Davis school boundaries OK'd
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, January 17, 2007
By Lynze Wardle
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lwardle@standard.net
LAYTON -- Despite boos and jeers from a crowd of parents and students, the Davis School Board granted final, unanimous approval Tuesday to new high school boundaries.
District officials have been in the process of realigning the boundaries of all seven high schools since August, citing the need to accommodate population growth and to prepare for the opening of High School No. 8 in Syracuse.
Several changes were made Tuesday to the new boundaries, which were unveiled to the public and granted preliminary approval by the board Jan. 2. The alterations were small, however, and failed to appease many who attended Tuesday's meeting in the Layton High School auditorium.
Syracuse residents Ron and Cammie Snow said they were disappointed that boundary lines were not changed to prevent their city from being split between Clearfield High School and High School No. 8.
Ron Snow said he believes that someone without pre-existing ties to the district should have been hired to conduct the boundary study. The study was done by Darrell White, a former district superintendent and current Bountiful resident.
"This wasn't objective," Snow said. "They hired an insider."
Cammie Snow said she and dozens of other Syracuse residents have called board members, sent e-mails and held protests in front of the district headquarters in an attempt to make their feelings known.
"I wish they would have actually listened to us," she said.
District superintendent Bryan Bowles said the new boundaries were created with an eye to balancing the number of students at all high schools, creating socioeconomic equality, keeping students safe, and when possible, keeping communities and neighborhoods together.
Some improvement
Clinton resident Danielle Merritt met with district officials on several occasions to encourage them to create socio-economic balance between high schools. She said while the final boundaries have a better mix of low and high-income areas than early drafts, there is still room for improvement.
"I have mixed feelings," Merritt said. "They could have done better, but I'm pleased with how far it has come."
The four small boundary changes approved by the board Tuesday were seen as ways to keep neighborhoods at the same school.
The board changed a boundary line that would have split residents of Allison Way, a residential street in Syracuse, between High School No. 8 and Clearfield High. They also reconfigured a boundary line in the Cherry Lane area of Layton to follow a ridge that provides a more natural separation between neighborhoods. They approved a change that would keep a small cluster of Clearfield homes at Layton High School, and adjusted a boundary line in Kaysville so that two houses would not be the only ones in their neighborhood excluded from attending Davis High School.
Variances allowed
The board also changed a district policy to give variances to students who are slated to go to a different high school than the one being attended concurrently by an older sibling.
Board members have said it is essential for the board to finalize boundaries as quickly as possible so schools can plan for the 2007-08 school year.
Amid occasional shouts from the audience, district officials pleaded with the crowd to be respectful and realize how much work they put into the boundary realignment.
"I want you to know that (board members) have agonized over this," Bowles said, holding up a four-inch thick binder of e-mails he said they had read. "I don't want you to think it has been easy."
Several of the board members said they had to choose between pleasing their constituents and doing what was best for the district as a whole. Only one board member, Kathie Dalton, said she had major problems with the final boundaries.
Dalton said too many students were being taken from Layton High and sent to Northridge High School, which already had more students. She said Layton High's drama program and parental involvement would suffer from losing the students, but voted to approve the new boundaries.
"I'm still in disagreement," Dalton said. "I still think we shouldn't have to give that many kids to Northridge."
Unsafe travel?
The boundaries may be set, but some parents say they will push for changes in district policy.
Randy Smith is the spokesman for DavisParents.org, a group of Davis County residents who have opposed the new boundaries on the grounds that they believe some students will be forced to make longer, unsafe commutes to school.
In an e-mail Tuesday, Smith said organization members plan to seek legislative help to get more school choice within the district, and plan to bring attention to what they believe is the need for more fiscal accountability.
"Safety was our first concern," said North Farmington resident Sandy Hurst. "From there it has just snowballed."
Tuesday's decision comes after an failed attempt by the district to set new high school boundaries last fall.
A set of boundary revisions were created in October by a committee of parents, administrators and city representatives. Two open houses were held to take public comments on the changes. The recommendations were thrown out, however, after a group of Bountiful parents filed a lawsuit. The group claimed the committee violated the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act by holding closed meetings.
An injunction on the committee's recommendations was issued in November. Court hearings to determine whether the meetings were unlawfully closed will resume in March.
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