Monday's headlines

Parents question boundary proposals

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That gentleman, Tim Donna, also had questions about the elementary borders and overcrowded schools. He said his daughter was home sick and attributed it to her having classes in portable buildings.

“It seems to me you are looking at tomorrow, but you need to be looking at 10 years from now. This city is going to grow and may be bigger than Albuquerque,” Donna said. “It seems to me the City of Vision is looking at things through one eye.”

The primary point of contention on Monday was the part of the proposal that would take separate students from the Rivers Edge III subdivision and from students in the other two Rivers Edge sections. Rivers Edge III students would move from Enchanted Hills Elementary to the new Sandia Vista Elementary under the proposal.

“You’re going to move my daughter four times in three years,” parent Kim Mishos said. ”My daughter is very upset. I don’t understand.”

Boundary committee co-chairwoman Theresa Saiz said, “It’s the hardest job I’ve ever been assigned to do. It’s the hardest jobs (co-chair) Kim (Vesley) has had to do.

“We’re trying to do what is best for all kids. We don’t take this lightly. It breaks our hearts. We have plans for transition.”

Saez said the historically when boundary changes have been made, the district has been able to grandfather fourth-graders had been grandfathered into their existing locations. But potentially families could be split, with younger children going to schools in the new attendance zones while their older siblings stay in their existing locations.

Under the state’s Open Enrollment Act, parents can petition the district to go to a school outside of their boundary, but the family must provide their own transportation.

Barbara Bruce, principal at Rio Rancho Elementary, cautioned parents that petitioning to leave a child at a school means that they will be separated from most of their current classmates.

“Sometimes kids transition a lot easier than we do as adults,” Bruce said. “If you don’t feed into their fears about change and talk to them about the opportunities they’re going to have, they actually do very well.”
 
And Saiz pointed out that faculty and staff often shifts to a new school as well.

Superintendent Sue Cleveland said at least two more elementary schools are on the way on the northwest part of the city. Cleveland said the Mariposa development has donated 20 acres to the district for an elementary school and that she has scouted the Hawk Site area for land for another school.

“What will decide which one comes first, frankly, is infrastructure,” Cleveland said. “Where we can get the water and sewers” first is where the first school will likely be built.

While some parents were concerned about long-range planning, more were concerned what impact the proposed changes will have on their children now and in the next few years.

“I’m hearing that we want to keep and develop neighborhood schools,” said parent Mark Compton. “I think I speak for a lot of the people here when I say that we think of Rivers Edge as a community. And believe all of our students should stay at Enchanted Hills.”

Added parent Kellie Nicholson: “We are a stable neighborhood. My kids ride their bikes to go play with kids in Rivers Edge II. There is no crossing of major roads or arroyos to cross. And you’re dividing that up”

Seven members of the committee attended Monday’s forum. Information from both public input sessions will be presented to the boundary committee on today, at which time the 63-member committee is expected to formulate a final proposal for the school board to consider on Feb. 11.