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Willow Grove parents upset by kindergarten lottery results

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By Emily Sorensen

Five Willow Grove Elementary School parents spoke at the school board meeting held Monday night, upset over the exclusion of their children from the school’s kindergarten next year.

PUSD_logoThe parents were a few out of 55 families who did not make it into the school’s kindergarten, due to overcrowding. Willow Grove held a lottery to fill its kindergarten that is full to capacity.

The excluded families, who all live in the Community Facilities District and whose Mello Roos taxes go to supporting Willow Grove, have been directed to enroll their children at Adobe Bluffs Elementary School, located five miles away. They will remain on a waiting list for the school.

Part of the reason for the overcrowding of Willow Grove’s kindergarten classes is the presence of a transitional kindergarten program on the campus. Jennifer Duncan, whose child was not selected for Willow Grove’s kindergarten, asked that the district move the transitional kindergarten to an underpopulated school, rather than keep it at a full-to-capacity school like Willow Grove.

Another parent, Michael Smith, expressed his concerns about the logistics of taking his kindergartner to Adobe Bluffs, which is five miles away rather than in walking distance, like Willow Grove, and starts an hour earlier.

The parents referenced a letter apparently sent by Willow Grove Principal Kimberlie Rens, which said that if the parents did not send their kindergartners to Adobe Bluffs for the 2013-2014 school year, they would not be kept on the Willow Grove waiting list and couldn’t return to the school in the future. Associate Superintendent Mel Robertson said that Rens’ statement was inaccurate, and said she would work with the parents on this issue.

In other business, the board passed a temporary budget in order to be in compliance with the California Department of Education. The budget is expected to change, most likely in the district’s favor, when the governor signs the state’s budget.

Currently, the 2013-2014 budget is expected to end in a deficit of $21.6 million, due to a number of one-time costs, including Common Core materials, books and materials for Design 39 Campus, the new K-8 school that will open in August 2014 in Del Sur, and the renewed computer lease program, which will generate revenue for the district in the future.

If this current budget stands, the district will need to make over $20 million in cuts during the 2014-15 school year in order to end the school year in the black. When the governor signs the state budget, the amount of cuts needed in 2014-15 is expected to lessen, due to other funds being freed up from reserves.

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