A West Jordan family is asking officials in the Jordan School District to let their son go to a middle school close to their home.
“It’s literally a mile from our new home,” Stuart Fedderson said. “We can literally see Sunset Ridge from our new house up on the hill.”
Fedderson and his family will soon be moving into a new home in the Oquirrh West subdivision. His younger children will attend a nearby elementary school, but his middle schooler won’t be able to attend Sunset Ridge Middle School, which is nearby.
“Our son is zoned to go to Joel P. Jensen Middle School, a middle school that is literally seven miles away," he said.
It’s an issue that Fedderson said he’s been trying to get addressed since March, when he discovered his home would be in the Joel P. Jensen boundaries.
The boundary quirk arose because of high growth rates in the area. Fedderson’s home lies in an area where new development is now popping up.
Although it’s close to Sunset Ridge Middle School, district officials said that school is at capacity. The district has pre-assigned eventual students to Joel P. Jensen Middle School, where there’s room for the students.
“You moved into an area with high growth,” a district board member wrote to Fedderson in an email earlier this month. “There is no room in the schools you mentioned. Several years ago, we addressed the boundaries and they all agreed to cross district bus new homes until new schools are built.”
The board member wrote to Fedderson that there was no timeline for construction of a new school. Fedderson said he’s heard that could be seven to nine years away.
Cross-district busing is when students may live close to one school but are bused across the district to schools with available space. But Fedderson said even that isn’t an option at the moment.
“Cross-district busing may be normal but there’s no bus,” said Fedderson. “There’s no bus to take our son the seven miles to the middle school.”
District officials said buses are only provided when there is a minimum of ten students in a neighborhood. Fedderson said there are only three middle-school-aged children in his neighborhood now. Those families are responsible for getting their child to school.
“This is a unique situation which we are still working on to assist the families involved,” said a Jordan School District spokesperson in a statement. “When possible, as in this case, boundaries are established prior to development.”
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Fedderson admits the boundaries were established before his subdivision was established. But he said his home builders didn’t notify him of the school boundary issue until after he had purchased his home.
Fedderson is hoping the district will provide some accommodation. He’d eventually like to see school boundaries change so children in his neighborhood can attend the closest middle school.
He said he applied for a special permit to have his son attend Sunset Ridge Middle School but that permit was denied. At the very least, he’s hoping for a bus option.
“That is a step in the right direction,” Fedderson said. “I just feel like the district put this empty plot of land with fictional students in it and said we’ll worry about that when people start reacting. Well, here’s the reaction.”
An update was received from district officials Tuesday evening after a school board meeting.
District officials unveiled a plan to accommodate the three children in the Oquirrh West subdivision, including Fedderson's son, on an existing bus route. A board member said the three students would be bused to Joel P. Jensen Middle School using an existing bus route. District transportation officials said the route would make an additional stop in the neighborhood and pick up the children each morning at 7:30 a.m.