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Population, business growth impacting changing face of Deer Valley Unified

Board will vote next month on new campus boundaries

Posted 10/17/21

With some of the strongest growth in the state coming within the Deer Valley Unified School District’s boundaries, population changes driving school boundary changes is almost inevitable.

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Subscriber Exclusive

Population, business growth impacting changing face of Deer Valley Unified

Board will vote next month on new campus boundaries

Posted

With some of the strongest growth in the state coming within the Deer Valley Unified School District’s boundaries, population changes driving school boundary changes is almost inevitable.

The district has been reviewing boundary models for months, and will vote on potential changes at the governing board’s next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9.

A new elementary school due to open for the 2022-23 academic year plus the projected new growth of the Deer Valley Village are two central factors in the proposed boundary changes. DVUSD is comprised of almost 32,000 K-12 students drawn from Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Anthem, New River, Cave Creek and unincorporated areas of Maricopa County.

“From an industrial, office, retail, multifamily growth standpoint, there is not a significant project that doesn’t get a good look at Deer Valley,” said Christine Mackay, Phoenix Community & Economic Development director, who at an October school board meeting called the Deer Valley Village, one of the 15 urban villages that make up Phoenix, “the single greatest interest area of development in the state of Arizona right now.”

“Deer Valley Unified School District is perfectly positioned to lead into that next generation of that workforce.”

Among the biggest catalysts in the growth up north is the upcoming TSMC semiconductor facility. Based out of Tawian, the company’s plan calls for developing roughly 12,000 acres in North Phoenix within the DVUSD boundary. What figures to be a significant future employer, TSMC started construction in March of this year and is expected to begin production in 2024.

A multifamily residential development proposed on the east side of I-17 also within the DVUSD boundary, could bring 1,700 new units.

Then there’s the new elementary school.

In June the district approved the campus — at this point called “E#32” — at the intersection of Inspiration Mountain Parkway and Pinnacle Vista in North Phoenix, which will open as a K-6 school but is likely to be expanded to a K-8 school in the future. With projections forecasting growth on the north end of Glendale as far back as 2008, the proposed elementary was part of the original Stetson Valley housing development at that time. That community, located between the Peoria Regional Preserve and Sonoran Desert Preserve on Happy Valley Road and 55th Avenue, features more than 2,000 homes today.

Meanwhile, some schools in the area are currently exceeding their student capacity.

Stetson Hills School, at 25475 N. Stetson Hills Loop, Phoenix, is already over 100% capacity; Terramar Academy of the Arts, at 7000 W. Happy Valley Road, Peoria, is projected to be over 100% starting in 2022; and West Wing Elementary, 26716 N. High Desert Drive, Peoria, had been over 100% as recently as 2018 but is currently at greater than 90% capacity; according to district enrollment figures.

Furthermore, the Aloravita community, located between 75th and 67 avenues and north of Jomax Road, started up within the past two years and with more than 1,200 acres will eventually have almost 4,000 homes between its north and south parcels, according to the Aloravita Planned Community District.

All these factors are driving the boundary change proposal, which figures to impact area schools plus families and students in nearby subdivisions.

Proposal components call for:

• Crescent Hills, in the Deer Valley section, which is currently served by Stetson Hills as both a K-6 and 7-8 campus, to switch to E#32 for K-6 and then Hillcrest Middle School, at 22833 N. 71st Ave., Glendale, for 7-8

• Aloravita, currently served by Terramar for both K-6 and 7-8, would switch to Las Brisas Elementary, at 5805 W. Alameda Road, Glendale, for K-6 and Hillcrest for 7-8

• Pyramid Heights, currently served by Stetson Hills as both a K-6 and 7-8 campus, would switch to E#32 for K-6 and then Hillcrest for 7-8

• Stetson Valley, currently served by Las Brisas for K-6 and Hillcrest for 7-8, would switch to E#32 for K-6 but would stay at Hillcrest for 7-8

There are no plans to re-boundary the district’s high schools.

Meanwhile, the overall DVUSD total enrollment is up 2.5% in October as compared to this time last year.

The district has opened the process for public input for weeks and to date has received less than two dozen responses, reported Deer Valley Unified Deputy Superintendent Jim Migliorino, who also noted that the “most contentious” input has come from Aloravita residents whose students would switch from Terramar to Las Brisas.

Las Brisas is not one of the campuses experiencing overcrowding, and the school’s projected enrollment would drop from 741 students currently to 421 under the proposed boundary change.

“That is something that is a little concerning,” Migliorino said of the potential drop before adding that the district has had initial conversations about possibly evolving that campus into a magnet-type school “that would help draw students to that particular campus.”

The projected enrollment at Terramar — one of the schools likely to be over capacity in 2022 — would drop from 997 students to 861.

The district is still welcoming feedback prior to the Nov.  9 governing board vote on the proposed boundary changes. Input can be emailed to boundaries@dvusd.org through Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Other feedback has been from parents in the northern Copper Creek boundary interested in their students attending the new elementary school (E#32).

Open enrollment does remain an option for families. Applications are available at dvusd.org/openenrollment, and should be submitted early with priority status provided for applications turned in by the first week of December.

If capacity is available, students assigned to a new attendance area may stay enrolled in their current school, but that does not guarantee that bus transportation will be made available.

MORE: DVUSD October enrollment report

MORE: DVUSD boundary changes report