Boundary changes upset parents in north Merced

The Merced City School District Board of Education this week approved new boundaries for elementary school students in the city, a decision that irked parents whose children will be bused miles away from home while passing much closer campuses.

Parents say the decision made Tuesday by the board defies logic, and argue that it goes against the district’s plan for neighborhood schools. Some parents also said the boundary map ultimately chosen by the board was significantly different than the six previous versions considered.

School leaders said the changes are best for the bulk of the students in the district, and adding any shift in boundaries will upset parents somewhere in the city. Board member Jessica Kazakos cast the only vote against the boundaries.

Much of the dismay expressed by parents this week circled around changes in north Merced, where boundaries saw the most significant changes that will move some students from Peterson and Chenoweth schools in the north to Ada Givens in east Merced.

Jessica Paskin, 31, of Merced said she and her husband bought a home in north Merced a year ago because they wanted their children to go to Peterson or Chenoweth. According to the map, her soon-to-be kindergartner will be bused to Ada Givens, and she has another child two years away from starting school.

“We’re actually one of the neighborhoods the farthest north,” she said. “And based on the new school boundary map, they’re going to be sending us 7 miles from our house – past three schools – to go to Ada Givens.”

Board members decided last year 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 in the fall, compounding the need for boundary changes.

Another parent living in north Merced, Annette Haugen, said her fourth-grade son has been at Chenoweth for three years. She said she previously sent him to private school but moved him to Chenoweth after being impressed during a school tour.

In the past three years, she said, she’s put her own time and money into the school through volunteering and other efforts. “It’s just disappointing that the school we’ve given our investment in is no longer our school,” the 39-year-old said.

The district has said the majority of the 10,800 students in the district won’t have to change schools in the fall, when the new boundaries go into effect, but that hasn’t been much consolation to the families whose children will change schools.

Board member Gene Stamm noted that state law requires kindergarten through third-grade classes to have a cap of 24 students, so each campus has constraints on enrollment. He said the district is working to even out enrollment citywide while allowing for future growth.

“What we did, we thought, was best for the entire school district,” he said.

Adam Cox, who is on the board, said the new boundaries will keep children living just north of Bear Creek from having to cross the bridge on foot on the way to Ada Givens. The students instead are in the Chenoweth boundary.

“If one of the principles we’re working on is walkable schools, I think the map we chose is the best option,” he said.

Many students on the northern end of town are already bused to their schools because they live too far to walk to any campus, he said.

The district is growing in a “lopsided” direction to the north, Cox said, adding that it highlights poor planning in the city. He said developers in Merced are building and not approaching the school board to work hand in hand.

There are no elementary schools north of Yosemite Avenue.

Greg Spicer, associate superintendent of administrative services for the district, said the board approved the map with a few modifications in the areas of Muir, Fremont and Burbank schools. He said it remains unclear how many students will change schools under the new boundary map because the map has not been finalized.

He said the district is looking at a plan that would take some students who would be moved and grandfather them into the schools they’re already attending, but that’s contingent on the age of the child and how much space is at the campus. He also said parents who are not happy with the schools to which their children will be moved can attempt to get a transfer by applying for it.

Board President Darrell Cherf said the campus on which students are educated won’t determine their success in Merced. Successful students have parents who are involved in their education, he said. “There are parents at every school in this district that love their school,” he said. “And those are the parents that are involved.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Boundary changes upset parents in north Merced."