Thursday night at 7:30pm there was a meeting at the San Elijo Elementary School to discuss the Attendance Area for San Elijo Hills and adjacent communities. It was a Town Hall feel with about 100 passionate, concerned parents and residents.
There is a committee formed within the district of parents and administrators to focus specifically on this subject. It is composed of 5 representatives from every school in the San Marcos School District. They call themselves “The District Committee.” The goal from this committee is to gather feedback, and information from the parents, communities and other resources to develop one (1) option that was reached by consensus of this committee. They will take this one (1) option and present it to the School Board for consideration.
Other schools in the district are scheduled to have similar meetings as this one. This committee and administrators want the parents and residents to provide feedback prior to the school board meeting. They want to hear from you. Your suggestions, feedback and alternative proposals will be forwarded to the District Committee for review.
The Principal, Carolyn Kalicki and the Vice Principal, Jimmy Miringoff are advocates for the students, the parents, the residents and the community of San Elijo Hills.
This is the current proposed option the District Committee has agreed upon thus far:
K-8 School – listed by developments in San Elijo Hills – Woodley’s Glen, Venzano, Waterford, Meridian, Mariner’s Landing and Atherton. This does not mean that only San Elijo Residents will be attending this school. For example, it appears that it will include down Twin Oaks Valley Rd. etc.
San Elijo Elementary and Middle Schools – all other developments in San Elijo Hills
(We are not clear at this time, how these boundaries will affect Old Creek Ranch. However I am still working on the clarification. In the meantime, if someone else has the information, please post it here and let’s get it out to our neighbors. Thank You..)
The attendees of this meeting were instructed tonight to write down their proposals, comments, suggestions on index cards and these cards will be forwarded to the District Committee for review.
Below are some of those proposals/suggestions:
* Build the second school but split the 2 schools for San Elijo Hills Residents K- 4th and 5th -8th grade.
* Build a Middle School near La Costa Meadows and Carrillo and help with the overcrowding for the west side of San Marcos.
The goal for both of these options is to operate under the premise of keeping the communities together. Keep San Elijo Hills and Venzano proper together. Keep Old Creek Ranch and the students for La Costa Meadows, Carrillo, Discovery and other elementary schools together.
* Make the K-8 a Charter School
* Change the Boundaries – Allow all existing developments on Questhaven and Wild Canyon and Atherton to attend San Elijo Elementary and San Elijo Middle Schools and have the newer neighborhoods that are still building and releasing phases be scheduled to attend the K-8.
* Have Carrillo and La Costa Meadows go to the Carlsbad School District. These schools are in the Carlsbad city limits.
* Ask Carlsbad School District if they have any schools that are currently closed and see if there are any options available for San Marcos School District or if there is an opportunity for collaboration?
* Is there an option for Year round school? The answer : It was not really considered at this time. This would mean school administration would be essentially managing 4 separate schools on one (1) site.
Comments from the residents/parents
There were a lot of parents that felt like this is not what they signed up for. They had a different expectation when they decided to have their family here in San Elijo Hills. If we have kids, we do our very best to give them a good upbringing, we sacrifice, we do research, we move for the schools. The quality of life, the experience we can provide for our families. This community is special and unique. I personally would not want to live anywhere else except for in San Elijo Hills.
San Elijo Hills provides an atmosphere as a walking community. By building a K-8 school on the border of San Elijo Hills it will be more difficult to continue to do this.
The API test scores were discussed re: San Elijo Elementary compared to Discovery Elementary scores.
Mrs. Kalicki did mention that current teachers could have the option to transfer to the new K-8 school based on the district policies.
Families do have the option to voluntarily request a transfer to the new K-8 even if they are not in the specified boundaries.
The property the School district is currently considering the location on the South Side of Twin Oaks Valley Rd across the street from the trail head parking lot and fire station.
2 questions already forwarded to the School Board for review are: Grandfathering Upper grade students? Grandfathering sibling of upper grade students?
San Elijo Elementary is the 4th largest school in the San Marcos School District.
City Boundaries DO NOT dictate School Boundaries.
Safety regarding the excessive traffic was also discussed.
It was suggested to do research re: the effects on children whom attended K-8 schools. The research shows it is very positive.
Many attendees echoed the feeling of “you divide the schools and you divide the community.”
It is hard for parents to understand and accept that residents whom live in San Elijo Hills and pay the SEH HOA fee, taxes and then are told you CAN NOT go to the San Elijo Hills Schools and will be relocated outside the community to attend a school. Then have Residents that DO NOT pay SEH HOA fee, or similar taxes, and DO NOT live in San Elijo Hills are allowed to attend the San Elijo Hills Schools. This is quite a sting. It logically does not make sense, seem fair or appropriate.
What are the Next Steps?
Now is the time to provide your feedback, suggestions and alternative proposals to the District Committee starting now until next Tuesday, May 14th.
You may email them at: [email protected]
You can find more information on the San Marcos District Website and/or San Elijo Elementary Website. For the San Elijo Elementary website, it is located on the Home page at the top titled: ” Information about Proposed Attendance Areas.”
Click here to view the San Marcos District Presentation on the Attendance Area Boundaries
The District Committee will present their one (1) option to the School Board on Monday, June 10th. At this time, it appears this is a closed meeting to the public.
Mrs. Kalicki will be requesting from the school board the opportunity to provide another “Town Hall” meeting for the residents and parents. The intent is to provide the parents and residents the continued opportunity to be apart of this process by asking questions, exchange information in a more meaningful way. To continue to provide a medium for your voice be heard and bring the community together to support and to collaborate.
Please Post your comments here and our Facebook page, share this information, post pictures of the maps. We will continue to post information as it becomes available.
UPDATED LINKS
Attendance Area Revisions Posted on SEMS website
Facebook link to “Keep San Elijo United”
Having kids walking along San Elijo road to reach the new K8 school would be a safety hazard .The road is not well protected, drivers are speeding at an average speed of 60 mph in that downhill and curvy section.
With the limited space and location for the new school, it won’t be easy to provide easy drop offs or parking and it will create traffic jam in a dangerous location of SE road.
The school is in the middle of nowhere, definitely not the place you want to see kids by themselves walking back to their homes…
To be successful a school has to be built in a middle of a community, not in a remote location along a busy road in between mountain lions and rattlesnakes…