Sacramento City Unified officials have yet to determine whether their newest school – meant to fill a void left by the closure of Sacramento High School – will draw students from all over the district or just from the former school's attendance area.
During the district's open enrollment period – which ended Friday for secondary schools – incoming freshmen from throughout Sacramento City Unified were allowed to sign up for the new campus. It's set to open this fall.
The district is planning a second enrollment once the they've had a chance to promote the new school to the community, said Associate Superintendent Susan Miller. If they come up short on students, she said, they'll consider setting up an attendance area.
Some parents, however, are frustrated that the district isn't making the "consent decree" school – so named for the legal document mandating its creation – a neighborhood school like Sacramento High once was.
The consent decree came from a lawsuit settled between Sacramento City Unified and parents angry over the 2003 closure of Sacramento High School, which is now occupied by a charter school. A new neighborhood school was needed, they said, because not all local families would want to attend the charter school.
Now, some wonder whether the new school, without any boundaries, really fulfills the spirit of the consent decree.
"It's supposed to be for the students of the Sacramento High attendance area," said Kate Lenox, a litigant in that lawsuit. "So you would think, logically … that it could have a boundary area that is the same as the old Sacramento High attendance area."
Further, parents worry that the school will fare poorly in open enrollment, given what Lenox described as the school's "formless" nature: It lacks a principal, a specific academic program and a name, despite its legally mandated fall opening.
"It seems to me it is almost doomed to fail," said Karen Gunby, an east Sacramento parent with a young son who potentially could attend the school. "If (the district doesn't) make it the best it can be, people aren't going to go."
Miller said the open enrollment concept has been successful for the district's small high schools, many of which are theme-based.
"With some of our smaller high schools, we've had very successful recruitment efforts and (insufficient enrollment) really hasn't been an issue," she said, citing the popular Health Professions High School in particular. "Certainly we want to get the word out, do community engagement and look at any attendance issues … as the school operationalizes."
Sacramento City Unified trustees voted in December to place the school at the site of the former Marian Anderson Elementary School, a 6-acre campus that currently houses several specialized programs.
Miller said the Success Academy – a community day school serving about 40 students – will be moved before the new school opens. But a therapeutic program for about 80 severely emotionally disturbed students and a day care center will stay at Marian Anderson, Miller said.
Miller also said a district-level committee is considering a timeline for developing the school.
Spring is the typical time for hiring principals, Miller said, so officials are looking for an interim leader to guide the planning process until then.
"We know that the program is going to be a college preparatory program, and we're going to begin with ninth-graders. That's pretty well set," Miller said. "But anything beyond that, and special nuances of the school, will be discussed at community outreach meetings."
In the meantime, parents are organizing their own meeting. Gunby and neighbor Susie Shields are inviting interested parents to meet Tuesday night for a discussion.
The meeting will take place at the offices of the Sacramento City Teachers Association, but Shields said the union is not involved in the effort.
Shields acknowledged that parents should've gotten involved earlier. But she said it's better late than never.
"We can't stand by and do nothing," she said.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
