Declining enrollment means Mesa's 13 junior high schools have space for 3,600 students who aren't there.
With that many empty seats, Mesa Unified School District leadership plans to present options -- which will likely include closing schools -- to the governing board in two weeks.
Mesa's enrollment topped 72,000 students only a few years ago. This year, the district had planned on an additional decline, but instead saw enrollment stay steady for the first time in several years. The district has about 64,200 students this year.
But with the previous loss of students and the move of ninth-graders to the district's high schools, there are only about 9,400 students occupying space built for 13,100 students in the brick-and-mortar buildings on junior high campuses, said Bobette Sylvester, the district's assistant superintendent for business and support services.
District leaders are looking at everything from classroom space available, energy efficiency of buildings, age of the buildings, recent renovations, and programs at the different campuses in preparing the recommendations, Sylvester said. That includes the need for space for computers, special education services and one-on-one academic programs.
"These are gut-wrenching decisions, not only by the governing board, but for the community," said board member Mike Hughes. "We've gone through this before, but this is a very big step. There is no doubt we're going to face some school closures. It's not if we'll do it, but when we'll do it and who it will be. This is a reality Mesa has to look at. How we go about this is going to be incredibly important."
The governing board could accept the recommendations or make others during a meeting as early as Sept. 27. Under state law, should the governing board decide to move forward with closing a school, the public must be notified at least 10 days prior to a first hearing. A second hearing is also required by state law, with at least 10 days between the two meetings.
With the enrollment and budget issues the district has seen the past few years, the district started looking at school use in 2009, with a decision made in January 2010 to close Powell Junior High School and turn it into an education center. Alma Elementary School was converted into a Franklin school, a popular back-to-basics option. The district also closed other facilities and moved programs around to open space.
Michelle Reese, East Valley Tribune
Leon Ceniceros posted at 6:08 am on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
The Mesa Unified School District Board should make ever school = "back to basics". A good time to "weed" out the teachers who are more interested in being La Raza activists, Ecology activists, Anti-American activists and employ only those teachers who are there to teach the subject at hand...not the overthrow of the American Government.
k33j88 posted at 8:32 am on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
Keep fighting the "good fight" Leon. This site is full of liberal-bent activists who want nothing less than total federal control of all aspects of our lives. They are socialists/statists who desire to subvert the CONSTITUTION and the Federalist Papers on which it was founded. Remember: Liberalism is a mental disorder. Long live the Tea Party.
Jubilee posted at 9:45 am on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
Say bye-bye to Kino. Mesa Jr. will be next after that.
gonetothedogs posted at 9:58 am on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
ATTENTIONS SHOPPERS!!! Anyone that knows how to run a city, could you please step to the front of the bus, We appreciate your help.
lerxst posted at 11:15 am on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
People who have a different political view than you suffer from a mental disorder? Wow. Spoken like a true child of Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky. Personally, I find the outcry about socialism today particularly amusing. That ship sailed in the 1930s and its going to take a lot cleverer people than loony tunes like Bachmann, Palin, and Paul (and this is coming from someone who voted Paul for President TWICE, mind you), to steer a course towards truly free markets and free minds from the corporatist state we've built today.
Where were you "Tea Partyers" when Reagan, in collusion with Congress, expanded the welfare/warfare state to unprecedented size and scope? When the first Bush raised taxes despite his pledge not to do so? When the second Bush got us into quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan and expanded Medicare more than any other president since Johnson? Suddenly Obama is the antichrist, and if you look at the cold hard facts, his policies are basically continuations of Reagan and the two Bush presidencies. The really sad fact is the closest thing we've had to a fiscal conservative in the White House since Eisenhower is Bill freakin' Clinton.
mesateacher posted at 1:37 pm on Wed, Sep 14, 2011.
Well Leon, you're right and you're wrong. There isn't some commie/socialist agenda or anti-American stuff going on in Mesa. Just not much learning either. You're right - we need to get back to drill-and-practice, the basics, stop the feel-good curriculum and raise our academic standards. Mesa' s grads are woefully unprepared for work or college. It's not the teachers -- it's the dummy curriculum and lack of leadership, and the lazy, non-caring parents and their offspring...
gr8dad posted at 1:39 pm on Fri, Sep 16, 2011.
Lets put the blame where it really goes ...OUR FEDERAL GOVT... dont mistake it!! They swooped it and shot down OUR SB 1070 . Why are so many kids missing from our schools...Pearces stance on immigration and the E verify program. Mesa Jr High ...no no no im sorry Mex Jr High.... and down the road some obscure elem school where EVERYDAY at final bell ,you can go witness it yourself, a CARAVAN of strollers, and along side at least three ANCHOR babies!!! Go count for yourself.... Im quite happy schools are closing , sad for the teachers , but WE know where THEY are going.... OUT OF AZ
gr8dad posted at 1:42 pm on Fri, Sep 16, 2011.
Geez people ....................illegals are SUCKING our resources dry