Siblings could be separated when Metea Valley opens

School spirit may divide some Indian Prairie Unit District 204 households by the beginning of next school year.

Board members said Monday they already have received requests from parents who wish to have their children stay, with older siblings, at Neuqua or Waubonsie Valley high schools when the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School opens to freshman and sophomores in August 2009.

Board member Curt Bradshaw said he recently heard a case in which a family will have one freshman and two twin juniors in the district. The students, he said, would ultimately end up on two different schools' swim teams instead of being teammates.

"When presented in this isolated conversation, I found the request that came to me to be compelling," Bradshaw said.

Despite how compelling the argument, Deputy Superintendent Kathy Birkett said officials have followed the district's policy that requires documented hardships to be presented before transfers are allowed.

"I don't know that we want to be in the business of picking and choosing who gets to stay with their older sibling and who does not," she said. "We opened the third high school for space considerations and to provide strong academic programs, and when we start leaving students back at whatever building, you're still looking at an overcrowded building, so how would we pick and choose?"

Bradshaw said he felt the limited exceptions are too rigid.

"We are fearful of a slippery slope so we don't want to allow for a single exception for fear of slipping on that slippery slope," he said. "I don't want to be in a situation where we are so rigid that we can't meet the needs of our families."

School board President Mark Metzger warned it could also be a litigious slope based on the lawsuits filed by families earlier this year in an attempt to get the boundaries changed. He feared others may follow the same route if they get angry enough about their children being separated.

"I think we would be kidding ourselves not to recognize that our community has demonstrated, very recently, that it is quick to run to court if they think they can get a favorable ruling there," he said. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do to protect our resources from a public that has already demonstrated its willingness to go that route."

As of Monday, the board had received only two specific requests, but Birkett said the issue has been raised in smaller meetings with Waubonsie and Metea staff.

"There's no way know (how many families would be in the situation of having students at two schools) without asking," Metzger said. "And in my opinion the consequence of asking is greater than not."