Franklin schools may expand to junior high

Mesa Unified School District is considering a plan to expand the district's popular Franklin schools to the junior high level.

Parents and students will learn more at a meeting 7 p.m. April 30 at Red Mountain High School, said associate superintendent Mike Cowan, who will be the district's next superintendent starting July 1.

The Franklin schools have been around for decades and take a back-to-basics approach with curriculum and learning. Students wear uniforms and teachers follow a whole group instruction plan, directing all students at the same time on the same lesson.

Cowan said he's met with the presidents of all four parent groups at the Franklin campuses and received overwhelming support to open the program to seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders.

The district is eyeing the Power Middle School campus, 7038 E. Adobe St., which opened in 1995 as an alternative school. Parents and students at Power - which has about 70 students - were notified it will close at the end of this school year.

"We have had several communications from our Franklin parents who have advocated for a Franklin junior high," Cowan said. "The availability of this site allows us to expand a campus and run a junior high program in conjunction with a very successful elementary program."

Cowan said while the closing of Power's alternative program is a cost-savings measure, the opening of a Franklin junior high may fill a request by many parents.

"This allows us to expand a program in an area that parents have expressed interest in for their children," he said. "It allows us to capitalize on an existing facility. It does not expand much of the overhead costs associated with a new program, because we'll be using the administration and clerical staff currently at the Franklin Northeast Elementary school to oversee and support the junior high program as well."

Franklin Northeast and the Power campuses are next-door to one another.

Cowan said the junior high may open with between 60 and 90 seventh-graders in August, with a plan to add an additional grade each of the following two years. Since it is still in the planning stages, he did not know how many teachers it would require. The Franklin schools are staffed typically with higher student-to-teacher ratios due to the design of the curriculum, he said. The elementary Franklin schools are staffed on a 30-to-1 basis.

The district is not leaving out the alternative school-students in the plan, either.

It plans to expand Superstition High School, an alternative school serving ninth- through 12th grade, to include seventh and eighth grades. "Alternative" schools are usually for students who have not been successful at traditional schools.

Students at Power are assigned there by their school leaders when issues need to be addressed. It is not intended to be a long-term solution, said district spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss. Students at Power who are not assigned back to their home schools may be assigned to one of the district's other alternative programs, she said.

The majority of the students at Power - 39 of the 69 - would be leaving the program this year since they are in eighth grade.

Mesa Unified is seeking ways to save money - and boost enrollment - in light of a potential $60 million cut from the state next school year. The district saw enrollment drop about 2,000 students this school year and expects the same drop next year.

The district has developed or adopted several specialized programs in the last few years to address different needs and requests of the community. The Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies opened, as well as the Health Science High School. The district has an International Baccalaureate program at Westwood High School and is in the process of adding a junior high and elementary school campus to that program.

The Mesa district would be the second one from the East Valley to open a traditional junior high next school year if the plans go forth. Chandler Unified School District - which has several Chandler Traditional Academies - is opening a junior high at the Pathways Learning Center west of Arizona Avenue when the next school year begins in July.