Publication Date: Friday, October 14, 2005
Attendance boundary committee formed
Attendance boundary committee formed
(October 14, 2005) District's examination of school capacities has people on edge of seats
by Alexandria Rocha
A study of the district's attendance boundaries and severely unbalanced school capacities was approved earlier this week by the Palo Alto school board.
However, creating a 46-member citizens' committee to aid the study has already created tension. Some board members want the board involved in convening the committee and others said the group should stay out of it.
Changes, if any, to the district's attendance areas would not happen until the 2007-2008 school year, but because reviews -- such as the one approved Tuesday night -- have traditionally led to school closures, board and community members are on the edge.
"Every person that comes up to me is saying this is a can of worms," said board member Camille Townsend.
Superintendent Mary Frances Callan is proceeding cautiously. To make sure the community has plenty of opportunities to share opinions and address concerns, the review has been slated for a full year and she is not opposed to extending the process if necessary.
The unanimously approved plan is to convene a committee of 45 community members, including one parent and an alternate from each school; two high school students; three principals; one former board member; one person each from the teachers' and classified employees' unions; one person from the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education; one member of the Palo Alto Community Child Care; and someone from the Palo Alto Council of PTAs.
Each school's PTA will nominate its site's two representatives. This worried Townsend, who said the nominees may not ethnically represent the district or include too many women. If that's the case, Townsend inquired whether the board should step in to fiddle with the nominations.
"I don't want to micro-manage the process. I would really hate to see this board get into that," said board member Cathy Kroymann.
Townsend shook her head. "It's not micro-managing. I respect your opinion, but I believe it strongly needs to be representative," she added.
The board decided to stick with the plan and address the problem of misrepresentation on the committee -- if it happens -- by inviting members of various community groups, such as the high schools' lesbian/gay clubs and black student unions, to give presentations about how attendance boundary shifts would affect them at the citywide open forums to be scheduled.
Board member Gail Price said every effort should be made to involve parents of children in the Voluntary Transfer Program, a court-ordered initiative that allows a certain number of students from East Palo Alto to attend schools here each year.
In terms of too many women on the committee, Callan said the meetings and open forums will be held at night so men who work can participate.
Once Callan officially appoints the committee in November, members will be in charge of reviewing a plethora of data throughout the next year. One of the most major areas the committee will analyze will be school capacities.
A report in 2000 set the ideal student populations for each school based on facilities and programs, however, because some of the sites are inching near or already exceeding the targets, officials decided to give them a second look.
The desired population range for elementary schools was set at 300 to 450, middle schools at 600 to 900, and for the high schools, a cap of 1,800.
This year, Gunn and Palo Alto high schools' enrollments are at 1,743 and 1,709, respectively. Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School is at 876 and Jordan Middle School is at 882. At the primary level, Duveneck, Escondido, and Walter Hays elementary schools have gone above 450 students. Barron Park and Juana Briones elementary schools are below 300.
There is more to school capacity than space. It's the number of computers in the library, lockers in the gym, among other elements. The committee will review such areas, as well as traffic safety, play and field space, and diversity.
While most of the situation is up in the air, one thing has already been decided, said Callan: If changes are made, current students will be allowed to stay at their current sites and their incoming younger siblings will be able to start school at that site.
The committee will meet for the first time in January.
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