Parents React To Officials' Plan To Return Students To Porter Ranch Schools
PORTER RANCH (CBSLA.com) — Los Angeles Unified School District officials say they will begin making arrangements for students to return to Porter Ranch-area schools now that a leaking natural gas well has been permanently sealed, despite the original plan to relocate through the end of the school year.
Roughly, 1,100 students in kindergarten through 8th grade at Porter Ranch Community School have been attending classes at Northridge Middle School since the beginning of the year. Sunny Brae Elementary School in Winnetka has been the temporary campus of 770 Castle Lane Charter School students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
"I would love for them to stay here because of my piece of mind when the kids go out in the field playing," Michelle Furness, a mother of four told CBS2's Amber Lee.
Furness now commutes 25 minutes each way to take her children to school, but says she feels its better to be safe than sorry.
District officials said absentee rates were unusually high at both Porter Ranch-area campuses since the leak began in late October. The school board declared an emergency at those campuses and voted to relocate the students through the end of the school year, even in the event of the leak being sealed.
Superintendent Michelle King said Thursday the district will instead begin making arrangements for students to return to Porter Ranch Community School and Castlebay Lane Charter.
"Our students continue to attend classes in their satellite campuses, where we have created a positive environment to support the teaching and learning experience. The safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority," King said.
"I'm kind of in shock because I thought the initially the whole point of moving them here was it was going to go through June," Furness added.
Furness isn't the only parent with this sentiment.
Kelli Chilingarian, a Castlebay Lane Elementary School Parents, says it's "her personal preference would be to stay here [at the satellite locations] until the end of the year just because I think it's so much for the kids to be moving back and forth."
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)