Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Objections Expected in School Boundaries Shift : Education: Stevenson Ranch Elementary opening will pull 500 students from existing campuses. Parents argue for neighborhood choices.

Parents angry about shifting elementary school boundaries will get a chance to voice their views in a series of six public Newhall School District meetings beginning Monday.

The boundaries are shifting because of the Stevenson Ranch Elementary School now under construction and scheduled to open for the 1995-96 school year.

About 500 students will be transferred from the district’s six existing schools to the new school, located just west of the Santa Clarita city limits, Supt. J. Michael McGrath said.

Many parents have objected to redrawing the boundaries, saying they moved to certain areas within the Santa Clarita Valley because they wanted their children to attend a specific school.

McGrath said proposed boundaries--based on such considerations as minimizing transportation costs by busing as few students as possible and keeping an ethnic balance of students at each school--won’t be drawn until November or December.

“The next step after we have done these input meetings will be to put together some scenarios, and those will go to the (district) board,” he said. “We will then take those back out for public input.”

Approval of the final boundaries is expected in January or February, McGrath said.

The 1 1/2-hour meetings will each include a 20-minute presentation about why the boundaries are being changed.

The first meeting, scheduled Monday at 7 p.m. at Meadows Elementary School in Valencia, could be the most controversial.

The group Parents for Neighborhood Schools was formed by parents with students at the school, one of two in the district recognized as nationally distinguished during the 1993-94 school year. Parents there have told board members they don’t want their children attending less desirable schools.

McGrath has stated that those parents have the least to worry about because most of the students who will go to Stevenson Ranch live closer to the new school than those going to Meadows. But he said he does not know if boundaries might be redrawn so that students from faraway schools, including Meadows, are included to balance out the transfers.

Other meetings are scheduled Wednesday at Newhall Elementary School, Thursday at Wiley Canyon Elementary School, Sept. 28 at Valencia Valley Elementary School, Oct. 3 at Old Orchard Elementary School, and Oct. 11 at Peachland Elementary School.