School Board Votes to Keep Courreges Students Together

The Fountain Valley School District's Board of Trustees voted 3-2 Tuesday night to approve new district boundary lines that will keep all the the district's elementary students together as they move on to middle school.

"At the beginning of this process, I said that the boundary portion would be the more difficult part," Superintendent Mark Ecker said. "I think that proved to be true. Regardless of how anyone felt, everyone acted in the best interest of our students. This is a long-term plan. We can live with that because it mitigates damage today."

At the recommendation of Eckert and his staff, the board was essentially deciding between two boundary options: one that divided elementary students from Courreges between Fulton Middle School and Talbert Middle School, and the one it eventually chose, which was almost identical except that it kept those same students together.

The latter was introduced at the board's last meeting by trustee Jimmy Templin, who apologized Tuesday night after receiving considerable negative feedback from constituents who felt his vocal advocacy of that particlar proposal might have meant he'd already made up his mind.

"I simply want to apologize for my immaturity," Templin said Tuesday night. "I've come back a more mature person."

A small faction of parents from Gisler made a final push for Option 3, which would have kept their kids from being shuffled to different schools. Among them was Christopher Johnston, who cited safety concerns as his main reason for favoring Option 3 over the other configurations. He cited district numbers that showed the need for 98 children to cross the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Adams Avenue under Option 3, as opposed to 346 students under the other three plans.

"If one of our children is hurt, you guys are going to be directly responsible," Johnston said.

Other parents' concerns were less specific, prompting Board President Ian Collins to encourage those parents not to pin their hopes on any one school in the district.

"Some people have put out perceptions about individual schools in out district, and that really upsets me," he said. "Oka is a Blue Ribbon school. You don't get much better than that. This perception that a certain school is better has got to stop. We've got to do out job here to educate our public. Nobody's addressed this issue, and it's got to stop."

The district will hold a meeting Thursday to address parents' concerns about the transition and answer questions. Notification of the new boundaries will be sent to parents in February, followed by an open choice period in March during which parents will be allowed to visit schools in the district and decide if they want to request a transfer. Final assignments will be made in April, with staff reassigments following during May and movement of staff and school materials during the summer.