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Corona boundaries to remain unchanged

By Mark Moorehead

Longstanding concerns about the effect of overcrowding on high school attendance boundaries appear to have been resolved, but not without minor confusion.

To set the record straight:

• Contrary to some published reports, high school students living in Tempe between Warner and Elliot roads will not be attending Marcos de Niza High School in the 2002-2003 school year.

• High school-age children living south of Baseline Road and north of Elliot will continue to attend Marcos de Niza high school, not McClintock.

• Students living south of Elliot, west of Kyrene Road and north of Chandler Boulevard will continue to attend Mountain Pointe High School and not Corona del Sol.

At its latest meeting, the Tempe Union High School District Board approved a new proposal that affects only the boundaries of three of the six area high schools. 

Under the revised proposal, the Corona, Marcos and McClintock boundaries remain unchanged.

Parents living in the Tempe Lakes area with children currently attending Marcos de Niza were elated with the board’s decision.

“I’m very pleased. I’ve lived in The Lakes for 22 years,” said parent Loraine McLean. “I realized the Desert Vista population issue was going to cause an impact around the entire district. And when I went to the board to point out the impact on our community which would take us away from Marcos de Niza, which was built in response to the Lakes development, they responded positively to my concerns.”

Lakes parent Lisa Puckett was likewise pleased.

“The original proposal by the school board would have had my children going from Fees Middle School to McClintock instead of Marcos de Niza, which is less than a mile from where we live.”

Outgoing Board Member Dick Foreman, also a south Tempe resident, admitted signing a petition circulated by McLean calling for approval of the revised boundary changes.  When Board Member Robert Miller introduced a motion to table the vote for several more weeks, Foreman pleaded against any further delay in the vote, citing more than a year of debate on the issue.      

Miller said he made the motion because of a lack of feedback from parents living in the area between 40th and 48th streets and between Southern and Baseline roads. 

Miller suggested the board make a more aggressive effort to solicit additional input from parents of children directly affected by the board’s decision. 

High school students living in this area are currently attending Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee.

Under the revised proposal most high school age children in this area will now attend Tempe High School. 

Miller argued that the revised boundary change would increase the overall percentage of minorities at Tempe High to 67.7 percent from 61.6 by 2005, and that such a change could generate a civil rights complaint from a parent.

Tempe and Desert Vista high schools are the only two schools where enrollment will change significantly as a result of the boundary changes.  

Tempe High has a current enrollment of 1,622, which will now increase to 2,127, or by about 500 additional students.

On the other hand, Desert Vista will experience a decrease to 2,292 from 2,737 by the 2002 school year. 

Corona del Sol boundaries remain unchanged and so does its current enrollment of 2,757, which represents the highest high school population in the Tempe Union School District.

That also is the reason it will remain the only school in the district without open enrollment, according to district officials.

 However, based on current demographic data, the actual enrollment level at Corona will decrease each year beginning in 2003 from its current level of 2,757 to 2,471 by 2005. 

This decrease of 286 students should provide Corona with a little breathing space in the near future, officials say.

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