Boundaries set in Davis to boos, ire

LAYTON — There wasn't a brawl when Davis School Board members gave final and unanimous approval to a boundary realignment proposal Tuesday night at the Davis Board of Education meeting. But law enforcement was asked to be there just in case.

However, a number of angry parents did shout objections, boos and even insults at board members. And when the board voted "yes," many in the crowd of around 200 Davis residents shouted "no!"

During the discussion prior to the decision, crowd members yelled, "Don't do it," "You're stupid" and "Keep communities together" to go along with the occasional boos.

After the vote, a resident held a sign that read "We won't forget" and some yelled "Vote 'em out!"

It's been a rocky road for the boundary realignment study that leaders initially launched in September. Board members described the process as agonizing.

During the past two weeks, board members said they read around 1,000 e-mails from residents about their concerns regarding the boundary proposal that was presented earlier this month.

"Those of you who made comments, but they are not part of this implementation, would wonder if they were not considered," said Darrell White, the boundary consultant who created the proposal. "But I would remind those people that we have received hundreds of comments from all over the district and many were in direct opposition to each other."

"We have listened to all of you and I really want you to feel that we have heard you," said board member Cheryl Werven. "It is not feasible for us to make both sides happy. We have to meet in the middle somewhere, and we really are trying to make conscientious decisions — it's part of change, and I understand that not everyone wants to do it."

The boundary realignment proposal's aim was to redraw high school lines to balance enrollment while creating boundaries for a new high school in Syracuse, which opens next fall. Some students will be nudged out of each school in the district to accomplish the enrollment balance.

A hot issue with many residents was that, under the plan, around 300 Syracuse teens will be within the Clearfield High School boundaries while the rest of Syracuse's students will attend the new high school. Parents didn't want the community split up and worried about their kids being moved away from their friends.