Student Exodus Hits Schools In 2 Towns

By Catherine Gewertz

Urged by their leader to home-school their children, members of a fundamentalist religious group have withdrawn nearly two-thirds of the students from the public schools in a small district near the Arizona-Utah state line.

Multiple versions of the events in Colorado City, Ariz., over the past six weeks have been offered, but this much is clear: Enrollment in the Colorado City Unified School District's three schools plummeted from 988 last year to 350 this year. Two-thirds of its 75 teachers and a good portion of its classified staff also declined to return to work this year, Superintendent Alvin Barlow said.

Across the creek and the state line in Hildale, Utah, Phelps Elementary School's enrollment dropped from last year's 220 to 96, and 11 of the 13 teachers resigned,...