This past summer, the Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) school board came to the conclusion that Flagstaff schools were in desperate need of change, and that conclusion resulted in school closures, new district boundary maps and students transferring schools.

“I am so mad — I can’t believe I have to go to Flagstaff High next fall,” said a local high school student about receiving news in July of school changes after Sinagua High School closed. “This means I won’t be able to see some of my friends as much.”

Although some students — especially older students in middle and high school — have complained about transferring to different schools, the elementary school students are taking it a lot easier after South Beaver and C­­­­hristensen Elementary schools have closed.

Carolyn Hardy, principal at Kinsey Elementary School for the past five years, said she had anticipated Kinsey would take in a majority of the students from South Beaver Elementary, which had about 337 students. However, after the school board decided to change the boundary map, Kinsey received only 77 former South Beaver students. Kinsey also accepted five new teachers, four from South Beaver and one from Christensen.
Other South Beaver and Christensen students were put into Marshal Elementary School or DeMiguel, depending on where they lived on the district boundary map.

Hardy said she was somewhat disappointed because she was looking forward to taking in all the students from South Beaver, but she also said she is content and understands the board’s plan is for long-term budgeting and population consideration.

The reason several schools closed and others merged and switched K-6 programs into K-5 and 6th-8th grade in the past few months is not because NAU decided to purchase South Beaver, but because the school district noticed a huge decline in student enrollment. Because the numbers were declining and the budget could not allow schools to remain open, FUSD had to come up with a plan.

After months of planning last year and evaluating the schools based on inspection and room sizes, Christensen Elementary was just not living up to the sizeable classrooms and design requirements for renovations.

The former Sinagua High School building is being used as the Sinagua Middle School campus, but instead of doing the normal 7th-8th grade programs, they have changed to a 6th-8th grade program.

“It’s going better than expected,” Hardy said. “They are able to be with kids more their age, even though parents were worried about them not adjusting. At the same time, these kids will be able to stay with the same kids from middle school to high school … it makes the transition easier for them.”

It was not until a couple of weeks before school started when the district finalized their plans about where all the students were going. Kinsey was a perfect example of trying to make the transition easier, not just for the kids, but the parents, too.

“When I talked to the parents on the phone, I would explain that we could make a boundary exception, but I also told them if they do that, they would have to provide their own transportation,” Hardy said.

Flagstaff Middle School was closed for reasons similar to those of South Beaver — low student enrollment.

“Students are doing well academically and socially,” said Kim Branges, executive assistant for the FUSD governing board.

Kinsey conducted open houses a little differently this year. The weeklong open houses allowed parents to register their children, but also granted time for the students to meet their classmates and teachers and find familiar faces.