Deltona to challenge OC school decision

BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
New school takes shape — Construction of High School DDD continues apace along West Rhode Island Avenue in Orange City. The new school, which the Volusia County School Board will formally name later, is due to open in August. DDD is designed to accommodate 2,564 students. Under an attendance plan pending before the School Board, DDD will draw students from DeBary, Orange City and part of Deltona. The Deltona City Commission may formally challenge the attendance zone that splits the city. City commissioners oppose busing Deltona students across Interstate 4, but School Board members say the numbers don’t work. A final decision will be made by the School Board at its Tuesday, Dec. 8, meeting.

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Nov 30, 2009 - 3:44:18pm

Unwilling to accept the Volusia County School Board decision to send some Deltona students to a new high school in Orange City, the Deltona City Commission is ready for a formal challenge.

Without objection, the City Commission Nov. 16 vowed to urge the School Board to change its mind on school rezoning, before final action is taken Dec. 8.

If the friendly persuasion fails, the City Commission decided, it may invoke a provision in an obscure inter-local agreement between Deltona and the School District.

“This ain’t over,” Mayor Dennis Mulder declared.

Mulder and other commissioners say they can use a dispute-resolution clause in a 2007 concurrency agreement between the city and the School Board. Under that pact, a contested issue may be referred to mediation.

Acting Deltona City Attorney James “Skip” Fowler said mediation would likely begin in January or February at the earliest. Both sides would have to agree on the choice of a mediator.

“I’m really happy that we passed that inter-local agreement,” Mulder said.

School Board Chairwoman Diane Smith, who lives in Deltona, said she was surprised by the city’s discussion.

“I had no idea,” Smith told The Beacon. “I called the superintendent to make sure we’ve done everything. It sounds to me as if we did.”

Smith attended the City Commission meeting Nov. 16, where commissioners discussed their reaction to the decision to send some Deltona students to the Orange City high school.

She defended her support of the plan that puts part of her city within the DDD attendance zone.

“There was no way to keep Deltona together because of the numbers,” Smith said. “When I was looking at Deltona High at 165 percent over capacity, something had to be done.”

Doing the math

Deltona has two high schools within its borders: Deltona High and Pine Ridge.

Official data show Deltona High was designed to accommodate 1,834 students, but the current enrollment is 2,981. Pine Ridge’s capacity is 1,741, but its student body is 2,197.

The other existing school affected by the rezoning, DeLand High, has a design capacity of 2,804, but the school’s enrollment is 3,286.

DDD was built at a cost of $100 million to help alleviate this overcrowding.

The new school is designed for an enrollment of 2,564. About 1,300 students who live in DeBary and Orange City and the surrounding areas west of Interstate 4 will attend DDD, but they aren’t enough to fill it.

“You’ve got to populate that school,” Smith said.

Collaboration, negotiation or mediation

The School Board entered into agreements with the county government and each of the cities two years ago. The agreement on school concurrency was a growth-management tool, consistent with state law.

Concurrency means adequate educational facilities must be available in advance of the population that will use them, especially as new development occurs. As they approve requests for new residential projects, local governments must, by state law, work to prevent school overcrowding.

The new school, known as DDD, is scheduled to open in August 2010. DDD is the school’s working designation. The School Board will formally name DDD later.

Last week, the School Board tentatively approved a high-school attendance plan that requires some Deltona teens to be bused to DDD. A final vote will come at the School Board’s Dec. 8 meeting.

The attendance plan calls for:

— DeBary and Orange City students who now attend Deltona and Pine Ridge high schools, will attend DDD.

— Some students now attending Pine Ridge High will move to Deltona High School.

— Students in all of Victoria Park and Lake Helen will attend DeLand High School.

— Some Deltona students who live east of Interstate 4 will attend DDD.

The City Commission urged Deltonans to contact School Board members between now and Dec. 8, to ask them to revise the attendance plan and rule out assigning Deltona’s students to DDD.

The commission further agreed to work to pack the School Board’s Dec. 8 meeting with as many Deltonans as possible. The city government may send postcards or fliers to Deltona’s 30,000 or so households urging residents to attend the School Board meeting.

Mulder, a graduate of Deltona High, said he would consider handing out fliers on the topic at his alma mater.

The City Commission’s desire to keep its students from being forced to attend a school west of Interstate 4 produced a rare show of unity among members.

The Deltona City Commission’s dissension and discord have become something of a hallmark of the largest city in Volusia County, as the governing body frequently votes 4-3 on key issues, and members often exchange sharp words.

“I think on this one, we’re all pulling the cart in the same direction,” Commissioner Herb Zischkau said.

At Zischkau’s suggestion, the commission named him to work with Fowler and other city officials to urge Deltonans to oppose the redistricting and, perhaps, to call for mediation with the School Board.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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