New School Boundary Plan Divides Parents

Proposed boundary changes in the Huntington Beach City School District, which could move about 600 students to different schools, drew mixed reactions from about 100 parents this week at a public hearing.

The majority of students affected by the plan would move to Peterson School, which the district decided to reopen this fall to accommodate smaller class sizes in the second and third grades.

Some parents said the 16-member boundary realignment committee sacrificed the neighborhood school concept by creating “hodgepodge” boundaries.

“It just seems the way the boundaries were drawn was purely a question of numbers, rather than looking at the big picture,” said Chris Kawahara, a parent at Eader Elementary School. “It really does a disservice to the personality of a school to not be a neighborhood school.”

But supporters of the proposal said it was better than several previous proposals.

“If you put up six others, I don’t think any of those would be perfect either,” said Jerry Faas.

Committee chairwoman Jan Conrad said she agreed some of the boundaries looked “funny,” but the committee did its best to balance the neighborhood school concept with district enrollment.

The committee will meet again Monday to finalize its recommendations. Conrad is expected to present the school board with the plan March 18.