School borders remain puzzle

Boundary plan a little more in focus as some options nixed

The Lawrence school board rejected ideas Tuesday for moving former Riverside School students to yet another school and moving Old West Lawrence students from Pinckney School to New York School.

The board met Tuesday night with the Boundary Committee to discuss moving elementary school boundaries and possibly building new elementary schools.

The board rejected an idea to move Deerfield School students who formerly attended the now-closed Riverside.

The idea aimed to relieve overcrowding in Deerfield by moving some students to Pinckney.

Board members said they did not want to make former Riverside students change schools again.

Deerfield parent Scott Fullerton said he was relieved by the board’s decision.

His third-grade son attended kindergarten and first grade at Riverside School until the school board closed the school in spring 2003 to save money and because the school was losing students.

“Certainly I didn’t want it to be a long, drawn-out thing hanging over our heads,” Fullerton said of the possible boundary change.

Fullerton said he and his wife had moved to their neighborhood so their children could attend Riverside School.

Moving former Riverside students out of Deerfield would be ridiculous and “nothing short of discrimination,” he said in a letter earlier in November to board members and district administrators.

The board and the Boundary Committee discussed six options Tuesday to relieve overcrowding at Deerfield and Hillcrest schools, to raise enrollment at New York and prepare for potential growth in the Prairie Park area.

Options included building new schools in northwest or west Lawrence and southeast Lawrence in years to come to prepare for children in new subdivisions.

text 6News video: School board members discuss boundary changestext District considers new schools in fast-growing neighborhoods (11-02-04)text Committee develops options to alter school boundaries (8-18-04)text District studies boundary changes (7-21-04)text Committee studies school overcrowding (4-24-04)text District to study overcrowding (10-22-03)text School closings leave classrooms crowded (6-7-03)

The school board nixed an option of moving Old West Lawrence students into New York, saying this would drop Pinckney’s enrollment too much unless former Riverside students now at Deerfield were moved to Pinckney.

New York School is the district’s smallest elementary, with more than 150 students.

Deerfield is the district’s largest, with more than 560 students.

The Boundary Committee’s Dec. 14 agenda includes trying to find other ways to bring more children to New York, said Tom Bracciano, operations and facility planning director for the district.

The Boundary Committee will report next to the school board in January.

Lawrence school board member Leonard Ortiz apologized Tuesday night for getting upset and walking out of a school board meeting in early November.At the beginning of a Tuesday meeting of school board and Boundary Committee members, he said he was “sorry for putting fellow board members in an awkward situation several weeks back.”His departure from the Nov. 8 board meeting came in protest of scheduling, saying a meeting had been planned around board member Sue Morgan’s availability, even though he couldn’t attend.”If you don’t feel like I’m needed tomorrow, then I don’t feel like I’m needed tonight,” Ortiz said before leaving.The Nov. 9 meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday.Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman said Ortiz’s apology was “very appropriate and heartfelt.””The reality is we’re all human beings, and sometimes we just have a bad day,” Weseman said Tuesday.