Board leans to two H.S.

Jun 6, 2010 — The Arizona Daily Sun

Hillary Davis

Jun. 2, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- A plan to have three grades 7-12 secondary schools in Flagstaff Unified School District has at least one strong advocate on the school board.

But a majority of the board appears to be leaning in the opposite direction toward two 9-12 high schools and two 6-8 middle schools.

FUSD board member Beth Heerding appealed to her fellow policymakers on Tuesday to consider the plan that would preserve all of the current secondary schools instead of closing any, as district administrators have recommended.

But board member Sara Aleman said that while the 7-12 configuration has merit, it's not viable -- FUSD's enrollment loss will only continue, forcing closure discussions again in the near future. With the school closure process being "gut-wrenching," to ask faculty and families to submit to that again would be "unconscionable," she said.

Chris Bavasi said 7-12 models have merit, but so do grades 6-8 middle schools, which are also part of the district's plan. And he said he hasn't heard support for the 7-12 concept from people representing Flagstaff middle or highs, or Mount Elden or Coconino.

Bavasi said the board needs to make its decision based on what is best for students' education. He said that even if families leave and don't come back, at least the board made the right decision.

"I don't think any of us should feel held hostage by this notion that, 'Gee, I'm going to take my kid out of here if you make a decision I don't agree with,'" he said.

Paul Kulpinski said FUSD should hone in on things it can do well so families will choose the traditional public district instead of charter, private or home schools -- and perhaps even stem the enrollment losses that have picked away at the district for the past several years.

"We're trying to be all things to all people and I think that's now a process of habit at this point, because back in the day when the district school system was the only choice, we had to be all things to all people," he said. "We don't have to be that way anymore. This town has educational choice."

The board is being officially non-committal until it votes on the closure issue on June 8, but Heerding's appeal during Tuesday's discussion session was an earnest suggestion in the 11th hour.

The 7-12 plan is favored by a group of families largely representing Sinagua, the only school in the district currently running as a 7-12 and also the only high school specifically recommended by administration for closure. Their argument shows their plan being more cost-effective in addition to being more educationally sound.

District leaders, meanwhile, want the board to approve the closure of two elementary schools, one middle school, and Sinagua High. That move, in the face of dwindling enrollment and budgetary concerns, would consolidate the secondary schools for more breadth and depth of student programs and restructure the district to have 10 K-5 elementary schools, two 6-8 middle schools and two 9-12 high schools.

Heerding said that when the district considered school closures last year, parent input pointed toward "the middle school problem." Whether it was true or not, she said, the idea that middle schools were too big was rooted in place.

At the end of last year's discussion, the board voted not to close any schools but to open Sinagua Middle, thinning out the halls at Flagstaff and Mount Elden middles and making clear feeder patterns and sister schools to the district's three high schools.

Heerding said the often-cited physical structure of Sinagua lending itself to the separation of age groups is more about smart scheduling than walls and halls, and the Sinagua community has not expressed strong feelings about Sinagua having fewer course offerings than its larger counterparts.

Herself a Sinagua parent, Heerding said she knows first-hand that the move drew families that had left FUSD back into the district to enjoy a smaller neighborhood school -- both of the Sinagua schools are the smallest of the secondary schools, with about 400 students in the middle school and about 900 students in the high school, and that's how families like it, she said.

District records show that students who live in Sinagua High's boundaries are more likely than Flagstaff or Coconino students to take advantage of open enrollment laws that let them choose another high school outside of their neighborhood. But Heerding said students could still be driven away by the district dropping Sinagua High.

"I think that the number of students who could potentially leave our district for outside choices, should we decide that their smaller school is no longer an option, I think, is going to make those numbers that are choosing one of the two other schools insignificant," Heerding said.

Aleman said that even if some parents are not so concerned with the current inequities in academic opportunities for more accelerated students -- a key point that educators have brought up -- the district should still fairly provide them system-wide.

"By not allowing them to have access to those classes, we are short-changing our students," she said.

LAST DAY TODAY

Today is the last day of school in FUSD.

At least, for grades K-11. The high schools promoted more than 800 students on Friday, which was the original date administrators set last year for graduation. However, a severe winter forced several snow days, so even though high school graduation was left untouched, everybody else had to return to school for two more days.

The next school year begins on Aug. 23. (Killip Elementary, which is on a modified year-round calendar, starts on Aug. 2.)

Newstex ID: KRTB-0065-45792343