September 27, 2020 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
CUSD may move Erie students to new school
BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
Chandler Unified administrators want to relocate Arizona College PrepErie’s 800 students to the district’s new high school campus next school year. The relocation across town from Erie’s present campus near Dobson Road and Chandler Boulevard to the high school under construction at Gilbert and Ocotillo roads is part of a plan that also includes adjusting the boundaries of two other high schools that would take effect in either 2024 or 2025. The Erie students would join their
peers living within the new high school’s enrollment boundaries, currently Ocotillo, Cooper, Lindsay and Chandler Heights roads. Students living in this region are currently assigned to Perry High. Moving the Erie students and changing some other boundaries are part of the district’s effort to equalize the population on its high school campuses. The Governing Board might vote on the plan Oct. 14. Administrators said that moving Erie students to the new school, which opens next July, would enable more students to take advantage of academic programs that have earned Erie the
U.S. Department of Education’s “Blue Ribbon School” designation. “ACP-Erie can expand and offer its successful program to more students,” administrators wrote about the plan. The move also would save the district $6 million for a planned expansion of the Erie campus and renovations to Andersen Junior High’s football stadium, which is utilized by ACP-Oakland’s students. In turn, Oakland students would relocate to Erie’s campus, where they would have greater access to sports facilities. CUSD would then use Oakland’s old campus as a facility to host expanded offerings for the district’s community
education programs. There are still unanswered questions about the plan – including the school uniform policy currently in force at Erie. It’s unclear whether students who are within the new school’s boundaries but not in the Erie college preparation program would have to wear uniforms or whether the policy would be dropped. “This will be a collaborative conversation with the parents in the new boundaries, ACP-Erie parents, students and the principal once the high school boundaries have been approved,” disSee
BOUNDARIES on page 3
Chandler residents prefer trails over new buildings BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
Kindergarten students at Conley Elementary and other Chandler schools returned to classrooms two weeks ago but their experience is dramatically altered by protocols such as socially-distanced desks. (Pablo Robles)
Familiar but different setting greets Chandler students BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
Adriana Robertson stood in front of a class of kindergarteners, ready to point to a chart of the alphabet. The Conley Elementary School teacher gestured toward one letter and waited for her students to shout out the answer she’s looking for. “A – Apple,” the kindergarteners yelled in unison before moving on. It was the type of scene that routinely gets played out in Conley and other Chandler Unified classrooms during any normal school year – except this school year has been far from normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed every aspect of public education and schools like Conley have had to make several adjustments to protect teachers and students from the virus. Robertson’s class of 20 kindergartners can’t just recite the alphabet the same as their predecessors did in years past; they must now repeat their ABCs while wearing a face mask and standing several feet apart from each other. This particular day in Robertson’s class was Sept. 15, nearly six weeks after
the Chandler Unified School District’s school year officially began – and only the second day her kindergartners have been inside her classroom. The CUSD Governing Board started the year with online learning for all students, and on Sept. 2 voted 3-2 to begin a “rolling return” to classrooms, starting with K-2 students last week, grades 3-5 last week and junior high and high schools reopening Oct. 13. The board’s decision gave Conley’s staff less than two weeks to be ready to teach hundreds of students after classrooms sat empty for nearly six months. Principal Lisa Shore said the quick turnaround didn’t intimidate Conley’s teachers because they had already started reopening preparations several months prior to the board’s decision. “We’ve been doing this since June,” Shore said. “We’ve known our plan. We were just waiting for the board to say, ‘Go for it.’” The entire campus has been plastered with numbers on sidewalks, desks and cafeteria tables to guide students on where to sit or stand at any given time. See
SCHOOLS on page 6
A majority of Chandler residents say walking, hiking and biking are their most favorite recreational activities and believe the city should invest in improving its existing trail system. According to citywide surveys conducted over the last year, 43 percent of Chandler residents said walking and biking trails are their most cherished recreational amenity -- the most popular response among a variety of options that included splash pads, playgrounds and neighborhood parks. And respondents are much more willing to spend tax dollars on preserving trails rather than building new amenities; 31 percent of residents were willing to fund improvements to Chandler’s trails system and only 6 percent were willing to pay for new sports facilities. Michael Svetz, a member of the Pros Consulting firm, said he expected Chandler residents to favor trails and pathways over other amenities because most Americans get their exercise by simply walking. “This is not surprising because trails across the entire country is always the most important thing,” the consultant said. Svetz and his team have spent the last few months gathering public input and collecting data that the city will
eventually use to update Chandler’s parks master plan, a document that outlines the city’s recreational objectives and strategies. Phase one of the plan update recently concluded and Svetz’s team has begun sharing some of the preliminary results of their findings. The survey shows Chandler residents appear to have less attachment to amenities tied to specific sports or recreational activities. Less than 5 percent of respondents selected tennis, volleyball or pickleball courts as favorite amenities. Only 2 percent of respondents picked Little League or softball fields as their most important facility – a data point some city leaders found hard to believe. “Club soccer, club softball are huge out here,” said Councilman Matt Orlando. “If you look at the Arizona, California, New Mexico markets – softball’s huge.” Council was chastised by one local youth softball league earlier this year for not providing enough fields in Chandler that could accommodate their games and practices. The league began circulating a petition in the hopes of pushing city leaders to dedicate resources for safer, more accessible softball fields. Svetz said the initial data on softball fields doesn’t imply the city won’t need
F E AT U R E STO R I E S Children's Cancer Network helps family . . . . . . . . . COMMUNITY . . . . . Page 13 Chandler CEO a family man at heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . BUSINESS . . . . . . . Page 24 Chandler writer authors first novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NEIGHBORS . . . . . Page 38 Chandler writer teams up on grave matter . . . . . . ARTS . . . . . . . . . . Page 43 Taco shop in Chandler's backyard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EAT . . . . . . . . . . . Page 50
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PARKS on page 2
More Community . . . 1-23 Business . . . . . 24-33 Sports . . . . . . . 34-35 Opinion . . . . . . . . 36 Neighbors . . . 38-42 Arts . . . . . . . . . 43-46 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Directory . . . 48-49 Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50