RJUHSD decides on school boundaries

Capping a months-long process, the Roseville Joint Union High School District board of trustees voted in favor of a staff recommendation Tuesday realigning the district's high school boundaries.Trustees voted 4-0 in favor of the boundary realignment plan, dubbed "Scenario 12" by administrators. Board member Jim Joiner was absent.The approved map expands Oakmont's attendance area dramatically, taking in regions that currently send students to Roseville and Woodcreek high schools. Granite Bay High School's attendance area will not be affected.Under the plan, Oakmont's borders will grow to encompass the area south of Vineyard Road and Douglas Boulevard above the Sacramento County line bounded to the west by Walerga Road and the east by Interstate 80. The area currently encompasses Woodcreek, Roseville and Oakmont attendance areas.Oakmont would also gain a major piece of the West Roseville Specific Plan area, as well as the so-called Hewlett Packard/John Mourier Construction "rezone" site, about 300 acres east of Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard. Currently undeveloped, those areas would have sent future students to Roseville High.Woodcreek's boundaries would also slightly expand, reaching northward to Blue Oaks Boulevard minus the HP/JMC rezone; students living in the area currently attend Roseville.Most changes would go into effect beginning 2008, although changes to the West Roseville Specific Plan area start in the fall of 2006.One area left out of the changes is the Highland Park neighborhood, located north of Highway 65. Residents in the area had pushed to remain in the Roseville High attendance area. On Tuesday, neighborhood activist Alice Waziri greeted the board's decision with relief."I think it's the plan that should be," she said. "There's a lot of flexibility in (scenario) 12."The adopted plan is essentially a modification of Scenario Seven, a map previously developed by members of an advisory committee. That plan was not recommended to the board. Trustees, however, expressed concern that the committee's recommendation - called Scenario Six - would not boost Oakmont's population enough.District officials say the changes are necessary to counteract projected population imbalances among existing high schools. Without redrawing boundaries, Roseville High could hit nearly 3,600 students in 2011, while Oakmont would drop to just 1,049 in the same period, district figures show.That's because much of the quickly developing West Roseville area lies within RHS borders, while the 2008 opening of Antelope High School would cut Oakmont's population nearly in half. Half of Oakmont's students come from Antelope, and will attend the new school when it opens.Scenario 12 reduces Roseville's area, but would still leave the district's oldest high school with the largest student population; 2,340 students will attend the school by 2011, according to district projections. Oakmont will reach 2,240 over the same period, while Woodcreek will hit 1,985. Each school housed approximately 2,000 students during the 2005-2006 school year.Deputy Superintendent Rich Strickland told trustees the population figures could be lower - especially at Roseville High - because of a possible real estate slowdown. "We think at Roseville that number's too high," he said. "Ultimately, we think those students will be there, but we don't think they'll be there that quickly."Strickland noted the plan gives the district flexibility to adjust those numbers further. For instance, Scenario 12 keeps the Diamond Creek neighborhood in the Roseville High area of attendance. But many residents in the area have expressed a desire have their children attend Woodcreek. Strickland said some transfers into Woodcreek could be allowed if Roseville becomes overcrowded.Changes for all affected areas except the West Roseville Specific Plan would begin with freshmen in 2008, continuing with additional grades making the move each subsequent year.District officials, however, have included several ways for some parents to avoid switching from anticipated schools.Current residents living in the expanded Oakmont area contiguous to its existing borders will be grandfathered in. They'll be able to choose which school to attend - as long as they can prove residence as of July 1, 2006.And a so-called "sibling rule" would alleviate some parents' concerns about splitting up families."If you have an older student at the school and your area's being transferred, your younger student can go to the original school if the older student is still there," Strickland said.Trustees will review the plan next year, and may make adjustments at that time, he said.More information on the boundary process is available online at www.rjuhsd.us.Nathan Donato-Weinstein can be reached at nathand@goldcountrymedia.com