School borders may shift in Modesto

The Modesto City Schools board on Tuesday will discuss moving boundaries for north Modesto students for next fall and take a first look at district policies on social media use by employees.

The standards would cover texting with students and conduct with even 18-year-olds who attend Modesto schools, an issue that brought national attention to Enochs High earlier this year.

Former Enochs teacher James Hooker quit in February after leaving his wife and family to pursue a romantic relationship with 18-year-old student Jordan Powers. After the couple moved in together, her mother found evidence of thousands of text messages between the two while Powers was his student.

A subsequent police investigation turned up allegations of misconduct with a different student in 1998. Hooker faces a Dec. 4 trial on a charge of committing a sex act in 1998 with a minor.

The policies include an admonition "to maintain professional standards" when interacting with students. Employees would be required to report incidents of inappropriate conduct between an employee and a student, and employees found to have engaged in such would face disciplinary action.

In other matters, the board will take up the issue of uneven enrollment at its seven high schools and potential boundary changes to remedy the mismatch. No action will be taken at this meeting, but staff will seek a final decision by January to go into effect for the 2013-14 school year.

The recommended shifts would move Sipherd and Freedom elementary school boundaries in the Sylvan district to the Johansen attendance area rather than Enochs High. Other, unspecified Enochs neighborhoods would shift to Beyer High and some Beyer-bound students would instead attend Davis High.

Davis has only 1,400 students this year, even with the addition of the Public Safety Academy formerly housed at the district's Reno Avenue complex. Enochs and Modesto high schools both have more than 2,400 students.

Also Tuesday night, trustees will:

• Hold a 5 p.m. reception for 74 students from 13 schools who earned perfect scores on state tests.

• Assign board duties for 2013. President Rubén Villalobos is expected to hand the gavel to board Vice President Nancy Cline.

• Consider allowing fenced access through the Enochs campus for construction crews installing a roundabout at Litt Road and Sylvan Avenue, as well as soccer fields and other improvements at Mary Grogan Community Park.

• Approve junior and high school graduation times and dates, May 21-23, 2013.

The Modesto City Schools board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the staff development center, 425 Locust St. The reception will be from 5 to 6 p.m. The meeting agenda is posted at http://bit.ly/MCSmeetings.

Bee education reporter Nan Austin can be reached at naustin@modbee.com or (209) 578-2339, and on Twitter, @NanAustin.