Parents Push District to Keep Pupils With Peers in Boundary Debate

The Fountain Valley School District's Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday night to postpone a decision on new school boundaries until a special meeting Jan. 31.

The primary reason for delaying Thursday night's scheduled vote was the introduction of a fourth boundary configuration proposal submitted Thursday afternoon by board member Jimmy Templin. The main difference between the fourth option and the other three is that the area served by Courreges Elementary School would remain intact, with all Courreges students feeding to Fulton Middle School rather than being divided between Fulton and Talbert.

The fourth option reflected the concerns of the majority of parents attending Thursday night's meeting as it became apparent that what Moiola was to the school closure debate, Courreges is to the debate over new school boundaries.

"Looking at option four, it allows our kids to stay with their peer group, which is important," Courreges parent Mitch Sigal said, who was also in favor of options 2 and 3 for the same reason. "These are emotionally trying times for our kids. We don't want to see anyone have to move, but we have to do what's best with all the numbers. It's all feasible."

Several other parents echoed Segal's sentiments at the meeting, emphasizing the importance of keeping kids together as they move from one level of education to the next. One parent reminded the board that kids advancing from Courreges to Talbert would have to deal with heading to middle school without their friends, only to have to head to high school back in Fountain Valley while many of their peers at Talbert would go to high school at Huntington Beach High or Edison.

Local real estate agent Joel Spencer provided the board with some economic perspective, predicting a ripple effect that would have the potential to adversely affect property values in the Courreges neighborhood should its children be divided among two middle schools.

Before the public's comments, Assistant Superintendent Steve McMahon presented all four boundary options and outlined the overall goals the district hopes to achieve in the process. Those goals included keeping neighborhoods together as well as maintaining the district's overall enrollment, balancing the enrollments of the district's three middle schools and making sure there was still space for students wishing to transfer in from outside the district.

McMahon also presented enrollment estimates for the four boundary options, each of which had the potential for at least one campus to be slightly over-enrolled. But McMahon stressed that the numbers were estimates, and that the district's policy of open choice would affect the final numbers, as would enrollment from outside the district, which represents about 13 percent of the district's students and is a key source of revenue.

"If we didn't have those kids, we'd be closing another school, maybe two," Board President Ian Collins said. "I think people need to hear that."

McMahon also outlined the tentative timeline for transition once a final decision is made on the new boundary lines. Notification of the new boundaries would be sent to parents in February, followed by an open choice period in March during which parents would be allowed to visit schools in the district and decide if they want to request a transfer. Final assignments would be made in April, with staff reassigments following during May and movement of staff and school materials during the summer.