August 28, 2022 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Falling enrollment triggers study of 8 CUSD schools BY KEN SAIN STSN Managing Editor
Chandler Unified School District’s intense growth spurt is ending and it faces a future of declining enrollment. The governing board heard what the district is doing to prepare for that future at its Aug. 10 meeting. About an hour was dedicated to a space utilization study, where district officials are bringing together a committee to focus on what to do with eight elementary schools when enrollment begins to drop.
The eight schools are Bologna, Hull, Frye, Galveston, Navarrete, San Marcos, Sanborn and Shumway Leadership Academy. All eight schools are significantly below capacity. Only Shumway, Sanborn, and Frye are at more than 50% capacity. The other five are at half capacity or below, with Galveston having the most space at 42% capacity. Districts use the 100-day mark because enrollment fluctuates throughout the year, so it’s a way to compare what is consistent. Shumway is at 67% capacity, the
most of any of the eight schools. The board was told last spring that its demographics were changing. Homes are more expensive and younger families cannot afford to live here. The city’s population is getting older and there are fewer children who will need to attend school. Chandler is not the only district facing that problem, as both Kyrene and Tempe Union school districts last year were told basically the same thing by a demographer. The decline in CUSD has already started at the earliest grades.
Hull Elementary had 721 students at the 100th day of the 2016-2017 school year. Last year, at the 100-day mark it had 538. District officials project the number will be 448 for the 2030-2031 school year. “Over the last two years, our population of students under … five years of age has steadily declined from 8.7% in 2000, all the way down to 6.5% in 2020,” said Leo Schlueter, CUSD executive director of elementary education. “We know that our district’s enSee
UTILIZATION on page 6
Airport seeing building boom as hangar needs remain BY KEN SAIN STSN Managing Editor
It was mid-afternoon on a Friday and the skies above Chandler Municipal Airport were turning ominous. A storm was coming. Airport Manager Ryan Reeves said he sent one of his employees out to make sure all the aircraft were tied down properly – you know, so they didn’t
become unmanned flying aircraft. A lack of hangar space at Chandler Airport requires that planes be tied down if they’re outside so they won’t be damaged by high winds. But the city is moving forward with a plan to address that need. With about 100 acres of open space to develop inside the airport fence, a building boom is likely coming. The city issued a request for proposals, offering
40 miles of higher-speed internet wiring coming soon to Chandler BY KEN SAIN STSN Managing Editor
Dennis Aust, Chandler’s telecommunications and public utility service manager, said two things that seemed to contradict one another. First, about 90% of the city’s residents live in an area that is wired for fiber optic service. Then, he said that only about 20% are eligible for that service. “The 90% is fiber-to-node,” Aust said. “Only 15-to-20% have fiber-to-home.” That means the eight companies offering fiber optic internet service to Chandler residents have spent a lot of money to build the infrastructure to put fiber optic boxes in most neighborhoods. It will take a lot more money to get a line to every home in those neighborhoods. Fiber optics is an alternative to cable, DSL or satellite for internet service. It tends to be more reliable, offers faster speeds and costs more. Chandler City Council took action on Aug. 18 to improve the fiber optic options for residents, approving an agreement with Wyyerd Fiber to install 40 miles of fiber optic lines in the city. Where they will put those lines is still being decided.
“We want to do deep-dive research, find out where is there no fiber now,” said Jennifer Rogers, the director of expansion for Wyyerd. “We’ll look at the areas that have the biggest broadband constraints. We start there. But, one of the most important steps is we ask residents. We have a survey that goes out that helps us pinpoint where we should build.” A copy of the survey is on the company’s website, wyyerd.com. Rogers said residents can also call, or email Wyyerd. Wyyerd Fiber is joining a crowded field offering fiber optic service to Chandler residents. Cox Communications and Century Link Communications are the major players, Aust said. “The two incumbents don’t always overlap; you have one or the other,” he said. “They tend to work around each other.” The other six companies often lease the lines Cox and Century Link have put down. Those companies are Alluvian, Crown Castle, MCI (Verizon’s company), TCA (AT&T’s company), and Zayo. Salt River Project is the eighth. They installed some lines for their own use, but sometimes lease it to others, Aust said. Rogers said Wyyerd was started in Colorado in 2017 and bought out a West See
FIOS on page 4
some of that land for development. An existing fixed base operator, Chandler Air Services, was one of three companies to bid on the 1.6-acre site just north of the airport terminal that used to be house Venture Aviation. Their bid was accepted. “We don’t have any hangar of any sizable size, in terms of hosting of hangering medium-sized jets or turboprops,” said Thomas Mathew, president
and CEO of GateOne, which acquired Chandler Air Services. Mathew says they do have a large hangar, about 50,000 square feet, at the airport, but that it’s not tall enough to host some of the larger planes. They need a taller facility for those. Reeves pointed outside to the threatening weather when asked why See
HANGAR on page 7
Hope for Hamilton
Rocked by a probation decree for a recruitment violation, the Hamilton High School football program might escape punishment after the Chandler Unified administration relieved the assistant coach in the incident of all his team duties. The Arizona Interscholastic Association may decide the program's fate this week. For the latest, see page 38. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
F E AT U R E D STO R I E S Organize a G.A.I.N. gathering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .News . . . . . . . . . .Page 14 Chandler dog groomer has high hopes. . . . . . . . . . .Business. . . . . . Page 31` People beat a path to Chandler library. . . . . . . . . . .Neighbors . . . . Page 34 Meet Sun Lakes latest comic actor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GETOUT . . . . . . . Page 42
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