In response to the proposed elimination of a paraprofessional position from Pleasant View School because of low enrollment numbers, a group of concerned parents implored the Re-1 school board Tuesday to search for a long-range solution to stop cuts at the elementary school.

Brian Wilson, who spoke on behalf of the Pleasant View parents, suggested that Re-1 allow Pleasant View to keep its half-time paraprofessional for the 2000-2001 school year, and that other changes, such as redrawing school boundary lines, be made to boost enrollment for the elementary.

At the October count date in 1995, Pleasant View elementary had 27 students enrolled for grades one through six.

According to Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson, projected enrollment for 2000-2001 for the first through fifth grades there is somewhere between 11 and 14 students.

District-wide enrollment has been falling in the last few years, as well. The October count in 1999, for the 1999-2000 year, showed the district numbers dipping by roughly 100 full-time-equivalent students from the previous year. That amounted to an almost $500,000 cut in per-pupil funding.

For the 2000-2001 year, enrollment numbers are estimated to drop by another 75 students.

"We’re feeling it all over the district," said school board director Peggy Blackmer.

Wilson acknowledged that the funding for Pleasant View, if averaged per pupil, is high, but said that the paraprofessional position is essential to keeping the school going.

Pleasant View has two teachers, one for first and second grades, the other for third, fourth, and fifth grades. The paraprofessional aids those teachers in the classroom.

"Our paraprofessional is also our librarian, nurse, secretary, kitchen aide," he said.

Wilson likened the personnel cut to a noose strangling the school. "Now the school is almost hung and dead," he said.

Wilson proposed that the district move school boundaries to increase the number of students in the Pleasant View district.

Under Colorado state law, enrollment is open, however. Although Re-1 has boundary lines between schools, a student can attend any school outside of a district.

Thompson explained that parents, families, or guardians are responsible for the transportation for students that travel outside of their boundary to go to school.

"You are responsible for doing the transportation yourself, either to the school or to the nearest bus stop that has a space on the bus," he said.

"Changing boundaries really doesn’t force anybody to go to a certain school. It makes it a little more difficult for a person to take their child elsewhere because the buses don’t run to all the schools," he said.

School-board members opposed a boundary change.