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GC likely at bottom<br>of list for Esperanza<br>

There was word last week out of a Coconino County Board of Supervisors work session that Grand Canyon was a possible site for a future Esperanza Academy campus.

The program for at-risk youth appeared to be on its last legs after budget problems, but the new county superintendent of schools, Cecilia Owen, apparently has plans.

First, the rest of the Esperanza school year seems to be safe under a plan created by county officials. The Esperanza budget was cut, a school official’s salary was reassigned to another county program and the board of supervisors will fund the rest out of $165,000 in incoming forest fee funds.

With that problem resolved, Owen has moved on to expanding Esperanza campuses to rural areas. Page, Williams, Fredonia, Tuba City and Grand Canyon have been mentioned as sites.

Shifting focus from Flagstaff only and into other areas of the county is one of Owen’s objectives.

However, Grand Canyon School superintendent Dale Fitzner said Friday that there’s no indication Grand Canyon will be receiving an Esperanza campus.

Currently, Flagstaff and Grand Canyon are the only cities in the county offering on-site Esperanza Academy access for students. Williams had served its community in the past through the Excel campus, but that operation has now ceased to exist.

Williams students now attend Esperanza classes in Flagstaff.

Fitzner said Owen had talked to him about continuing the program here. But a new campus seems to be a longshot for Grand Canyon.

“She did ask me if Grand Canyon could continue to supply a classroom as we’ve done in the past and I said we could,” Fitzner said. “If we do get an opportunity to expand and put that (new campus) in, that would be great. We just can’t guarentee the numbers.”

Grand Canyon has had as many as 20 Esperanza students. Currently, the numbers are less than 10.

The program has been successful, locally. A half-dozen or so students have received their high-school diplomas through Esperanza.

Just a few weeks ago, the school board was talking about the program possibly being discontinued and Fitzner believes it’s still up in the air although he put in a request for county support.

“We can’t come in at the last minute and pick up the budget loss,” he added.

The Esperanza expansion would be funded through a $4 million State School Facilities Board grant secured early last year by former county schools superintendent Kathy Perko.

It’s great that Owen wants to service at-risk kids in the rural areas of the county and her plan is in the beginning stages. At the same time, Grand Canyon just doesn’t produce the number of troubled students seen in some of the other cities and towns in the county.

On top of that, if a new campus would be planned for Grand Canyon, there would be the issue of building inside park boundaries. And that can be a lengthy process.

Perhaps a campus in Tusayan either on private land or Forest Service land would be the answer. Again, if the Forest Service would be involved, governmental red tape comes into play.

With more need in those other communities and with the local school continuing to offer its classroom, Grand Canyon just might be at the bottom of the list as the site of a future Esperanza Academy campus. But it is a nice idea.

(Brad Fuqua is editor of the Grand Canyon News).


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