Overview
- The Scottsdale Unified School Board voted 3-2 on Tuesday night to close Copper Ridge K-8 and Laguna Elementary and adopt a new attendance boundary plan that will move students to nearby schools.
- District data cited a loss of more than 6,000 students since 2010 and presented an option that it says would save roughly $2.7 million while estimating about 41 students may leave the district and a possible $1.4 million funding shortfall.
- Reports differ on how many students will be displaced, with district figures quoted between about 700 and roughly 900 depending on which groups and timelines outlets included.
- The vote followed heated public comment and failed motions to delay, and board members Amy Carney and Carine Werner voted against the closures after asking to table the decision.
- The Maricopa County Attorney found advisory committee meetings on consolidation violated the state Open Meeting Law but said no corrective action was possible because the committee had finished its work, and the city separately reviewed use of Flock license-plate reader cameras after privacy concerns and rollbacks in nearby cities.