Flagstaff Unified School District set to vote on school closure

Jun 13, 2010 — The Arizona Daily Sun

Hillary Davis

Jun. 8, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Tonight is the climactic night in the school closure saga for the Flagstaff Unified School District governing board and thousands of parents, teachers and students.

The meeting to vote on closure plans starts at 5:30 p.m. at Coconino High School's auditorium, the district's single largest room.

Any closures approved tonight are meant to go into effect this fall. Proposed configuration plans have evolved all school year, but two slates have bubbled to the top: District administration's plan: Also known as the 10-2-2 plan, this closes two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school, and shifts to a K-5/6-8 structure for the younger students.

Elementary school impacts:

--Close two elementary schools (South Beaver; Thomas or Christensen). Drop to 10 K-5 elementary schools.

--Move sixth-graders to middle school.

--Redraw boundaries to balance schools at 95 percent capacity.

Middle school impacts:

--Close one middle school (either Mount Elden or Flagstaff). Drop to two 6-8 middle schools. Sixth-graders would be self-contained and not on a multi-period day.

--Maintain Sinagua Middle School in the Sinagua building.

--Specialized academies possible.

--Enrollment: 1,100 per school (80-90 percent capacity)

High school impacts:

--Close one high school, Sinagua. Drop to two 9-12 high schools.

--Enrollment: 1,650 per school (95 percent capacity) Overall, this closes three buildings, though internal repurposing is possible, and saves $1.27 million (in core teachers, administration, utilities and custodial) according to district calculations.

The plan has been endorsed by FUSD principals and the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. District-touted benefits include balanced enrollment, building and facility efficiency, and academic "economies of scale" (more breadth and depth in advanced placement, remedial and elective courses due to higher enrollments; potentially makes extra-curriculars richer and deeper as well.) The "7-12 plan": Also known as the 10-3 plan, this plan has gotten traction with families largely representing Sinagua High School. It still closes two elementary schools, but maintains all middle and high schools with the 7-12 structure that was put into place a year ago at Sinagua.

Elementary impacts:

--Close two elementary schools (unnamed, but did not advocate for any schools not on FUSD's short list). Drop to 10 K-6 elementary schools.

--Redraw boundaries to balance schools at about 100-104 percent capacity.

Middle/high school impacts: -- Keep all three high schools, and all three middle schools, open.

--Close Flagstaff and Mount Elden middle buildings, put those students into Flagstaff and Coconino high school buildings. This creates three 7-12 secondary schools.

--Average capacity: 93 percent, although enrollment would not be equal across the schools.

Overall, this closes four buildings, and saves $1.6 million (also in core teachers, administration, utilities and custodial) according to group leaders.

The plan has been endorsed by an active group of parents and students, and school board member Beth Heerding has urged her fellow board members to give it a serious look.

In general, the group says this is the better choice educationally for children. The group has given many social-cultural benefits: one less "transition trauma" for students, families are invested in their school for six years, school identities stay intact, and fewer feeder patterns/boundaries are disturbed. But they also predict that this plan would result in less enrollment loss from families dissatisfied with the district's plan and provide academic opportunities for advanced middle schoolers. It also saves more money in building operations.

School closure talks began in earnest around November, after local voters rejected an FUSD budget override (which they eventually approved in March). The board was initially set to vote on the closure matter in mid-March, right before spring break. But lawyer-parent Pernell McGuire, who is also active in the 7-12 group and has children at Sinagua, convinced the district to reset its closure timeline after noticing a legal flaw in the notifications of possible closure sent out in January. The timeline was reset to comply with state laws on the school closure process but pushed the vote past the last day of school, which was last week.

Recently, another attorney has entered the conversation. Parents and students at South Beaver have retained local lawyer Tony Gonzales, who has raised concerns about potential discrimination that could result from the closure of the predominantly Hispanic, low-income magnet school. He has not ruled out filing an injunction or lawsuit if the board votes to close the school.

Public comment is invited at tonight's meeting.

If the board votes to close schools, it will promptly begin discussions on the redrawing of boundaries. Meetings would begin on Wednesday, and the vote would be finalized on June 16.

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