By Karen Goveia
Fulfilling a longtime plan for an additional elementary school in the high growth area west of I-17, Deer Valley Unified School District’s newest elementary—Inspiration Mountain School—is set to open when school resumes on Aug. 3 near 57th Avenue and Happy Valley Road in the Stetson Valley development.
The new school will initially serve just over 500 students in grades K-6, with the infrastructure in place to expand to a K-8 campus, said Jim Migliorino, deputy superintendent of fiscal services.
The school has been in the district’s building plans since 2008, but as residential building ramped up again in the area, including the master-planned community Aloravita, along with future development in the plans south of Loop 303, DVUSD began construction on the school last September.
The addition of the new school will free up space at Stetson Hills School and Las Brisas Elementary—the district’s new gifted academy.
“Since many students from Stetson Valley are currently open enrolling to Stetson Hills, the opening of Inspiration Mountain is intending to free up space at Stetson Hills for new development that is happening in the northern attendance boundary of Stetson Hills,” Migliorino told Valley Vibe.
The nearly 73,000-square-foot facility will have capacity for 965 students, and includes a an administration building, three classroom buildings and a multi-purpose building featuring a media center and maker space. The 14-acre site also includes shade structures along with baseball and soccer fields.
More Classroom Growth in Norterra Area
With all of the active and future residential developments happening on the east side of I-17, a classroom expansion is planned at both Union Park School and Sonoran Foothills School.
A permanent addition with four new classrooms at each school will begin construction this summer, with a targeted completion date of January 2023, Migliorino said.
Union Park School opened in August 2020 to alleviate crowding at nearby Norterra Canyon and Sonoran Foothills schools, but Migliorino said “Both of these additions are needed to accommodate the increasing student populations in these school’s attendance area due to active new developments as well as many multi-family developments that are in the process of being approved by the City of Phoenix.”