Boundary move miffs Stetson Hills parents
by Jim Crawford

About 100 concerned parents attended a meeting at Stetson Hills Elementary School on Jan. 9 to voice their concerns over new boundary proposals aimed at reducing the student population of the school.

The Deer Valley Unified School Division proposal would most directly affect students living in the Adobe Highlands subdivision.

Under consideration is a measure to have all kindergarten through sixth‑grade students from Adobe Highlands attend Desert Sage Elementary School. Seventh‑ and eighth‑grade students from the subdivision would attend Hillcrest Middle School beginning with the 2007‑08 school year.

DVUSD Director of Fiscal Services Jim Migliorino outlined the reasons behind the proposed changes before opening the floor to questions and comments from the audience.

“The reason for the changes is to reduce the enrollment at Stetson Hills,” Migliorino said. “Currently there are 1107 students enrolled. The capacity is 950, which we’ve far exceeded. If we move the Adobe Highlands students the enrollment would drop to 978 putting Stetson Hills closer to its recommended capacity.”

The proposed changes make sense if enrollment is taken into consideration, Migliorino said. Stetson Hills stands almost 200 hundred students above capacity while Desert Sage has 200 fewer students less than capacity.

“We looked at using the virtual classrooms as opposed to the portables now being used,” Migliorino explained. “It would cost the district about $145,000 to get the modular classrooms up to code. This is not cost‑effective.”

Modular classrooms are units made up of four classrooms, each about the size of a conventional room, that can be moved on campus.

The measure passed by the Arizona legislature allowing full‑day kindergarten also created some concerns. Full‑day kindergarten cannot be accommodated at Stetson Hills with the current overcrowding, Migliorino said.

“Somebody’s got to go,” he said. “We’re trying to do this and stay within the core values which are keeping families, neighborhoods and communities together and providing easy access to schools. Adobe Highlands is closer to Desert Sage than Stetson Hills.”

Core values struck a nerve with some members of the audience.

“Why now?” was a question from one audience member .

“The school has been overcrowded for years.”

Migliorino answered that the new kindergarten provision is partly the reason for the changes.

“Many of the parents have dedicated their time, energy and money to Stetson Hills to make it what it is today,” one parent said to enthusiastic applause.

“Leaving things the way they  are is not an option,” Migliorino said. “We are in violation of  the fire code. There are just too many kids in the overcrowd‑ed classrooms.”

One visibly upset mother said she planned to enroll her children in private school rather than move them.

“The district is giving up on parents who work hard to improve things in the schools,” she said.

A parent from near 63rd Ave. and Jomax Road in the Pyramid Heights area asked why she and her neighbors were having to defend themselves.

“We’re just putting one neighborhood against another when we all need to be working together to come up with a solution.”

The meeting was a means of discussing possible solutions to address parents’ concerns.

“We submitted our proposal to the board as presented in the meeting,” Migliorino explained.

“And we presented an alternative proposal from the people living in the Adobe Heights area. They suggested half‑day kindergarten at Stetson Hills and cancelling the variances for kids going to school from other areas. The children of staff could still attend Stetson Hills, but the other students would have to return to their home schools.”

The DVUSD proposal would call for a total of 38 teachers, down from 43, and the parents’ proposal would require 39 teachers.

“We’ve rarely done a boundary change that’s been popular,” Migliorino noted. “When we open a new school, parents tend to react differently than if there is a boundary change. They don’t want to have to change schools, meet a new principal and staff. They’re comfortable in their present environment. We’ve found that over time, in most cases, it becomes more palatable.”