MUSD approves high school attendance borders 

The Maricopa Unified School District governing board approved the attendance borders for the city’s two high schools at its meeting last Wednesday by a unanimous vote. The approval came after a unanimous recommendation from the border committee to approve the borders it submitted at the Dec. 8 MUSD meeting. 

The full borders of the attendance area for Desert Sunrise High School are: 

• The western border of the attendance area is the Santa Rosa Wash; 

• The southern border is the Union Pacific Railroad tracks; 
• The eastern border is Hartman Road, with the exception of the area around Tortosa, where it extends east to Anderson Road; 
• On the north, the area extends to the Gila River Indian Community 
• All other areas will remain within the Maricopa High School boundary  

MUSD Director of Administrative Services Dr. Tracey Pastor said the boundaries closely mimic the middle school borders, with the exception of a couple of areas in the Cobblestone Farms and Rancho El Dorado communities. She said the 18-member committee held two public meetings to garner public input on the boundaries and,
“each public meeting had about five attendees and phone and email input was ‘very limited.’” 

Pastor said during the committee process that keeping neighborhoods intact and having neighborhood children attend the same school was a key goal for the committee – one which was achieved in all cases except for the massive Rancho El Dorado community, which will have areas designated for attendance at both schools. The primary attendance area for the new high school will be in the northeast portion of the city. 

Students in MUSD schools may choose open enrollment if they do not want to attend the school for which they are zoned.