Sunrise Elementary Boundaries FAQ

1. Sunrise Elementary Boundaries FAQ Public Meeting November 3, 2009

2. Didn’t the School Board plan for growth? Of course it did. When our enrollment started to go up in 2004, we begin to acquire school sites and had two excellent school sites in strategic locations available upon which to build. In addition, both Miller and Murphy were enlarged in 2006.

3. Why is the new school located where it is? In spring, 2008, after much Board discussion, as well as patron input, it was decided to place the new school where 200 children were within walking distance. The other location was on north Washington and virtually every student would have had to be transported by bus or car.

4. Why weren’t two schools built, one on each site. #1. Two schools would not have been a good use of tax dollars. Two schools would have left other elementary schools underutilized. #2. Much more planning needs to take place to decide where another elementary school should be located or if one is needed.

5. Some children attend Northridge and Murphy that are not within the boundary. What gives? Very few children have been allowed to transfer into those schools for several years. Out of district or out of boundary children who are there are siblings from open enrollment or a result of keeping a family together after a move within the district. The ability to request a transfer is very popular in our district.

6. Why were the current boundaries recommended to the School Bd? They were the most logical! We chose two areas, one in proximity to the school from Murphy and another in an area currently bused from Northridge. Plus, these were the areas discussed when the school site was chosen.

7. Why aren’t the families north of 43rd and east of 83 included? Again, the goal is to lower the enrollment of both Murphy and Northridge by 200 students. There are 200 Murphy students within a few blocks of the new school. If we included the area north of 43rd we would not lower the enrollment of Northridge.

8. Why don’t you review and revise all attendance boundaries? Because most attendance boundaries are appropriate and functioning nicely. From our point of view, little can be gained from reviewing the boundaries of every elementary school.

9. Will students with disabilities be grandfathered into their old schools? We will evaluate each on an individual basis. There will be a full range of services available at Sunrise also.

10. Is BLAST Available? There could be 170 openings for BLAST at Sunrise Elementary. **Parks & Rec has indicated it WILL grandfather into Sunrise those children who currently attend BLAST at Northridge and Murphy. They will retain their spots, and other spots will be opened up after that.

11. Middle School Under the current boundary recommendations, students who are north of 57th and west of 83 would attend Horizon. Those who are near Sunrise would attend Simle.

12. Busing Picking up students is what takes the time, not driving to the school. Driving to a school a mile or two further down the road only takes minutes. The district recommends rides of an hour or less. That is a common standard across the state.

13. Portables We will have to continue to use portables where necessary to manage enrollment shifts. However, in some cases other infrastructure, such as gyms, lunchrooms, and playgrounds cannot handle additional students.