Board axes Daytona

Daytona Middle School’s official last day of school is July 1.

The Lake Havasu Unified School District governing board unanimously voted Tuesday night to close one of its two middle schools for next fall in order to meet a tightening budget.

The board also voted to reconfigure its six elementary schools from kindergarten through fifth-grades to kindergarten through sixth-grades starting next fall.

“It’s a shame, said board member Ross Hobday during the meeting. “But we are going to move on and make it better than it was before.”

Only one community member requested to speak on the issue before the board cast its vote Tuesday night. Plenty of seats were open in the governing boardroom compared to standing room only during prior meetings within the last three months about the school’s potential closure.

This year’s fifth graders will now basically stay at their elementary schools next year for sixth grade, and Thunderbolt Middle School will educate just seventh- and eighth-graders.

Because Thunderbolt will only have two grades next year instead of three, school leaders expect its enrollment to stay about the same or be even less than this year.

Daytona has been educating roughly half the number of students who attend Thunderbolt Middle School, according to district figures.

Transportation will be provided to any students living at least one mile away from their new school campus.

According to student count data released Jan. 29 by the district, Starline, Smoketree and Jamaica have the most students of the district’s six elementary schools. Nautilus and Oro Grande Elementary Schools have the least.

The LHUSD started the 60-day state process in December of public notices and meetings in order to vote on the school’s closure Tuesday.

District officials announced about one month after the November 2009 election that they would have to shave $1.7 million from their bottom line next year – $1.2 million due to the loss of the secondary property taxes that voters turned down and $500,000 due to a state funding loss attached to declining student enrollment and attendance.

No plans have been announced yet — if any even exist — for the empty buildings at the Daytona campus next fall.

However, Arizona State University officials are expected to vote by the end of February on whether or not to gather further data to determine if Lake Havasu City could support a four-year college. The city currently has one community college campus.

Today’s News-Herald previously reported that the possibility of an empty Daytona campus was attractive to ASU officials.

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com