BOUNDARY SHIFTS RULED OUT FOR MOST.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Westside Union School District administrators have proposed leaving all attendance boundaries unchanged for the 2001-02 school year except for a small area near Rancho Vista Boulevard and Avenue P.

The district had considered making extensive boundary changes to alleviate overcrowding at some schools but put those off for at least a year after many parents complained.

``We will wait another year and then look at our options,'' trustee Scott Gmur said. ``We are in the process of forming a number of committees involving parents, and the board will hear from all of the committees. We bought ourselves a year of breathing room.''

Leaving attendance zones in place except for about one-quarter square mile north of Rancho Vista Boulevard and west of 30th Street West was one of several recommendations presented to the board at last week's meeting, attended by about 100 people.

Two previous board meetings at which school overcrowding was discussed drew more than 400 people.

Trustees are expected to act on the recommendations at their next meeting at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Valley View School.

Administrators are proposing to move an area generally bordered by 30th Street West, Avenue O-8 and Rancho Vista Boulevard from Quartz Hill Elementary School's attendance area to Cottonwood School's, affecting about 50 students.

Under the proposed change, busing will be provided to students to Cottonwood School, a district staff report said. Students living in the affected area may continue to attend Quartz Hill but would be required to provide their own transportation and would be required to have an annual intradistrict transfer permit, the report said.

Another recommendation is to send students who will come from the proposed City Ranch housing development in Palmdale to Leona Valley School, the report said.

``It doesn't exist yet, so it won't affect anybody,'' said Lori Ordway- Peck, assistant superintendent for business services.

District officials also want to prohibit new intradistrict transfers - in which students are allowed to attend a school outside their attendance zone - to Rancho Vista School and Hillview Middle School, which are affected by overcrowding, for the 2001-02 school year.

``Any new siblings of students presently on intradistrict transfers will not be able to attend impacted schools,'' the report said.

Ordway-Peck estimated that there are about 30 children on such transfers each at Rancho Vista and Hillview.

``It's not a great number. Every bit helps when you are in an overcrowded situation,'' Gmur said.

In addition, parents have often told district officials that they know of people who live outside the district and send their children to westside schools.

So one of the recommendations is to try to locate students who are not residents or who do not have the proper permits to attend a westside school.

The report suggested that district officials ``seek parental assistance in locating the `boundary jumpers' that are continually referred to by district parents.''

A recommendation connected to that calls for requiring annual verification of resident status for all students, new and returning, the report said. Demonstration of residency could come in the form of a utility bill, Gmur said.

At least since 1988, the district has for the most part not allowed students who live outside the district to attend westside schools. Children of westside employees who are not district residents are allowed to attend.

The district has also made exceptions for students from Gorman and southern Kern County to attend Neenach School, which only has 60 students, Ordway-Peck said.

``We originally passed a general obligation bond measure in 1988. From that point, part of the board's commitment was since you are paying extra tax money, it doesn't seem fair to have outside people,'' Ordway-Peck said.

Instead of adding portable classrooms at Hillview, district staff is recommending using ``roving'' teachers or asking teachers to teach an extra class for extra pay, Gmur said.

``If a teacher has a free planning period, we could use that teacher and that classroom,'' Gmur said. ``It would be an imposition on teachers, but we're in an extreme situation.''

The district also is forming committees with parent as members to address the issues of facilities development, switching to a multitrack year-round schedule, community relations, magnet programs, attendance boundaries and developer relations.

Parents had suggested the district convert to a multitrack year-round calendar instead of changing attendance boundaries.

Parents also suggested adding more portable classrooms, but Gmur said board members don't want to invest in putting portable buildings on campuses until they have a firmer idea of what to do for a long-term solution.