By Diana Whittle
After an absence of several months, members of the Kyrene School Boundary Change Task Force have resumed meeting to continue their evaluation of enrollment trends and boundaries affecting the 25 schools in the district. Over the recent fiscal year, task force participants considered boundary changes on the east side of Interstate 10 in Tempe and Chandler. Now, the group plans to review schools on the west side of I-10, including those in the south Tempe and west Chandler area, said Jeremy Calles, chief financial officer for the district, who is leading the staff’s efforts on the project. One school that is under consideration for a boundary change is Kyrene de las Manitas, 1201 W. Courtney Lane. “Manitas is the only Kyrene school that has students on both sides of a major freeway,” said Calles. “Recent multi-family and single-family developments, within the Manitas boundary, have opened up the opportunity to reassess the Manitas boundary. “The committee will continue to look at Manitas and bring forward a recommendation after all possibilities have been analyzed.” Any changes that are made will improve the district’s limited resources, such as facilities and transportation, and should yield a greater sense of community, according to Calles. “We hope to utilize our school facilities more efficiently by balancing enrollment among schools and also to have students at each elementary school only feed into one middle school,” said Calles. Another school of specific concern is Kyrene de los Niños, which currently offers the dual language program as one of its academic options. Due to the popularity of the program, however, Niños is at enrollment capacity, so the program could be moved to Kyrene del Norte in the upcoming school year. A move to Norte for the dual language program would offer an expanded drop-off and pick-up area and resolve some of the traffic flow challenges at Niños, officials said. There also would be the possibility of adding classroom space in the future at Norte. “Creating a ‘super boundary’ for students at Norte and Niños is being considered by the Kyrene Boundary committee members for implementation in 2016-17,” said Calles. “At that time, families living in the area would be able to decide which of the two programs or schools they want their incoming kindergartener to attend. A super boundary is when a district combines the borders for multiple schools and offers transportation to both schools. It is the opposite concept of a magnet school, explained Calles. “At a magnet school, a program is so popular that a district knows they can fill the school without providing transportation, so the school has no boundary.” Calles says that the dual language program is popular enough to be a magnet school. “But, the benefit is so great that we want more Kyrene families to be able to take advantage of it. “ The super boundary will allow us to fill up the majority of the seats with Kyrene families, prior to offering the open seats to out-of-district families who may drive their students to the school,” said Calles.” School administrators feel the proposed change to Norte from Niños warrant creating a planning committee, which will begin to meet soon. This committee will include Norte and Niños teachers and parents, who district officials feel can provide multiple perspectives on the best way to transition the Norte students to Niños and the dual language program to Norte. Discussions will include transportation of students to school, timing of the transition, planning for staffing, special education plan, and the super boundary that would incorporate both schools. An online link is available to submit questions and feedback about the proposed change. Listed under Norte/Niños transition on the district’s home page, click on the link Provide Feedback and you will be taken to a brief, three-question survey. In addition, an open public forum is planned for 6 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in the library at Norte, 1331 E. Redfield Road, Tempe.
The Kyrene Boundary Task Force meetings are open to the public without an RSVP. Members of the Kyrene community are encouraged to attend and to participate in the boundary review process. The meetings are on Mondays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and are scheduled for the following dates: April 6, April 27 and May 18. All meetings take place at the district’s offices, 8700 S. Kyrene Road, Tempe.
