The repurposing or closures of Desert Palms, Pioneer and Sky View elementary schools has been suspended.
In a letter sent to those schools, the district stated that, “After reviewing data and discussing all available options, we have decided to suspend our current process for closing or repurposing schools.”
The letter went on to say the district recognizes the repurposing process has been a long, and often uncertain experience.
“Throughout the process, we involved many parents, community leaders, district staff and our Governing Board to make the best possible decision for the future of your school community. At this time, our primary focus will be on the academic success of students and recovery from the interrupted learning during the pandemic,” the letter stated.
Moving forward, the letter stated all past research will continue to inform any future efforts in the area repurposing schools.
“We will be doing a critical review of our current programs at schools across the district to determine if we can better utilize our available space,” the letter said. “This will take some time, but we are hopeful it will allow for future expansion of academic offerings for our students.”
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 it.
School board President David Sandoval said at the study session that 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.”
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.
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