The Beacon's Opinion

posted Nov 19, 2009 - 10:05:32am

We congratulate the Volusia County School Board for the way it handled redistricting for the new high school in Orange City.

The school system had several public meetings with parents and others in the affected towns. School officials listened, which is good, and responded, which is great, to the concerns they heard.

We also salute City Commissioner Leigh Matusick, who was quick to inform her colleagues on the DeLand City Commission about the way the School Board’s plan could affect the community of Victoria Park.

Matusick attended school-district meetings on the topic, and talked about the redistricting process with citizens and at City Commission meetings. As a result, DeLand officials were able, early in the process, to express their concerns.

No doubt Matusick’s work helped nudge the Volusia County Schools staff to create Scenario 3, which was ultimately approved by the School Board. The final decision on the boundaries will come Dec. 8.

Scenario 3 keeps Victoria Park whole and attending DeLand High School, and keeps Lake Helen students at DeLand High School, as well. It should win final approval.

School Board Members Candace Lankford and Diane Smith were also active in assuring residents were well-informed during the redistricting process.

Many in Deltona are disappointed that the town’s students cannot all go to high school in Deltona. The problem is, they just won’t fit. Deltona has about 4,000 students, and its two high schools have a total capacity of 3,575.

The School Board should keep an eye on this, and respect Deltona’s concern about creating community by keeping its students at Deltona schools.

Another concern is DeLand High School. DeLand will be at about 96-percent capacity under Scenario 3. While that’s a welcome relief for the overcrowded school, it won’t last. Enough residential construction to overwhelm the school’s capacity is already zoned and planned in the DeLand area.

The school district’s pattern has been to build huge, expensive new high schools, without regard for city boundaries. The new Orange City high school opening in 2010 cost $100 million.

We urge the school district to reconsider its devotion to big, expensive schools, and to take to heart the importance of high schools to the communities where they are located. We also urge the School Board to consider whether some smaller high schools wouldn’t better serve many students.

Each of West Volusia’s communities has its own identity and character. Those distinctions are the reasons people move to those towns, love them and serve them. That creates community, and is as important for an adolescent’s development as his or her high-school classes.

While the math won’t always work out, community distinctions and municipal boundaries should count for a lot in school planning.

It’s helpful that Volusia County Schools has, in recent years, committed to working with cities and the county in the land-development process. That takes time and effort, but it’s essential. We can’t ask the school system to keep up with a willy-nilly growth process in which it has no voice.

This time, School Board members did the best they could with the numbers they had. We congratulate and thank them.

Comment on this article

Fields marked with a * are required

Find this article interesting? Subcribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more opinions. Subscribe now!