Q.C., Chandler schools gear up for students

Backpacks, pencils and paper at the ready.

The calendar may still read July, but students in the Queen Creek and Chandler unified school districts return to class this week to start a new school year. Both districts are on a modified, year-round calendar.

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The Chandler district could see an increase of 1,000 students, spokesman Terry Locke said. Students may not all arrive today, but some may trickle in the next few weeks as families move into Chandler and learn about the district’s schedule.

The district is opening two new schools: Chandler Traditional Junior High is opening at the current Pathways Learning Center, while Pathways, an alternative program, is moving into a new facility named Ken “Chief” Hill Learning Academy, near Frye and Cooper roads.

In response to the enrollment growth, about 130 new teachers were hired and will start teaching this week in the Chandler district. Between 45 and 50 of them are in new positions created to help the district with growth, while others are filling positions vacated by retirements and resignations, Locke said.

Many of the teachers - about 60 percent,  have experience in the classroom while 40 percent are new to the profession.

Queen Creek students return to class Wednesday. Chandler students return Monday.

Queen Creek’s biggest change isn’t a new building or program, but how school sites are organized this year. To address growth, the governing board agreed last spring to a plan that shifts grade levels at some schools. The four elementary schools will hold students in kindergarten through fourth grade, while Queen Creek Middle School will house fifth- and sixth-graders. Newell Barney Junior High — which underwent a name change from last year’s Newell Barney Middle School moniker — will house seventh- and eighth-graders.

The Queen Creek school district hired 22 new teachers over the summer, assistant superintendent Tom Lindsey said. That’s down from the 50 to 60 teachers hired in the past few years.

“People stayed in place with all the stuff happening,” he said.

All the “stuff” is the floundering economy, the uncertain budgets for Arizona school districts and the thousands of layoff notices given to teachers in Arizona in April.

In the East Valley, a majority of the teachers who received “reduction in force” notices have been hired back, including all but one in the Queen Creek district, Lindsey said.

Sarah Drelles, 22, is one of the new teachers. She will be teaching geometry and algebra at Queen Creek High School. Drelles moved to Arizona this year after she graduated from the University of Michigan in May.

“I’m excited working here. It reminds me of my hometown and where I went to school,” Drelles said. She grew up Traverse City, Mich., which has a population around 30,000.

“I’ve always liked math. I want to be a good role model for students, especially for girls in the classroom,” Drelles said.

First-day jitters are already in place.

“Just getting everything ready for the first day of school, planning my lessons and staying on schedule,” she said of her nervousness.

The Queen Creek district estimates that as many as 300 new students may show up in the next week or so.

“It’s all just a ‘guesstimate’ right now,” Lindsey said. “We don’t know who is going to be showing or not.”

One of the problems in estimating student enrollment is the high number of foreclosures in the Queen Creek area and the families that have moved away, an unknown to the district.

But Lindsey said other families are coming in behind them.

“Until we see the actual bodies the first week, we’re not really quite sure with all the foreclosures,” he said. “But what we’re hearing is people are moving into those houses.”

Another impact on enrollment is the opening of J.O. Combs Unified School District’s first high school. Until this year, Combs didn’t have a high school, so Combs students applied under open enrollment to attend Queen Creek High School.

Combs High School is opening with freshmen and sophomores.

Open enrollment applications from the Combs district into Queen Creek High for the upcoming school year include 40 ninth-graders, 48 10th-graders, 106 11th-graders and 126 12th-graders, Lindsey said.