Pupils to Stay Together : Newhall Schools Call Off Divided Attendance Plan

The Newhall Board of Education, bowing to protests from parents, has scrapped plans to bus children living in a new housing tract to two elementary schools.

The decision restores school boundary lines, originally approved in May, that place the entire Summit housing development in northwest Newhall within the attendance area of the new Valencia Valley Elementary School.

Those boundary lines were altered in July after district officials said they underestimated the number of students who would attend Valencia Valley, built to relieve classroom crowding in the fast-growing district.

Trustees voted 4 to 1 on July 11 to redraw the May boundaries and bus children in the northern half of the development to Old Orchard Elementary School in central Newhall.

The decision angered parents, who said dividing the neighborhood between two schools would destroy a close-knit community. The parents also said they preferred an overcrowded school to busing.

About 100 parents attended a hearing on the issue July 25, and a slightly larger crowd watched Monday night as the board voted 4 to 0 to restore the May boundary lines. Trustee Jay Manwaring was absent.

But trustees also agreed to limit Valencia Valley’s enrollment to 800 students and to bus any additional children to Old Orchard. The school, which is not expected to exceed that number next school year, is designed to hold 710 students.

Much of the Summit development’s northern half is still under construction, so it is unclear how many children will be bused to Old Orchard if the enrollment limit is surpassed in a few years, Trustee Pat Willett said Wednesday.

Willett said the May boundary lines will leave Valencia Valley slightly overcrowded, “but we’re expecting that all the schools will be overcrowded anyway.” The district had 3,130 students last year and expects to enroll about 4,000 students when classes start Sept. 6.

Willett said two portable classrooms will be installed at Valencia Valley to accommodate extra students. Another trailer will be installed sometime during the school year, she said.