School boundaries in Merced a popular topic at town hall

A controversy over new boundaries in the Merced City School District spilled over into the Merced City Council town hall-style meeting in north Merced on Tuesday.

A new boundary map that will send north Merced children on a bus to Ada Givens Elementary in east Merced next year drew ire from parents last week, and spurred discussion at the town hall at Rivera Middle School on Tuesday. Parents said they bought homes on the north side of town expecting to send their children to nearby schools – and did not plan on having their children bused out of their neighborhoods.

Some members of the school board, which approved the new boundaries, said over the years the City Council has not planned its residential development well in relation to schools.

One Merced parent at the town hall, Birdi Olivarez-Kidwell, told the council it needs to work hand-in-hand with the district in the future. She said her children will not be affected by the new boundary change, but she was sympathetic to parents whose children will.

“Excellence in education should be a pillar in this city’s growth,” she said.

Councilman Michael Belluomini, who has worked as a facilities director in another local school district, said there are mandatory lines of communication between the city and school districts. He said the city’s general plan requires that officials from the city and the districts talk.

“It only guarantees communication,” he said. “It doesn’t guarantee money.”

The state limits how much a developer can be required to pay into school districts for school development, he said.

Ken Testa, the director of facilities for the district, was also at the meeting. He said the district is working on plans for growth to the north. He said he believes the city and the district are “doing their best. If we team up, we can do more.”

The addition of an elementary school campus at Rivera Middle School should help the district better balance the number of students at each school. “We are trying to catch up, so to speak,” he said.

The district has land at the corner of Paulson and Dunn roads, much farther north than any other campus, but it would likely be years away from getting the state funding needed to move forward on that campus.

Mayor Stan Thurston said he would not expect the city to approve large residential developments for an estimated 20 to 25 years. The city has about 2,500 lots ready to go that do not have homes on them, he said, where infill projects could build.

He said he does expect the city to draw projects for student housing and apartment complexes sooner. UC Merced, which has about 6,300 students, is expected to hit 10,000 by 2020.

The meeting also touched on other topics, like residents’ concerns with feral cats, street safety and the city’s homeless population.

One resident said he wants the city to look into adding a lighted crosswalk to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, while another said he’d like speed bumps on 18th Street near Yosemite High School.

Members of the audience also expressed concerns with the number of homeless people who spend a large amount of time near Main and K streets. The answer to that problem seems elusive, Thurston said.

“Believe me, it’s a daily effort to try to do something,” he said.

This story was originally published February 3, 2015 at 9:36 PM with the headline "School boundaries in Merced a popular topic at town hall."