ALTERNATIVE SOUGHT TO SHIFT OF KIDS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With hundreds of parents opposed to changing attendance boundaries as a way to relieve campus crowding, Westside Union School District officials are seeking more input from the community.

At two district meetings attended by more than 400 people, parents suggested other options, including switching to a multitrack, year-round school schedule, double sessions and adding portable classrooms.

Parents also suggested changing grade-level configurations, developing magnet schools, prohibiting students from attending schools outside their attendance zones, and busing students from new subdivisions to less-crowded schools farther from their homes.

``(Parents') big concern is they don't want their children uprooted because they know their teachers, they know the staff, they know the other kids,'' said Robin Kessler, who has three children in Westside schools. ``They are involved in the sports and other activities. It's hard to be uprooted.''

In a letter sent to parents last week, Superintendent Allan Sacks said the board has decided to continue discussions on overcrowding at its next board meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 3 at Joe Walker Middle School.

No decision will be made at that meeting, however.

Sacks' letter also said the district may establish committees to study the issue, and asked interested parents to apply by Thursday.

The proposed boundary changes were drafted to alleviate overcrowding at Hillview and Joe Walker middle schools and Rancho Vista elementary school. Space at Quartz Hill Elementary School also is cramped but not as much as at the other three schools, officials said.

Those schools have been affected by new housing tracts on Palmdale's west side.

Hillview was built for about 800 students and is now housing 1,100. Joe Walker was built to handle 750 students but now has close to 1,000. Rancho Vista has about 780 students on a campus built for about 600, and Quartz Hill has 800 students although it was built to house 650, officials said.

Under the proposals being considered, some students at those schools would shift to other schools with more room, such as Cottonwood, Sundown and Del Sur.

Trustees say they have not made a decision to shift attendance boundaries, though some skeptical parents think the board members have already made up their minds. Others parents think talk of changing attendance boundaries is a ruse to get them to accept multiple-track school schedules.

``We haven't reached a decision. We want to find out how people feel and think,'' board member Scott Gmur said. ``My favorite analogy is it's like mining for gold. We may have to crush a ton of rocks to get an ounce of gold, but it's worth the effort to get at that gold.''

Gmur said he is against shifting children from schools in their neighborhood to campuses where they would have to ride the bus.

``It's not good for the students and the community, and it's an expense that the district can't afford,'' Gmur said of busing more students. ``That's money we can use for teachers, materials and to improve curriculum.''

District officials had hoped to start construction last month on the $8 million Esperanza School near the Rancho Vista Golf Course. It will relieve crowding at Rancho Vista and Hillview.

But the project has been delayed, in part by toxicological studies required under new state laws passed in reaction to problems at schools elsewhere, most notably at Belmont Learning Center in Los Angeles.

``We're waiting for the soil reports to get back,'' said Lori Ordway-Peck, assistant superintendent for business services. ``We found out we couldn't exempt ourselves from the toxic process even though the project was approved long before the laws took effect.''

The district will find out whether the state Allocation Board will approve matching funds for Esperanza in July, Ordway-Peck said.

In place of moving attendance boundaries, Kessler said she prefers placing more portable classrooms on campuses and asking parents if they would voluntarily move their children to another school.

``If you have people (with children) at Quartz Hill that could be moved back to Cottonwood, ask them if they would like to move, see how many would like to move from Hillview to Joe Walker and then see what the numbers say,'' Kessler said.

The district's current enrollment is about 6,600 and projected to grow 2 percent annually over the next several years, Ordway-Peck said.

The district also is considering whether to raise developer fees above the minimum set by the state to help pay for new schools. If approved by the board, the district would become the third Antelope Valley school district to do so.

Palmdale School District and Antelope Valley Union High School District have already increased their developer fees over the statutory minimum of $2.05 per square foot for residential development.