with Educators.
The only solution is to break up the colossal failure called CCSD. This monopoly has no accountability and is mismanaged. But even with good management it is the 5th largest school district in America and compares it's performance to other failing districts such as NYC, LA, Chicago and Houston.
Break up the monopoly and then each new, still large, school district would have to perform relative to the peer set in Clark County, Maricopa County and Salt Lake County! Look at Mesa's school district; less spending per student, better graduation rates and testing scores! And yes, Mesa had it's growth spurt, demographics including spanish speakers and is still one of the top 100 largest school districts at 1/4th the size of CCSD!!!!
It's a crime to be paying for these portables when there is available capacity. It's like the bankers taking the bailout money and going on private-jet taxpayer-financed junkets. Where is the financial controller of CCSD when the budget is being put together. They cut one football game from the schedules but cannot muster the spine to re-zone and save some serious change. I'd get it if these board members would get there constituents to pony up the costs for the portables, but that is a fat chance. Soccer moms, we want money spent on students, not portable classrooms when there is available capacity.