D93 proposes elementary, high school boundary changes
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AMMON — Boundary changes introduced by a local school district could impact where many students attend elementary and high school.
Bonneville Joint School District 93 officials recently proposed the changes to ease overcrowding at Discovery Elementary and make way for a new high school.
“About a hundred students that would be affected changing their school from Discovery to either Ucon or Iona (elementary schools),” D93 Assistant Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme said. “The right solution wasn’t approved by voters three years ago.”
Woolstenhulme was referring to a $92 million bond that aimed to build a high school and middle school to alleviate overcrowding. The bond failed to get voter approval in 2014. The district passed a lesser $55.3 million bond in 2015 to build Thunder Ridge High School. But that bond didn’t address overcrowding in the younger grades — so boundaries changes were developed to address the problem.
On Monday, the district got public feedback on the potential boundary changes for three D93 elementary schools and three high schools at two separate meetings.
Woolstenhulme suggested a group of Discovery students move north to Ucon Elementary and some to move east to Iona Elementary.
Woolstenhulme said the plans for the high schools — Bonneville, Hillcrest and Thunder Ridge– will keep a boundary at First Street between Hillcrest and Bonneville, but Thunder Ridge would create a new eastern boundary for the two schools.
D93 Maintenance and Operations Director John Pymm said the elementary proposal aimed to shift students who attended Discovery in the Pheasant Grove neighborhood to Ucon Elementary. That would affect about 70 students. But not everyone at the meeting was OK with that idea.
“There were some folks that lived over there that were concerned about that. (They) don’t understand why they can’t go to Summit Hills or Bridgewater or some other school that is closer,” Pymm said.
Pymm said the simple answer to that question is that Summit Hills and Bridgewater Elementary are both reaching capacity.
“Ucon Elementary has pretty significant space by comparison,” Pymm said.
Another part of the plan would move about 25 kids from the Green Willow, subdivision west of Crowley road in the Iona area from Discovery to Iona Elementary. During the meeting, district patrons raised concerns that the figure of 25 could be raised this fall as the more homes continue to be built in that area. Iona may not be able to hold more than the extra 25.
Pymm said the before the meeting, people asked why the district chose some neighborhoods over others. Woolstenhulme said a lot of the changes came from feedback on a survey sent out three weeks ago.
He said there didn’t seem to be any other proposed alternatives for the public about how to solve the issue of overcrowding at Discovery.
Woolstenhulme said about 700 students attend Discovery. He said if it continues to grow at the rate it has, it won’t be able to accommodate all its students.
“Typically we’re seeing growth of about 100 to 130 students every year, Woolstenhulme said.
Woolstenhulme said people seemed to think the district was short-sighted about this overcrowding issue. He said that wasn’t the case and the district has seen this coming for a long time.
“The right solution wasn’t approved by voters three years ago. I had to repeat that two or three times,” Woolstenhulme said. “Red Rock (Middle School) that would have taken care of the problem, but that failed by such a large percentage, we just had to drop it and focus on the high school, and now we’re dealing with the output of that.”
He said when the community voted strongly against both the proposed elementary school, the middle school and the high school at the same time they had to pull the notions back. The district, however, still has property within its boundaries to build a school.
“We just need the right bond at the right time to get this school built. That will be the long-term solution,” Woolstenhulme said.
Woolstenhulme said with the district’s current numbers, Hillcrest High School is projected to hold 1,159 students, Bonneville, 978, and Thunder Ridge 1462.
Pymm said with these changes the district’s socioeconomics would be more balanced.
“We would like to balance the socioeconomic percentages of students on free and reduced lunch as much as possible at the three high schools. That really hasn’t been the case with Hillcrest and Bonneville. There’s been a significant disparity with far more free and reduced lunches with students at Bonneville than Hillcrest,” Pymm said.
The district sent out another survey last weekend and are reminding parents to check their emails and reply with their input.
Woolstenhulme said if you weren’t able to voice your concerns at Monday’s meeting you haven’t lost your chance. The public is welcome to attend the school board’s regular meeting Wednesday, May 10 in the District Board Room at 7 p.m. The public can also attend the special meeting May 23 at 7 p.m. The board will make its decision on May 23.
“This is a one-year step. Next year once we know when we’re bonding for a middle school or another elementary we’ll know what the next right steps are,” Woolstenhulme said.