25 years ago: Parents upset about Quail Run boundaries

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 8, 1988:

Several west Lawrence residents were angry over the proposed elementary school boundaries presented to the school board a month ago. Some residents had believed that their close proximity to the new Quail Run School would automatically put them within its boundaries. However, under the proposed plan, the 40 children who lived in the Alvamar area would continue to attend Hillcrest School. The primary complaint from the families, according to board members Mary Lou Wright and Mary Loveland, was that their children would not be able to walk or ride their bikes to school. However, according to Ms. Wright, the closest of the homes was 1.4 miles away from the new school’s location on St. Andrews Drive. Since the district was using bus transportation for any elementary child living more than a mile from school, the children in the Alvamar neighborhood would have been bused even if they went to Quail Run. Supt. Dan Neuenswander said this week that many factors went into the boundary proposal, including the need to balance the racial and socioeconomic levels at Quail Run by including children from other areas of the city. Also, he said, administrators were anticipating a sharp growth in the west Lawrence area, so the new school was opening with only about 275 students, far below its capacity for 525.