Open Enrollment Space in Catalina Foothills - District 16

April 26, 2008 by Donna Anderson.

Many have wondered why there is space for many open enrollees in Catalina Foothills -  District 16 since this school district is the most coveted in Pima County.  The reason there is so much space is that in 2005 many of the apartments in that school district converted to condominiums. Most developers made the foolhearty move to not renew leases because they thought their  newly converted condos would sell quickly. Of course they were wrong and there is a major glut of condos on the market for the past few years. The people who have bought these condos are mostly singles, young couples, and empty nesters;  therefore, most were without children that are school-age. District 16 also could not take open-enrollees from Tucson’s largest school district until this year, because TUSD would not let the children out because it incorrectly believed (and wanted to keep the tax revenue, no doubt) that the discrimination suit provisions it had to follow included not letting kids open enroll. Of course, TUSD knew that if open enrollment was allowed many would chose to go to Catalina Foothills schools since the test scores are higher and many of the schools are located closer to the children’s neighborhoods.

The question is if you do not open enroll your child to Catalina Foothills - District 16 this year, will you be able to do so in the future? The answer is yes,  if there is space available.  To the best of my knowledge there still is space at some schools such as Ventana Vista Elementary.  In years to come, there may be less space since there has been a mass exit out of TUSD of children from neighborhoods that are close to the District 16 schools.  Once your child is in District 16 schools,  it is most likely that he/she will be able to continue there until high school graduation.

To find out more about open enrollment, call Catalina Foothills Administrative offices at 577-5304 or drop by their offices on weekdays at 2101 E River Rd which is near the intersection of River and Campbell.

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