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By Serena Scaglione
February 23, 2012 (El Cajon)--More than 150 parents, students and members of East County communities attended last week’s special board meeting at West Hills High School to stand for or against the Board’s decision last November to change the district’s boundaries.
Despite numerous pleas to the Board to rescind the boundary changes, the Board voted four to one to keep the new boundaries in place, with trustee Priscilla Schreiber casting the only "no" vote.
Offering an olive branch to parents, the Board also opted for an open enrollment policy that would allow incoming freshmen in transitional neighborhoods an option to apply in March to attend high school in either the old or new drawn boundaries for the 2012-2013 school year.
Superintendent Ralf Swenson said in his report that among current students within the redrawn boundaries, 40 percent already attend the new school and open enrollment would just speed up what’s already happening. He also addressed in his report that this plan would have “no sunset,” and would remain an option for students entering high school in the years to come.
Open enrollment for the 2012-2013 school year is not automatic, however. Parents wishing to send their children to a high school outside of the new boundaries must notify GUHSD of intent to transfer March 7 through March 20. If the district approves the transfer, parents will present the letter of acceptance to the high school they wish to send their child. Letters from the district explaining the transfer process are to be sent home to parents no later than today. A list of important dates and deadlines can be viewed in this flyer from GUHSD.
“This was a victory for the parents of East County tonight,” board member Jim Kelly said.
But some parents disagree.
“If the goal was to enhance education by equalizing the districts, the Board did not accomplish that,” Greg Kerrebrock, a parent who led a petition drive to overturn the boundary changes, told ECM. He believes the district took steps to placate parents of Middle School parents while neglecting parents of younger elementary school children who may not yet realize their children can no longer count on attending high school in their neighborhoods. Kerrebrock says the boundary changes “rip apart the fabric of communities” by dividing neighborhoods such as Fletcher Hills.
Other complaints include increased travel times and shifting students from schools with high academic performance to lower academic performance.
Several hundred students would shift from Grossmont and Helix districts into Monte Vista in Spring Valley under the plan, while around 300 would move from Fletcher Hills to West hills in Santee. Another 300 to 400 students from Cajon Valley, a lower socioeconomic neighborhood, would be moved to Grossmont.
At Grossmont, the district’s oldest school, some teachers have organized efforts to look into converting Grossmont to a charter school. Blossom Valley residents upset over the district first opting not to build a new Alpine high school and subsequently shifting Blossom Valley from Granite Hills into the El Capitan District are now fomenting a move to make Granite Hills a charter too.
That would mean a loss of average daily attendance (ADA) fees for the district—something the district can ill afford. Just today, a press release issued by the California Education Department revealed that the GUHSD received only a qualified certification and is considered at risk of failing to meet its financial obligations.
Seeking to recover ADA fees lost to existing charter schools Helix and Steel Canyon, the district has recently taken steps to eliminate the charter schools from its notification materials to parents. “Now when you get your attendance options as a ninth garder it doesn’t list the charter schools,” Kerrebrock said. “That’s why Steel Canyon has a billboard up off Highway 94. It says `Steel Canyon—your school, your choice.”
Some parents also fear that if not enough families opt to send their students to schools as planned under the redrawn boundaries, those in transition areas may find the shifts mandated in the future.
Along with proposing the open enrollment policy, last week’s special board meeting was held in response to parents who were upset with the district for poorly communicating the boundary changes that are now in affect. In a GUHSD news release, the district says this will not be a problem during the new process: “The District will proactively communicate this option to all affected students and families by providing information in their child’s enrollment materials.”
Kerrebrock believes the ultimate solution may lie in the hands of voters—if viable candidates emerge to challenge board members who voted for the boundary changes.
Expressing astonishment at how the board conducted the boundary change decisions, Kerrebrock concluded, “I’m used to the business world—and all these guys would have been fired.”
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