3rd Change in 2 Months : Newhall Shifting Students--Again

With the first day of classes two weeks away, Newhall School District officials are racing to draw new school boundaries to balance growing enrollments of elementary pupils.

A frustrated Newhall Board of Education ordered district officials to prepare the new boundaries Monday night after parents and Superintendent J. Michael McGrath presented enrollment figures showing that an earlier boundary plan would severely crowd the new Valencia Valley Elementary School, scheduled to open when classes begin Sept. 6.

It was the third time in two months that trustees voted to realign school boundaries. “We just keep changing boundaries every two weeks,” Trustee Pat Willett said with exasperation.

At issue are about 100 children in the Summit, a new development roughly bordered by the Golden State Freeway on the west, Valencia Boulevard on the north and McBean Parkway on the east and south. In May, the board approved new boundaries to prepare for the opening of Valencia Valley, the district’s sixth school.

If the May boundaries had been maintained, children from the Summit development would have been sent to Valencia Valley. But in July, district trustees said new enrollment projections showed that half the children from the development had to be bused to Old Orchard Elementary School in central Newhall to avoid crowding at Valencia Valley. Last year, all the Summit children attended Old Orchard.

Parents Win Point

Outraged Summit parents, saying they want the area’s children to attend the same school, persuaded the trustees Aug. 8 to restore the May boundaries and to limit Valencia Valley’s enrollment to 800 students. The decision, in turn, outraged parents in four homeowner associations in housing tracts close to the new school.

The four homeowner groups said it made little sense to crowd Valencia Valley while Old Orchard, about 130 students under capacity, has room to accept more children. Mary Ellen Spaniel, speaking for the groups, said a survey by parents showed that Valencia Valley would enroll 840 students in September if the July boundaries were observed.

On Monday night, McGrath offered his own bad news about Valencia Valley. As of last Friday, he said, 799 students were set to enroll at the school, which is equipped to hold 770.

“I cannot put 800 kids in that school,” McGrath told the board. “You’re going to have to take some kids out of that school to open it.”

The trustees reluctantly voted 4 to 0 to change the boundaries again to keep Valley Valencia’s enrollment at 770. The exact boundaries must still be drawn, but most or all of the children from the Summit development probably will be sent to Old Orchard, trustees said.

Assistant Supt. Anne Hazlett said Tuesday that district officials will try to inform parents of the new boundaries as soon as possible.

The debate over school boundaries has left many parents bitter. At Monday’s board meeting, parents from the Summit and ones from the four homeowner groups accused each other of being selfish. Some remarks were met with boos and hisses.

Said Candace Fleece, a Summit resident: “This whole situation is unfortunate. . . . I’m sorry that this has put neighborhoods at odds.”