Merced City School District faces decision on boundary changes

Decisions loom this month for the Merced City School District Board of Education on where school attendance boundary changes must be made for next fall.

Board members decided during 2014 to switch sixth-graders from middle schools to elementary schools to ease overcrowding at the middle schools. An elementary school is being added to Rivera Middle School in north Merced next fall, compounding the need for boundary changes.

An informational meeting will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Tenaya Middle School, 760 W. Eighth St. Information sessions were held last month at Merced’s other middle schools. The board will hold a study session on the subject Jan. 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Greg Spicer, the district’s associate superintendent for administrative services, said the majority of the district’s 10,800 students won’t have to move. Attendance rolls likely won’t change much at Franklin, Gracey, Muir, Reyes, Sheehy, Stowell and Wright elementary schools, he added.

Changes are more likely at Burbank, Chenoweth, Fremont, Givens and Peterson elementary schools. About 8,800 kindergartners through sixth-graders are projected for the 2014-2015 school year.

Board member Darrell Cherf said it’s important to have everyone’s input on potential boundary changes. He said lots of information has been given on impacts already, and he has attended all the forums.

“I will take it all into account,” Cherf said. “I think we will be fine. We want to make sure we make wise boundary changes for the future. The key part is getting the parents involved. People will be happy with a lot of the decisions and they will be happy with the school they end up at.”

Board member Adam Cox called boundary changes a necessary evil and that the board’s goal is to minimize any disruptions.

Board member Gene Stamm doesn’t want to see students have to cross the McKee Road bridge over Bear Creek. There are no walkways across the county-owned bridge or sidewalks on some nearby streets.

“We have to look at all this. There is no perfect solution to it,” Stamm said. “Now, nobody crosses Bear Creek. We are trying to even out our schools, but it will never be perfectly even. Eight hundred students is far too many for a school to handle.”

Stamm said board members have been studying four attendance boundary revisions and one or two more alternative maps will be released. The board is being asked to make its boundary decisions before Jan. 27.

Spicer said most current attendance boundary maps have students attending the nearest school within walking distance. About 100 parents and staff members have attended each of the previous information sessions. Information on boundary meetings also has been disseminated over the district’s automated telephone system.

This story was originally published January 4, 2015 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Merced City School District faces decision on boundary changes."