EV task force urges no change in boundaries

The East Valley School District will not consider any change in attendance boundaries in the near future. A Facility Use Task Force report presented to the board this week recommended largely keeping the status quo.

The report did recommend a reduction on overload busing, said business manager Skip Berquam. “We bus lots of kids in this district, sometimes past one school to get to another,” he said.

The task force recommended a “last in, first out” policy in regard to busing, Berquam said. “Most people felt the last people who register should be moved out first,” he said. That could mean that someone who lives across the street from a school ends up getting bused, and Berquam said he expects affected parents to be upset with the policy.

The task force, which began meeting last fall, reviewed district enrollment by building, reviewed space available in each school and reviewed attendance boundaries. There was initially the perception that the task force would be considering closing a school due to declining enrollment, Berquam said. “That generated a fair amount of interest.”

Enrollment was higher than the district had anticipated and that idea soon fell by the wayside, he said. The decision was also made not to change any attendance boundaries. “These were just done by consensus,” he said.

The district is projecting continued growth in elementary enrollment, while middle school enrollment will likely dip during the 2008-09 school year and then begin a gradual increase. High school enrollment is expected to drop significantly over the next five years before beginning to increase, he said.

The task force included district staff and administrators, parents and other community members.