Judge David Bury has rejected a scheme by TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez to add a 6th grade at Fruchthendler Elementary School, which is currently a K-5 school, and to add 7th and 8th grades at Sabino High School. Michael Hicks was the only Board member to reject the scheme when it was brought to the Board for approval on February 10, 2015.
Because students continue to flee the District, Sanchez had hoped “to keep TUSD students from leaving the District for out-of-district schools and to attract out-of-district students to TUSD schools. TUSD hopes to increase its Average Daily Membership revenue,” according to the Court documents.
According to sources, Sanchez had told Fruchthendler parents that the change was “in the bag.”
Hicks said it’s time for the District to “start working on improving all schools instead of shifting our students around. I didn’t believe that it was in the best interests of our junior high students to put them in a high school setting. We need to protect our students and let them be children. We can’t push them simply because our schools are not up to the highest standards. We have to begin bringing all of our schools up to the highest possible standards. Our kids deserve nothing less.”
Order highlights:
As explained by TUSD, a “high percentage” of Anglo students in and around Fruchthendler Elementary School and Sabino High School often leave TUSD to attend out of district middle schools rather than attend Magee Middle School, which the Court notes is a “C” level performing school.
The District intends to create an attractive “Fruchthendler-Sabino Honors Pipe-line,” which will keep students at Fruchthendler Elementary School, an A school, through the 6th grade and then funnel them to the 7th and 8th grades at Sabino so they remain there through high school. (Fruchthendler-Sabino Honors Pipeline” parent-letter and survey
announcement).
Admittedly, this pipeline will draw Anglo students away from Magee, but both TUSD and the United States submit the drawdown of Anglo students will not have a negative affect on USP desegregation efforts because an adequate number of Anglo students will remain at Magee for it to meet the definition of an integrated school.
Plaintiffs accuse the District of “gerrymandering” grade levels and feeder patterns at two high-performing “A” schools with high percentage Anglo-enrollments to allow students to bypass a lower-performing middle school with a higher percentage of minority students.
Plaintiffs and the Special Master complain that TUSD fast-tracked these changes without involving them or the Boundary Change Committee in discussion. TUSD admits this was a “grassroots” idea developed in the Fruchthendler and Sabino High communities by site staff. The idea was presented on or about January 26, 2015, simultaneously, to the Governing Board and Plaintiffs and the Special Master.
TUSD correctly argues that there is nothing in the USP or USP-related Court order precluding an idea from arising in this fashion. The NARA provisions do not, however, create some lesser review and input requirements for the Plaintiffs and Special Master than they hold pursuant to the USP in respect to changes affecting school attendance.
TUSD’s proposed student assignment change is governed by the USP, and, the USP, section I.D.1 requires: the District “shall” solicit the input of the Special Master and the Plaintiffs and submit items for review before they are put into practice or use for “all new or amended plans, policies, procedures, or other significant changes” contemplated pursuant to the USP.
Section II of the USP is dedicated in its entirety to student assignment. The USP requires: “The District [to] use four strategies for assigning students to schools, to be developed by the District in consultation with the Plaintiffs and the Special Master: attendance boundaries; pairing and clustering of schools; magnet schools and programs; and open enrollment.” “The District shall develop and implement a coordinated process of student assignment incorporating all of these strategies, as appropriate.”
The District has created a Boundary Change Committee. It has been required to develop a Comprehensive Magnet Plan (CMP), consisting of top performing magnet schools.
The District has also been required to develop a plan to ensure African American and Latino students have equal access to the District’s Advanced Learning Experiences (ALE), including Pre-AP and Honors courses. The NARA proposes a change in pairing and clustering schools, Fruchthendler and Sabino High, to create an honors program.
Section II, subsection D, Attendance Boundaries, Feeder Patterns, and Pairing and Clustering, expressly requires: “The District [to] review and/or redraw its attendance boundaries when it opens a new school; closes, repurposes or consolidates a school; alters the capacity of a school; or designates a school without an attendance boundary.” And, “[a]ll attendance boundary and other changes to student assignment patterns shall be subject to the notice and request for approval process [(NARA)] set forth in Section (X)(C).” The addition of the NARA requirement does not eliminate, bypass, negate or thwart the general review provisions in the USP.
The plan to add a 6th grade at Fruchthendler and 7th and 8th grades at Sabino High was not considered by the Boundary Review Committee. As this Court noticed in its prior Order approving boundary changes, USP guidelines apply. The same applies to student assignment changes because the USP requires TUSD to review to determine whether to redraw its attendance boundaries, if it makes student assignment changes.
The record reflects that the student assignments proposed by TUSD were not considered in the context of the four integration strategies required by the USP: attendance boundaries, pairing and clustering of schools; magnet schools and programs; and open enrollment. Because the proposed student assignments involve the creation of an honors program, the USP, section V, requires the District to also consider Plaintiffs’ concerns regarding equal access.
There is nothing about a NARA proposal to change student assignments to exempt it from the USP requirement that the District, the parties, and the Special Master comprehensively consider the proposal, pursuant to applicable USP criteria, in an effort to increase the integration of TUSD schools. Plans and strategies are now in place, pursuant to the USP, for addressing student assignments,2 but this NARA fails to reflect how the Fruchthendler-Sabino Honors Pipeline plan fits into these plans and strategies, and if not, why.