Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Parents Worry That New School Will Cause Unwanted Transfers : Education: Stevenson Ranch campus will force the Newhall district to redraw many attendance boundaries. A final decision isn’t expected until January.

A new elementary school will force the Newhall School District to redraw many of its attendance boundaries, leaving some parents worried their children will be forced to attend less desirable schools.

Stevenson Ranch Elementary School is scheduled to open in the fall of 1995 with an enrollment of about 500 students, said district Supt. J. Michael McGrath. The school is the first in the large Stevenson Ranch housing development just west of Santa Clarita.

About 275 students live in the development, so the remaining students will be bused in from some of the district’s six other schools, McGrath said.

Proposed boundaries probably will not be established until November, with a final decision expected in January, McGrath said.

But Suzanne Shapiro, a Valencia parent, said she is concerned that her son might be transferred from Meadows Elementary School, one of two in the district recognized as a nationally distinguished school during the 1993-94 school year.

Shapiro is a member of Parents for Neighborhood Schools, a group formed by parents at the end of the school year when they learned about the restructuring plans. Some parents have indicated they bought homes near Meadows because of its good reputation.

“The bottom line is we don’t want our kids to move,” Shapiro said. “I didn’t buy a house for another area. I choose this area for our children.”

Most of the group’s members are Meadows Elementary parents, but that is because they were the first to find out about the district’s plans, said Stephen Nathanson, another parent.

“Even if it doesn’t affect me, it’s the precedent here,” he said. “If we allow them to implement busing (of students to other schools), it’s just the first step in doing other things.”

McGrath said Meadows parents are among those with the least to worry about. He said most transfers will come from Wiley Canyon and Old Orchard elementary schools, both closer to the Stevenson Ranch school.

Several guidelines will be followed, such as minimizing the number of children bused to school to hold down transportation costs, McGrath said.

“My guess would be that of the children already being bused to schools, we will find a population that will fit into the Stevenson Ranch school,” he said.

The district is required by law to enroll an ethnic balance of students at each school, he added. In addition, district officials will probably try to minimize future boundary changes by anticipating some of the area’s growth.

“They might move more kids now than would be absolutely necessary in order to provide longer-term stability, so we would have to do it less often,” he said.

The other substantial impact on students and their parents could come from adjusting year-round school schedules implemented to ease overcrowding at Wiley Canyon and Valencia Valley elementary schools, McGrath said.

He said the district is likely to consider reverting to a traditional schedule at those schools if redrawing the boundaries eases the crowding.

But, McGrath said, he does not favor that action. “If we go off the year-round schedule, we’ll have to go back on again when we’re overcrowded (in the future),” he said.

District officials will seek input from parents at six meetings between Sept. 19 and Oct. 11. The meetings, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., will include a 20-minute presentation about why the boundaries are being changed.

Meetings are scheduled Sept. 19 at Meadows Elementary School, 25577 Fedala Road; Sept. 21 at Newhall Elementary School, 24607 Walnut St.; Sept. 22 at Wiley Canyon Elementary School, 24240 La Glorita Circle; Sept. 28 at Valencia Valley Elementary School, 23601 Carrizo Drive; Oct. 3 at Old Orchard Elementary School, 25141 Avenida Rondel, and Oct. 11 at Peachland Elementary School, 24800 Peachland Ave.