It appears the possible repurposing or closures of Desert Palms, Pioneer and Sky View elementary schools could be put on pause.
At a recent Peoria Unified School District governing board study session, board members and Superintendent Jason Reynolds discussed tabling the proposal, to be re-considered down the road.
However, district officials said no decision has been made on the matter and a plan is being formulated for next steps.
The consideration of repurposing certain PUSD schools has been on the table for at least three years with study sessions on the subject held since September of 2020.
Possible outcomes have been discussed, ranging from closing those schools and selling the land to trading the land.
The problem is that those outcomes are still murky as the next step is moving forward with facility changes, and generally includes financial requirements as well as approvals from outside agencies.
Reynolds said the subject has been thoroughly researched, and now would be the time to start the closure process.
“Up until now it has been very informative. We bring information, we bring information, we bring information,” he said. “Now you have all the information that really you could possibly have to figure out how to move forward.”
The problem is, that information isn’t enough for some board members and others involved, especially with the possibility of students being upended if school closures are made.
“Board members have said: If we are going to move forward with this process, we want a clear understanding of what the end will be,” he said.
But Reynolds and some board members have said it’s still unclear what that end will be.
Desert Palms, Pioneer and Sky View elementary schools were chosen as potential candidates for repurposing based on several data sets, such as: demographic and enrollment information, enrollment distribution, staffing comparisons, staffing costs (per student), facility assessment costs (per student), utility costs (per student), specialized programs, location, and historical significance.
The possible outcomes for these schools include land trade, land sale, facility repurpose, leave the facility vacant or partially vacant, or discontinue the process.
Making changes to school facilities is very complex and can be a lengthy process.
To move forward with most of these options, the district would need to get approval from the School Facilities Oversight Board, the Attendance Boundary Committee, and school board, as well as hold public hearings for residents, which would take at least six months for all steps.
Additionally, to sell or trade any school land requires property and land appraisals, which would take at least four months. And a land sale would require approval from the voters, adding more funds and time.
School board President David Sandoval said with the district experiencing many other challenges, now may be the right time to pause the repurposing process and come back to it in a year.
“It could be prudent and the right thing to do to get our students back up to those levels of academic success from an academic perspective, a developmental perspective, a social emotional perspective,” he said. “Until we get back to those levels of student success, I would be supportive of pausing this process.”
If plans are shifted, Reynolds said the district could consider programing that could go to the underutilized schools.
“There are opportunities out there without closing a school, and [opportunities to] use space more effectively,” he said.
He added that the work staff has done up to this point will continue to be valuable if the board decided to pause this issue and pick it up at a later date.
“I don’t want to suggest that the work that has gone into this has some how been for not,” Reynolds said. “It has been very valuable work that we have done and will be valuable to us as we move forward.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
Peoria Unified School District,
Arizona,
Superintendent Jason Reynolds,
PUSD,
David Sandoval,
school closure,
repurpose,
School Facilities Oversight Board,
Attendance Boundary Committee,
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