Sylvan board to vote on boundaries

MODESTO -- Sylvan Union School District board members will meet tonight for a final vote on shifting school boundaries. On Wednesday and Thursday nights, the northeast Modesto district will hold town hall meetings on a new topic: shifting school times.

Sylvan is seeking public input on proposals to change school day start and end times beginning in the fall. Changing school schedules could help students adapt to the more demanding common core standards, according to the committee proposing the changes. The meetings will be held:

• Wednesday, 7 to 8 p.m., in the Standiford Elementary School multipurpose room, 605 Tokay Ave.

• Thursday, 7 to 8 p.m., in the Stockard Coffee Elementary School multipurpose room, 3900 Northview Drive

Trustees will take up the schedule shifting proposals at their Feb. 26 meeting.

Tonight, the board will vote on two options to even out enrollment, and additional recommendations on busing and which students in affected areas could stay at their campuses.

The recommendations would shift C.F. Brown Elementary-area students to Somerset Middle School instead of Savage Middle School. Two contingent options would allow "grandfathering" of affected sixth- and seventh-grade students now at Savage and decide if the district will continue to bus them.

A second switch would move Sherwood Elementary students living west of McHenry Avenue to Woodrow Elementary. Two contingent options would let affected students who are now fourth-graders stay there for fifth grade (Sylvan sixth-graders to go to middle schools) or allow all affected students to finish their elementary years there.

In other matters, the board will consider issuing layoff notices to 17 teachers and others whose programs may lose funding for the next year. It will finalize seniority considerations for layoffs.

Trustees also will vote on adopting the 2013-14 calendar, which has students starting school Aug. 7 and ending May 23.

The Sylvan Union School District board will meet at 7 p.m. tonight in the district boardroom, 605 Sylvan Ave. See the full agenda at http://bit.ly/SylvanBoard.

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