Mesa councilman: Powell Jr. High could close

Mesa Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh is spreading word through Twitter that the Mesa school district wants to close Powell Junior High School.

Kavanaugh released his comments Thursday morning, hours before a Mesa Unified School District governing board meeting.

The meeting will be the first public reading of recommendations from a committee that has spent the past few months looking at different ways to use Mesa’s campuses in light of declining enrollment, competition from charter schools, and budget drops.

Kavanaugh told the Tribune Thursday afternoon: “I’m sure it’s going to be disheartening news for the parents, students and residents of those neighborhoods.”

District spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss would not confirm the information about Powell. She said district teachers and staff will hear the recommendations for the first time Thursday after students leave campuses.

“Every principal in every department is having a meeting this afternoon so our staff members are aware of what will be said tonight,” Bareiss said.

Mesa Superintendent Mike Cowan told governing board members in July that it was time to look at making vast changes to programs and school delivery. Discussions since then have touched on possibly moving ninth-graders from Mesa’s junior high schools to the high schools, creating new niche educational programs or expanding popular programs such as the district’s Franklin back-to-basics schools.

A committee made up of district employees and one member from the group that creates school boundaries is making the recommendations Thursday based on enrollment data from each of the 77 neighborhood schools, maintenance and repair reports for those school buildings and fiscal information.

“I’m very disappointed in the decision to recommend closing Powell,” Kavanaugh said. “It has been such an important key anchor for that neighborhood for decades. It’s been a great institution to bring the community together, to hold the community together for all the kids, parents and community groups who use that facility. Closing it to me is a blow for the neighborhood in west Mesa. I just hope Mesa Public Schools will keep the community in mind when they look at other uses they want to make of the property.”

Bareiss did say the board will hear and discuss the recommendations Thursday night but will not make any decisions.

“The board will have the information. It can change the recommendations at any time,” she said.

The district is mailing a letter home to all its families on Friday that will include the recommendations and information about two public comment meetings: one at 7 p.m.  Dec. 1 at  Westwood High School and another at 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at the district curriculum services center, 549 N. Stapley Drive.

The governing board wants to have a final decision by the end of December to start the process to put changes in place by next school year.

Board president Mike Hughes said Thursday he believes the administration is taking the right steps to help the district in tough economic times.

“I believe the administration has gone through a very thorough analysis,” he said. He wants the final decisions to “enhance the product, the educational environment that Mesa (school district) delivers.”